How to Decrease the Maintenance Your Garden Needs

The perfect garden doesn’t have to be a lot of work. Having a low-maintenance yard might be important to you, especially if you want to save time and money on upkeep. This can be challenging if you are currently facing a flowerbed full of weeds and a lawn of overgrown grass that needs cutting.

But making adjustments to your yard isn’t impossible. You can simplify the gardening requirements in three easy steps, as explained below. These effective tips will ensure your yard is easy to care for in the future.

Minimize Lawn Areas

One of the most time-consuming tasks for garden maintenance is regular lawn mowing. Most yards will require weekly mowing during the growing season. Depending on the lawn area your garden has, this could take an hour or more to complete. This is why homeowners will often minimize the lawn areas in their gardens.

If you do choose to minimize lawn areas, there are numerous options to consider. The right choice for you will depend on your needs. Firstly, you should determine how much lawn you actually use for activities and only keep that amount.

Any areas that are rarely used are ideal for conversion. You might even consider eliminating grass in areas where it struggles to grow.

With this decided, you can move on to choosing your preferred low-maintenance alternative. Hardscaping, which uses decking, gravel, or paving, creates functional areas for dining or relaxation. Ground cover plants, like clover or creeping thyme, form a dense “carpet” effect that does not need to be mowed. 

However, if you do not want to lose a lawn area but would prefer not to mow ever again, you might think about artificial turf. Artificial grass for landscaping provides a low-maintenance solution, allowing you to enjoy a consistently beautiful lawn season after season. Experts can install artificial turf in Austin and other areas across the country.

Embrace Dense Planting and Ground Covers

In areas where you currently have soil and/or flowers, you might want to consider changing the type of plants. Some types of greenery require more maintenance than others, which can be frustrating at times, especially when dealing with weeds regularly. Instead, ground covers and dense planting might be suitable options.

Dense planting and ground covers form a living mulch that blocks sunlight from reaching the soil. This living mulch stops weed seeds from germinating and growing. Established ground covers have interconnected root systems, which actively compete with potential weeds for water and nutrients. Unwanted plants are starved of the resources they need to thrive.

Specific types of low-growing, spreading plants are ideal for creating a dense layer that serves as a ground cover. The conditions in your yard must be taken into consideration. For dry and sunny areas, creeping juniper and sedum, also known as stonecrop, are excellent choices. Hardy geraniums and hostas are well-suited for moist, shaded sites.

Relax Your Standards

While making adjustments to your garden can decrease the required maintenance, it is possible that you’ll never be happy with it, and this is when your expectations need to change. Perfect is impossible, and accepting this reduces the amount of work you need to complete. In other words, you need to relax your standards.

The easiest way to let go of perfection is by focusing on what brings you joy. Look at what you use your garden for and aim to continue doing so. If you want a calming environment to relax, then clear an area for that. If you want to grow some vegetables, then maintain a secure veg garden. This allows you to minimize effort in other areas.

To conclude, decreasing the amount of maintenance your yard needs can seem like a lot of work, but it can simplify gardening in the long run. This post outlined three key tips to help you achieve just that.