Garden Planning · 5 min read
Low maintenance garden ideas that still look good
Low maintenance does not have to mean lifeless. It mostly means removing the jobs that never end.
Remove the recurring jobs
- Replace an underperforming lawn with artificial grass
- Use large-format paving to cut down joints and weeding
- Fit permanent edging so borders stop creeping
- Choose composite over timber where maintenance is a concern
- Group thirsty plants together and mulch borders deeply
Keep the planting, lose the work
Structural evergreen planting, ornamental grasses and shrubs give year-round interest for a fraction of the effort of bedding. A mulched border with the right plants needs an hour or two a season, not a weekend a month.
Design out the problem areas
The narrow strip of grass beside the shed, the shaded corner where nothing grows, the awkward slope by the gate — these consume most of the maintenance time in a typical garden. Convert them to gravel, planting or paving and the rest of the garden becomes manageable.