Low - maintenance landscaping is potential with these wide-eyed technique .
Kim Cornelison
reach low - maintenance landscaping is all about applying the byword “ employment smarter , not harder ” to your lawn and garden . landscape painting chores , include trimming , weeding , and watering , can consume hour , but they do n’t have to . These time - saving praxis and technique can reduce your chore listing and relinquish up sentence for you to last sit in theseating area you designed for your patio . Many of the 11 backsheesh admit here take only a few moment to do , but when they are done well , they prevent time of day of oeuvre later in the time of year .
Credit:Kim Cornelison
1. Layer on Some Mulch
Stop weeds before they sprout with a2 - inch - slurred stratum of mulch . rip up bark , pine straw , grass clippings , and cocoa Hull are all excellent mulch products . In prison term , these constitutional products decompose , adding worthful nutrients to the soil . However , it ’s possible to have too much of a good affair . More than 2 inch of mulch has the potential to compromise works growth , so do n’t be tempted to go overboard ( plus that would be extra work , and that ’s not the end at all ) .
2. Embrace Simple Lines
Mowing and trim are easiestand fastest along straight lines and easy curve . When designing a garden bed or fundament planting , opt for a simple outlinerather than a complicated shape . When possible , unite separate plant or small beds into one large planting country for a continuous mowing radiation pattern . It is much faster to mow around one large planting bed than many single tree and bush .
3. Invest in High-Quality Tools
High - quality peter have longer biography spans than cheaply made tools , and the best tool function optimally , making garden chores gentle and more inviting . Invest in a inflexible spade , shovel , hand pruners , pruner , and hedge trimmers if your landscape include many shrubs that call for pruning to keep size or shape .
4. Practice Right Plant, Right Place
Low - maintenance landscape gardening has no room for finicky plants . Know your space — sunshine , territory grain , hardiness zone — and choose plants that thrive in your garden ’s specific condition . Is fast - draining , sandy grime , full sunlight , and modified rain the paper of your landscape?Drought - patient of plantsare your best bet . Do you have a shady backyard ? select shade - loving shrub , such ashydrangeasandrhododendrons , and understory trees to create a low-toned - light garden oasis . Do n’t fight the subsist landscape conditions — garden in tandem with them .
5. Search Out Natives
meter - savvygardeners love aboriginal plants . native are usually better able to boom in the unique growing term of your region , and often want less upkeep than non - aboriginal plants . Plus , natives benefit your local ecosystem far more than other types of plants . Connect with your local elongation serve , garden center , or public garden to study about native plants specific to your field .
6. Limit Plant Types
elementary planting with only a few species make for easy sustenance . reprise the metal money that grow well in your garden throughout your landscape . For lesson , if hydrangea grow and flower with relaxation in your front chiliad , add them to backyard planting areas , too , if the grow circumstance are similar .
7. Catch Pests Early
Identifying garden pest and disease before they multiply minimizes upkeep need . Take a hebdomadal walk through your landscape while looking for strange foliage or stem damage . Take sentence to sleuth out the cause andtake steps to alter the conditionsaround the moved plant to deter the pests or stop the disease .
8. Make a Pruning Plan
Often nurseryman wait until a shrub or tree diagram is overgrown before wield their cutting tools . If youprune proactively , you wo n’t cease up with a ton of work to tame your wayward plants . Prune flowering shrubs each year after they bloom . Prune non - flowering shrub and evergreen trees and shrubs in belated summertime . Prune deciduous trees in late winter before they riffle out in leaping .
9. Define the Edge
A definededge around a landscape painting bedsaves sustentation by keeping mulch inside the seam and turf pot outside . Use brick or pavers to make a long - live on bottom edge . Steel , aluminum , and plastic edging will mould too . A spade - cut boundary resemble a mini trench is also a majuscule method , although it needs to be recut annually .
10. Water with a Timer
A drip hose and a timer are ready to hand investments — especially in vegetable garden . For ease and efficiency , put the dripping hosiery in seat at planting time . align the timer to deliver water supply to the plant throughout the season .
11. Cluster Containers
There ’s no elbow room around it — container garden require supplemental piddle . water system - retentive potting soil and a drip irrigation organization can reduce the prison term involve for this garden chore . If adrip irrigation systemisn’t practical for your container gardens , clustering pots together to simplify the watering process . Perhaps your terrace is a focal point for container plantings . Instead of watering pots gather here and there around the border of the household , assemble all the dope on the patiowhere they are easily reachable from a unmarried hosiery .
