Low maintenance garden ideas

Rileybaby

Hi,

I wonder if you can help me. I've not got a big garden (it's wider than it is long). I'm looking at completely relaying my garden ( obviously saving what I can) new fencing, getting rid of the decking, laying a nice path & patio and then leaving the rest to lawn.

Now this is where I need you help, can anyone suggest

any designs?
Recommend the best sort of patio material
Any advise of anything else you think I may need to know.

Thank you all

dreaming

Personally I think lawn is high maintenance, and I am trying to get rid of the last bit of mine (to no great effect thanks to tradesmen who do not seem to want to provide me with quotes despite coming round, measuring up and seeming quite enthusiastic). The trouble with grass is that it needs cutting at least once a week (probably twice) in summer to look good. I would rather be pottering round or sitting in a chair with a glass of wine or cup of tea. Since I moved here 6 years ago, when it was all lawn, I have placed some raised beds to grow veg in, then dug out the grass to create borders which I filled with cuttings from friends and family. These have been widened over time until I now have an area of only 9 square feet of grass left and to be honest it takes me longer to get the mower out of the shed than it does to cut the grass but I hate doing it - clipping the edges and then clearing up after just to have to do it all over again the next week. So I am looking to have it as a large bed in the middle with a mixture of slabs/gravel surrounding. To me shrubs tend to be lower maintenance than lawn as they tend to only need cutting back once or twice a year and funnily enough I don't mind 10 minutes weeding before the glass of wine.

I_have_spoken

The 'dry' garden style is probably lowest maintenance - not everyone likes the look, of course.

glasgowdan

Concrete gardens take a lot of work to stay looking good. Weed spraying, pressure washing, replacing plants once they get too big for their little allowed space. Lawns can easily be left to a cut every 3 weeks and look fine... comment above about twice a week is a neat High maintenance fussy lawn!

So, for me, it'd be lawn with a flat mowing strip around it, slow growing densely planted borders and a nice bench to sit and admire the view!

dreaming

glasgowdan wrote: »

Concrete gardens take a lot of work to stay looking good. Weed spraying, pressure washing, replacing plants once they get too big for their little allowed space. Lawns can easily be left to a cut every 3 weeks and look fine... comment above about twice a week is a neat High maintenance fussy lawn!

No-one has ever accused me of being fussy - well, not many:rotfl:


You are right, lawns can obviously be left but I will admit that if I keep the grass (unfortunately my patch doesn't really qualify as "lawn") I know it will irritate me if it looks unkempt. I love just about everything about gardening except cutting grass. I feel the same way about vacuuming the house. Gardens (like fashion or house d!cor) is a very subjective thing. I visited Hampton Court Flower Show this year and loved some of the show gardens but I wouldn't want to live with them.

glasgowdan

Yes, a lot of people get gardens designed and don't realise how much work they actually have to do to keep them right

TheGardener

I've always considered the lawn to be the most low maintenance bit of the garden and I would rather push a lawnmower round than a pressure washer! Also - unless you make provision for it - run off rain water might be an issue if you hard landscape it all.
Google 'prairie' style gardens and find the drought tolerant, winter hardy perennials that need maintenance about once every 3 years. Mulch with fine chipped bark and some decorative river pebbles. All gardens take some maintenance - there is no zero maintenance.
Or try the Japanese style gravel garden with dwarf, slow growing shrubs.

Rileybaby

Thank you everyone for your comments. I think I want to leave a lawn...I've worked hard this year to make it look okay ( not good but okay).

Glasgowdan...what do you suggest for a border plants?

And last,y..can anyone suggest a good patio material that's easy to look after doesn't need re- sanding every 3 months etc x

kerri_gt

We rcently moved from what would look 'low maintenance' to a garden that is deck / lawn and 1/3 still waiting to be designed.

The 'low maintenance' garen was relatively small with stones (no lawn) and raised beds with mature shrubs. Previous occupants had allowed the shrubs to get big and it took me a good few years of gradual pruning to get them looking like identifiable separate plants again. We also had to dig out / replace the logging as it was rotten (a complete pain in the ****), seeds from plants (esp grape hyacinth) regularly sprung up amongst the stones and a 'quick pop out to do some pruning' would invariably end up with me spending all day in the garden with 3-4 trips to the tip with the cuttings. Low maintenance my ***
Garden was lovely to look at and I had just got it to a good place when we found we had to move.

In contrast current garden takes an hour max - mow lawn once every couple of weeks, 1/2 bag of lawn cuttings (if that) - trim edges. Job done.

Ok, so I miss the pretty view we had before but I do not miss the maintenance.

As a compromise we're thinking of putting stones in the 1/3 that needs planning and planting some interesting plants in big feature pots. Thus hopefully taking the nice bits of our previous garden without hopefully the maintenance.

Mr_Costcutter

A friend has recently created what he calls 'a low maintenance' garden. He has a large plot - 150' long and 50' wide. This was subdivided into two areas by a decorative wooden fence. The first area (nearest to house) was paved and a seating area created with a few pots containing various shrubs and flowers. Beyond the fence (gateway through) is a wild garden - lots of wild flowers growing amongst established trees. The garden looks very nice and he reckons there is very little to do in it. He employs a chap to tidy the wild area twice a year - just a few hours each time.

The garden is simple, but very attractive.

Dewdrop.ja

Hello. I've been working on my garden this year. I lost the fences and the shed in storms, the original patio was dangerously uneven, and the lawn was weed ridden and uneven where we'd dug out the jungle that was there when we moved in. A serious overhaul was needed and on a budget!

I fenced all the way around, decked over the concrete shed base, laid lawn in the middle and then relaid the patio which is by the back door so three sections with only the lawn to keep cut. It does like cutting at least once a week at the moment but I'd still call that low maintenance. I bought the turf from homebase when it was reduced to 50p a roll so my whole lawn cosy £12.50. I've also added a raised flower bed from left over decking, and filled with free soil found on a fb selling site - which is a fairy garden too for my girls! I'm now just waiting to put some painted pallets up on the fences like shelving so I can put some quirky ornaments on them.

I started by trawling through pinterest so that may be an idea to see what you like and what you don't!