It’s natural for a person to want their landscape to be beautiful and inviting. The problem is that many yards require constant upkeep and labor to maintain their elegant appearance. Many responsibilities come with keeping your outdoor landscape in peak condition. Fortunately, there are ways you can reduce the strain and make your landscape more low-maintenance. With proper design, you can have a low-maintenance landscape of your own. Just remember that low-maintenance is not the same as no-maintenance, so you will still need to monitor your yard or have someone monitor it for you. Here are ways you can turn your yard into a low-maintenance landscape.
Picking the Right Plants
Here are ways you can turn your yard into a low-maintenance landscape.
Many people will buy plants on a whim. It is much better to put together a design, or work with a designer, to plan out your garden. Then install the design in phases. That way, you know what the end game is, but you don’t have to do it all at once. If you are going to continue to buy on a whim, check the size and zone of the plant. Just because it is sold in your area, doesn’t mean that it can withstand the extreme temperatures.
Also, if you need a plant with a maximum height of 4’ do not buy a plant that gets to 12’ and think you are going to prune it. You won’t. OR it will get to a point where keeping the plant at 4’ is no longer good for the plant.
Spreading Plants and Natives
Certain perennials and groundcovers have a tendency to spread, which can be helpful if you are trying to fill a big area or vegetate a slope. And if you take good care of these plants, they will return for many years. By going with perennials, you lower the amount of time you have to spend replanting things for your garden. While some perennials require a lot of maintenance, there are many that don’t need much attention.
Native plants are also great for promoting a low-maintenance landscape. Once established, they don’t require as much maintenance because they have already acclimated to your climate. Native plants are also helpful because they can shelter and feed the native fauna in your area.
Using other Elements
An effective step towards achieving a low-maintenance landscape is to incorporate other features into your yard, whether it’s hardscape features or other softscape features. Hardscapes may include patios, decks, boulders, decorative gravels, and water features. All of these reduce the space that needs requires a lot of maintenance while giving you stunning outdoor features for you to enjoy. Other softscape features may include, a walkway with groundcover around it, a moss garden or woodchip areas.
Preventative Maintenance
Weeds are a lot easier to prevent than get rid of. By putting down a pre-emergent weed control helps to suppress weeds and unwanted plants. It kills the weeds before they even have a change to invade your garden. Also, applying mulch twice a year is a simple, yet effective, method for reducing the amount of work you need to put into your outdoor landscape. Mulch helps; retain moisture for your plants, reduces the number of weeds, and cuts down on erosion. There are many different types of mulch and even different gravels can be used as mulch. Gravels are nice to use because they don’t biodegrade as quickly, so you aren’t having to replenish the mulch as often. Barn Gravel is one of those gravels (see in the picture below). It looks like mulch and easy to install. Just remember that you might want to put a geotextile barrier down before installing the gravel. That way the gravel won’t mix with the garden soil.
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