In article , H Ryder
writes
Hello, haven't posted here for ages (owing to new baby ) 
we think we may have to move so I'm intending to buy somewhere with a big
garden but have been getting cold feet about the maintenance - by large I
probably mean medium sized - i.e. at least 100 feet long, preferable more
like 200 or more, and at least 50 feet wide
That's not *that* big - Mine is probably that, and usually stays in
reasonable order without having to spend much time on it. Secret is to
plant densely, so weeds can't get a look in (or if they do, you don't
notice them), and plant in tune with your soil and conditions so you
don't have to mollycoddle things.
- however we have been looking
at places bigger. My main concern is how you mow something that size?
with great boredom!
long
term I'd be looking at having woodland areas (as I think that these are
lower maintenance but are they?)
I think so. We look after a 6 acre nature park, mixture of woodland,
meadow, ponds and streams. The woodland part is low maintenance because
the vigorous weeds don't succeed in the low light levels. I'm finding
that as the saplings grow up, the bramble and nettle cover (inherited as
the site is an old textile mill) begins to struggle, and I can then
clear them easily and replace with woodland plants. Once that is done,
virtually no maintenance is required.
but how would I go about mowing the garden
until I'd got the lower maintenance bits established?
I don't think you necessarily would. I would mow a couple of wide
meandering paths, and leave the rest as rough grassland, strimming it to
about 8 inches, probably letting it grow longer in the summer to enjoy
the grass flowers, then strimming again before the grass got flattened.
If you keep the 'paths' mown short and tidy, it makes the whole area
look planned and tidy. Then start taking over bit by bit - have a tidier
area near the house, and gradually extend.
Since we turned half our lawn into 'meadow' the number and variety of
butterflies has increased.
All I ever done is
pushed a plug in flymo type around once a week - what do people with bigger
gardens do?
Buy a longer extension cable ;-)
Or use a petrol mower and petrol strimmer.
Nature park has three areas of meadow. The one which we're not doing
anything with is mown by the council every now and again - I realise
this is not for you! The other two, where we are encouraging wild
flowers, we strim a couple of times a year.
Where do you put the cuttings?
On the nature park we stow them under trees or in the middle of bramble
patches ;-)
And we offer them to guinea pig owners as organic hay.
In the garden, they will make good compost if mixed in with other waste
- woodier stuff like weeds, or kitchen vegetable waste and cardboard.
Well worth doing, and in a big garden it's easy to find somewhere to
hide a compostheap (you need at least 3, each of 1 cu m, one for
filling, one maturing, and one emptying - site them near to your veg
garden or wherever you expect to be using the compost - rotted compost
is a lot heavier to move around than the raw ingredients)
Roughly how long does it take -
The longest part is getting the mower out and putting it away again.
it is possible to manage a bigger garden without a gardener if you are on
your own? Does anyone have any suggestions about low maintenance ideas?
Shrubs and trees are relatively low maintenance, and if you choose
carefully you can have colour all the year around. Supplement with
perennials - I'm a great believer in planting only once! A few annuals
or summer bulbs to provide highlights of colour near the house or round
your sitting out area if you wish.
Go for overall good effect - for example, you will get greenfly on your
shrub roses. But if you ignore it, they'll look fine except very close
up, you'll attract bluetits who love to eat greenfly, and they'll be a
lot lower in maintenance than if you aim for close-up perfection all
over the garden.
Veg are high maintenance - and even more of a nuisance, are intolerant
of delay - if you don't get around to weeding, for example, you can
reduce your crop. Fruit seems to be a lot easier, if yo want your garden
to be productive. I grow (in order of cropping) rhubarb (dump a load of
compost on every winter), alpine strawberries (much less slug damage
than ordinary strawberries, only maintenance is weeding surplus),
gooseberry (no maintenance, though might crop heavier if I did),
loganberries, tayberries etc (once a year cut back and tie in new
growth), mulberry, pears, figs, medlar (no maintenance), apples (pruning
in winter).
Look at what grows in neighbouring gardens to give an idea of what might
be trouble free. get to know your local wildflowers - this gives a clue
to related garden species that might do well.
Limit lawn size.
If you want a wildlife pond, area for area it isn't particularly high
maintenance once you have it made and set up.
Children, once they're at a sensible age (7-ish) will love shrubs and
trees and places they can be away from adults. You will then find that
all games are played in *your* garden, and will permanently have hordes
of kids around, but the plus side is that you know who your kids are
playing with.
(I
hate hard landscape) I am very keen (probably manage up to an hour a day in
garden, sometimes with children "helping", sometimes alone)
That's a lot more than I spend!
--
Kay Easton
Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm