maintenance free garden?
 

As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

maintenance free garden?
 

In message JuM1a.552$DT1.51259@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro
writes
As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

My neighbours said they were not into gardening when they arrived. The
proceeded to cover the back garden, which the previous owner had
cultivated for years as a vegetable patch to feed his family, with
concrete. They then sectioned the garden into thirds and have put down
paving stones nearest the house. At the far end they scattered a thin
layer of wood chippings and installed playground equipment. In the
central area they have made a patchwork pattern of paving stones,
various coloured pebbles (orange, turquoise etc.) and wood chippings.

I all looked quite impressive ... for a few days.

The paving stones have now turned patchily green with moss and plants
and grasses have started to grow in amongst the pebbles and chippings.
Nature is re-asserting itself.

A lawn doesn't need much tending as long as you don't feed it much and
borders can be planted with slow-growing shrubs.

--
dave @ stejonda

Alternative Global News : http://commondreams.org//

maintenance free garden?
 

Dave Arthuro wrote:

As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

Not necessarily. Last year we did something like it for my mother in law, who
though she likes gardening can no longer cope with the physical effort of
heavy tasks like lawnmowing. Planting therefore was carefully chosen to be
self limiting - heathers and various sizes of well behaved flowering shrubs.

Grass you are out of luck with. It grows fast and will always need cutting.
But choose the right perennial plants though and you can have a garden that
doesn't require much effort to keep looking nice. Planted through barrier
layer and with 4" of chipped bark on top, or pebbles/shingle few weeds will
compete.

Of course doing this requires effort on your part. There is no free lunch.

Regards,
Martin Brown

maintenance free garden?
 

In article JuM1a.552$DT1.51259@newsfep2-gui,
Dave Arthuro wrote:
As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question!

Not at all. It's far better that someone think about it and try and
sort out something that suits their willingness to maintain, rather than
just let a garden be a wild weed/dandelion seed factory to upset all
the neighbour gardeners!

I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

No intervention? No.
Little intervention? Yes, but it'll take some effort to set it up
like that in the first place.

If you have a lawn, if you want it to look like a lawn, rather than
a wilderness that the neighbourhood cats love to poo in, then it
does require regular mowing. No two ways about it.

If you have hard landscaping, that requires occasional cleaning,
frequency depending on whether you actually do anything in the garden
like walk around on the paths.

What you can do is shrubs and perennials that require very little
attention on your part. For shrubs, pick slow-growing ones (look at
some of the conifers available, e.g.) The slower-growing, the better,
as they won't want pruning too often and you can leave them to get
on with it. If you plant the perennials densely enough amongst
the shrubs, weeding should be kept to a very low quantity per year.

Sharon

maintenance free garden?
 

in article JuM1a.552$DT1.51259@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro at
wrote on 10/2/03 11:29 am:

As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?


If the lawn is really small, I'd pave it over and have a terrace, instead.
I've never seen the point in having the chore of cutting a very small lawn
when one could just as easily sunbathe on stone flags, for example! Have
some colourful plants in pots, perhaps a 'warter feecher' but remember that
pots will need watering copiously in dry weather. If you really don't want
to garden, your local nursery or garden centre will probably plant pots up
for you! Pots positioned in groups of odd numbers with perhaps one really
stunning one as a focal point, look best. Pots arranged rigidly around an
area only look good (IMO) if they're all the same style, precisely spaced
and have exactly the same plants in them. Very stylish - bit dull! ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

maintenance free garden?
 

"Dave Arthuro" wrote in message
news:JuM1a.552$DT1.51259@newsfep2-gui...
As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

Hi Dave,

The key to low maintenance gardening is to understand what your natural
conditions are and work with them. That way you're not battling against
nature all the time. If you want to take the time to read up and plan it all
carefully then look up information on 'permaculture' which is essentially
about building an system that will run itself as much as possible. It does
take a bit of thinking about though.

Apart from that, the best advice is probably to read the labels on the
plants you buy. That will cut down on pruning excessive growth, feeding
plants with special needs and sweeping up leaves from deciduous plants. Also
try and get the wildlife in to control your pests although if you're in a
new development then almost every one of your neighbours will have a cat
which makes life difficult.

If your lawn is small enough and is not going to get much heavy traffic
then you might want to consider a chamomile lawn or something simiilar. I've
never done one myself but I understand they are much lower maintenance.

Martin.

maintenance free garden?
 

Thanks guys :)

I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that is how
it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?


"Dave Arthuro" wrote in message
news:JuM1a.552$DT1.51259@newsfep2-gui...
As garden lovers you are going to kill me for asking this question! I am
purchasing a house with a small back lawn and some side plants. I really
have no interest in gardening :( Is it possible to have plants and grass
that require little or no intervention?

maintenance free garden?
 

In message ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro
writes
I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that
is how it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?
:)

my neighbours seem to be having trouble selling their concrete playpen
:-/

--
dave @ stejonda

Alternative Global News : http://commondreams.org//

maintenance free garden?
 

in article , dave @ stejonda at
wrote on 10/2/03 4:04 pm:

In message ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro
writes
I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that
is how it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?
:)

my neighbours seem to be having trouble selling their concrete playpen
:-/

Ah, but I'm talking lovely, mellow stone or brick - a sort of cottagey
courtyard.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

maintenance free garden?
 

In article ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui,
Dave Arthuro wrote:
Thanks guys :)

I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that is how
it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?

It would certainly affect my choice of whether to buy your property
or not. I wouldn't like the idea of having to remove a load of
paving slabs.

I would imagine that a nice looking low-maintenance garden is more
likely to be a selling point? Then the non-gardeners can think
"Ooo goody, low maintenance", and the gardeners know they don't have
to rip up a load of paving slabs to get at it. Not that you can't
have a garden with paving slabs, but it isn't most people's idea of
a preferred garden...!

Sharon

maintenance free garden?
 

In message , sacha
writes

Ah, but I'm talking lovely, mellow stone or brick - a sort of cottagey
courtyard.

I didn't doubt you were Sacha :)

--
dave @ stejonda

Alternative Global News : http://commondreams.org//

maintenance free garden?
 

in article , dave @ stejonda at
wrote on 10/2/03 5:41 pm:

In message , sacha
writes

Ah, but I'm talking lovely, mellow stone or brick - a sort of cottagey
courtyard.

I didn't doubt you were Sacha :)

Phew! I'd really hate anyone to think I was talking 'concrete'..... ;-)
In fact, IF the OP used stone slabs or brick, a future buyer would find
those much easier to lift and dispose of if he wanted to. Concrete has a
certain unyielding quality about it! If a future buyer wanted a play area
for a small child, it wouldn't be hard to put in a sand pit made from raised
wood or stone edgings. And bicycles and tricycles and little car thingies
work much better on stone. Dog mess can be swept up or hosed down with
little effort - it's beginning to sound more tempting by the minute!
The other thing is, would future buyers possibly/probably be people in the
same boat? Busy, working, not wanting to spend every w/e mowing a small and
not-much-used lawn?
However, just as a NB to the OP, if you slab or brick, make sure the area in
which you intend to put table and chairs does not have attractive old 'wavy'
slabs because you'll have unattractive slopped-over vino collapso on your
summer evenings!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

maintenance free garden?
 

Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:165935

Good thinking Batman!

"Sharon Curtis" wrote in message
...
In article ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui,
Dave Arthuro wrote:
Thanks guys :)

I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that is
how
it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?

It would certainly affect my choice of whether to buy your property
or not. I wouldn't like the idea of having to remove a load of
paving slabs.

I would imagine that a nice looking low-maintenance garden is more
likely to be a selling point? Then the non-gardeners can think
"Ooo goody, low maintenance", and the gardeners know they don't have
to rip up a load of paving slabs to get at it. Not that you can't
have a garden with paving slabs, but it isn't most people's idea of
a preferred garden...!

Sharon

maintenance free garden?
 

In article , dave @ stejonda
writes
In message ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro
writes
I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that
is how it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?
:)

my neighbours seem to be having trouble selling their concrete playpen
:-/

Yeah, but you said that that was looking pretty tatty, didn't you?
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

maintenance free garden?
 

In article ZyP1a.1053$DT1.81242@newsfep2-gui, Dave Arthuro
writes
Thanks guys :)

I would pave it over (tastefully!), but one concern I have about that is how
it might affect resale value. Any thoughts on that?

Depends how big it is! 30 ft square-ish wouldn't be a problem if
described as a 'courtyard garden'. If you sell in spring, summer or
autumn, you can tart it up with extra exotic plants and make it look
really good, and then it'll be much more of an asset than a boring lawn
and border or an unkempt vole-hunting-ground.

In winter you'd do much the same, but use evergreens in tubs instead.

If it's huge (which you say it isn't) it might affect resale if all
paved.

But a small garden paved I would have thought could only increase value.
there's an awful lot of non-gardeners around!
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/