awesome707's Blog

The standard perception of plants is that the more you have the greater the work in looking after them. In fact it is quite the other way about. If you have a few shrubs and hardy perennials dotted about a border with a sea of soil in between, it is pretty transparent that you are going to expend a good deal of time in keeping the area clear of weeds. If, on the other hand, you structure your planting system in the way we have suggested, with a top storey of trees, a shrubby central layer and then a carpet of low-growing ground-covering plants, then upkeep can be reduced to a very low level.

 

Certain features need more upkeep than others. A rockery or series of well-positioned rock outcrops tend to involve a relatively high level of maintenance as those pockets of soil can be promptly populated by weeds rather than alpines. On the other side of the coin, an area given over to rougher grass, naturalized with bulbs and wild flowers can be a delight throughout the year with very little to do except three or four cuts with a rotary mower.

 

It would be mistaken, nevertheless, to think that a complete carpet of plants eliminates upkeep altogether. You may well have to shorten back invasive ground cover from time to time, as well as thinning out a border if it becomes overcrowded. 

 

These jobs, however, consume relatively short time and in my own garden, which is of a reasonable size, I expend a maximum of half-an-hour a week on maintenance - and I relish it! Lastly, give a thought to automated irrigation. A hot summer can bring home just how significant regular watering really is, particularly if you go away on holiday. 

 

There are a number of low-budget irrigation systems available that are tailor-made for the domestic garden and it could be well-worth looking into these. Incidentally, they also use far less water than a sprinkler and are placed so that planting gets the maximum benefit. Do take a look at house plants and best houseplants for cleaning air.