Best Garden

The labour-free garden does not exist, but there are ways in which such chores as weeding and tidying can be kept to a minimum. Clearly, what you get out of a garden is in proportion to what you put in, and it will never be possible to expect a plantsman’s paradise to thrive on neglect. Those who want beauty without effort are being unrealistic, but there is no need to become a slave. Any means of reducing the more troublesome tasks to a minimum is worth pursuing.

Design
Much labour can be saved by thoughtful design. All parts of a border, for example, should be accessible without having to walk on and damage the soil sur¬face. This is achieved by laying stepping stones or pathways along the back as well as in the more visible areas. Paving is easier to maintain than lawn and, in a small garden, flagstones can look better than grass.

Gravel, as a mulching device, is gaining popularity, easing maintenance and providing plants with a friendly environment. Plants growing in gravel or shingle seed freely; to prevent this, lay the mulch over a woven polypropylene sheet; water will still pass through. To plant shrubs or specimens, a crisscross slit is made in the sheet, the plant inserted and the gravel carefully replaced.

The vertical surfaces in a well planned garden will be covered with a wealth of climbing and wall plants. To encourage them to grow up and sideways and not flop over the plants in front of them, tie in all growths to horizontal wires. These should be attached to vine eyes or large nails inserted into the masonry at regular intervals. With this permanent anchorage, it is easy to display wall plants to their best advantage.

Planting
Choice of plants, and their arrangement, exert an enormous influence on the amount of time needed for maintenance. The aim, in a carefree garden, is to make the plants themselves do as much of the work as possible. Thus, shrubs which need little pruning are preferable to those like hybrid tea roses which require more attention. Disease- and pest-resistant plants will always be desirable and, unless a species is especially glorious, vigour takes preference over delicacy.

Among herbaceous varieties, those which self-seed freely without becoming invasive are ideal in the low-maintenance garden. Ground cover plants are perfect for filling the spaces between shrubs and give ex¬cellent weed control, provided the ground in which they are planted is completely free of perennial weeds. There are so many to choose from that dull planting is inexcusable. It is perfectly possible to arrange a weed-proof ground cover which changes in colour, texture and mood month by month.

Tags: gravel, hybrid tea roses, pathways, paving, plants, thoughtful design

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 10:47 am and is filed under Garden Care, Gardening, Gardening Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.