5 of 19

Write now Article Tools

Aaa, the garden- relaxing in your chair, enjoying the sunlight as it streams through the trees,enjoying the scents of the flowers. This is the life. Wait a minute! What's that? Weeds? Pests? Dead plants? Plants falling over? Rampant plants invading every possible space and killing other plants? This is not how it was meant to be! How can I relax now when I have started to notice all these things? Why doesn't my garden look like one in the books?

The reason is planning. We all want a garden we can enjoy but some people are simply not cut out to be the sort of gardener who spends every available minute outside pruning, staking, clearing leaves, dead heading and weeding. For some, this is important as part of their enjoyment of the whole gardening thing but for others, they simply want a pleasant space without the high maintenance.

This is possible but it takes planning.
First think about your budget and how much you can feasibly spend on the garden. You may have good features already but they are hidden behind old hedges, sheds or discarded rubbish heaps. You may have enough to re-plan the entire site. Look at what is there and the work you need to do on each feature. We are thinking hard landscaping here as it is this which will form the theme and framework for your site.

Choose features carefully and plan the site by sketching your design on a piece of paper. Decide if it is be formal, informal or semi-formal and if there is a main style like Zen, Japanese, European, woodland or prairies for example. Choose feature carefully to enhance your theme and try to link some of the colors and textures to materials of the house. This will, surprisingly, mean that you need to work less to maintain a sense of the garden being in harmony with your home so even if you do not get to mow this week, the theme will remain cohesive creating a more harmonious feel to the garden.

You might want to do away with a lawn to mean less mowing. Consider the surfaces - will they get slippery when wet or encourage moss or algal growth? Make sure they will stay looking good with just an occassional sweep (gravel) or light rake rather than ones which need regular cleaning or brushing. Use edging to prevent surfaces like gravel migrating to other parts of your garden.

Once you have established your hard landscaping, think about how you will dress it and fill in gaps. Plants are the key here and the kinds of plants are important. For the lazy gardener, shrubs and perennials are the key as shrubs will fill spaces and grow slowly, meaning an occasional prune is all that is needed to maintain their form and shape.
Perennials will largely look after themselves and last for many years, saving you having to replace them yearly (annuals) or every other year (biennials). Choose plants with long term interest like those which flower for long periods and also think about their size and vigor as you want to reduce the need for staking and clearing.

Choose plants which have several functions. For example a crab apple tree provides interest over the entire year with bark, blossom, leaves and then the coloured fruit.

Use mlches as these will not only reduce the amount of watering necessary but greatly reduce the weeds which will appear. Weeds are highly visible is growing through a mulch and you can whip them out before they spread.

Plan your maintenance shedule on a month by month basis so you can do each job as it is needed an spend perhaps a day in the garden -leaving you the rest of the time to relax and enjoy.

Apart from paving the entire site, the lazy gardener can enjoy both the garden and being lazy to their heart's content!

Learn more about this author, Sammy Stein.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Tips and tricks for the lazy gardener?
We want to hear your view. Write now!