If you don’t have time for gardening, or do have the time but lack green fingers, don’t despair. There are ways to create a beautiful garden with minimum effort. Just make a few design changes and you can radically reduce the maintenance your garden needs, giving you more time to sit back, relax and enjoy it.
1 Edge your beds
Keeping lawn grass from spreading into beds is a time-consuming task. Prevent this by edging beds with cobbles, pavers or timber slats. This gives a neat, modern look and, as the beds are clearly demarcated, prevents them from getting bigger every time you trim the edge of the lawn.
2 Install irrigation
To make watering one less thing to think about, install an automated irrigation system. Include a rain sensor that automatically switches it off when it rains so that you don’t waste water.
3 Hard landscaping to the rescue
Who says a garden has to consist of plants and grass? Reduce the size of beds and lawn that require care and replace them with attractive hard landscaping such as gravel, pebbles, paving or decking that needs no upkeep. For more interest, you can include arbours, arches and pergolas, which also add height. But don’t include water features, as they are high maintenance and need regular cleaning.
4 Think straight
This story is from the February 2020 edition of South African Garden and Home.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of South African Garden and Home.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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