The height of convenience! Garden ideas for the lazy. You don’t have to take care - it grows on its own, and how magnificently! Do-it-yourself garden with minimal care - what to plant, how to arrange it A coniferous garden that is easy to care for

Who among us would not like to have a beautiful blooming garden without devoting much time to it? But is this possible? Let's try to answer this question by considering the most labor-intensive elements of the garden.

Let's start with the lawn. This is a very caring part of the garden. Firstly, weeds should not grow on a real lawn, and secondly, it must be mowed weekly and watered after mowing, at least in the spring. And on light soils and several times in the summer it needs to be fertilized. Is there a way to minimize lawn care? Yes. Arrange a meadow or lawn of clover. A meadow is a symbiosis of herbs that grow in a given area. If you start mowing it every 10-14 days, it will take on the trimmed green look so dear to our hearts. The meadow does not require watering and fertilizing, by the way, and in the spring it comes to life much faster than our pampered lawn treasure. Instead of a real lawn, you can plant a clover lawn; it is also good and at the same time undemanding and unpretentious. In very dry or very wet or shady places it will not be possible to grow a lawn; here it is better to use ground cover plants, just remember that you cannot walk on them.

If you have a large lawn, you can not mow all of it, but only in those places where you walk. This will not only reduce mowing time, but will make the garden more romantic. This technique has been used in England for a long time, but here it is just beginning to come into use. In those places that will not be mowed weekly, you can plant bulbous and small-bulbous plants - in the spring they will flourish, then their foliage will turn yellow among the grass, and only then this place can be mowed, for example, once a month.

Another alternative to lawn is gravel. I love this wonderful material in the garden, but it must be laid according to all the rules, be sure to place geotextiles or lutrasil under the gravel.

Paths in a minimum maintenance garden must be paved; their area must be sufficient, but not excessive.

What plants should be used in a low-maintenance garden? First of all, these should be trees and shrubs. Even for our difficult climate, there are quite a few very beautiful ornamental shrubs and trees that are consistently decorative and require virtually no maintenance throughout the season. These are, for example, species and varietal spruces, pines, thujas, willows, maples, barberries, spirea, bladderworts, dogwoods, honeysuckle, elderberries, as well as fruit trees and shrubs.

What perennials can be used in a low-maintenance garden? These are those plants that are decorative throughout the season and do not require frequent divisions and replantings. Hostas, bergenia, peonies, daylilies, astilbes, lungworts, ferns and many others are suitable for a low-maintenance garden; their range is quite wide. These wonderful compositions require virtually no maintenance.

Plants with the same requirements for light, humidity, acidity and soil fertility should be selected in one composition. This seemingly obvious rule is often violated, the plants suffer, they have to be treated and replaced. For a low-maintenance garden, it is advisable to use species plants or old proven varieties; capricious new products should be avoided.

To reduce the time spent caring for the garden, it is important to rationally plan plantings so that the plants grow not one at a time on the lawn, but in compact groups. They not only look more interesting, but are more technologically advanced to care for. Be sure to mulch the plantings, this gives them more interesting view, reduces the time for weeding, creates more comfortable conditions life.

It is very important to think about how to fix the border between the lawn and the mixborder, for example, using tiles or border stones, this will eliminate the operation of trimming the edge. In the photo, the border between the mixborder and the lawn is secured by two rows of paving stones. Reducing the time spent caring for a garden is within the capabilities of a thinking gardener if he sets such a goal.

Is it possible to have beautiful garden a working person or a not very young and healthy person? Absolutely yes. You just need to plan it wisely and plant wonderful and problem-free plants in the right places that will not require too tedious care. If you do everything correctly, then caring for the garden will bring only positive emotions, not to mention the joy of seeing beautiful and healthy bushes and perennials.

This dry garden if you live in the desert or steppe, coastal garden if your site is located in a wetland; forest corner if your garden is in a wooded area; abandoned wild garden, if you got exactly this one, rockery, if your terrain is rocky or the site is located on a slope, moorland, if the site is a wasteland. It is clear that using existing resources and conditions, working “together with nature, and not contrary to it,” is much simpler and more logical than fighting windmills, trying to change the existing natural landscape. But you will have to “fight” constantly.

Unpretentious plants in the right places

Grow in a practical, easy-to-care garden unpretentious native or well-zoned plants. The unpretentiousness of a plant is primarily determined by its sufficient drought and cold resistance for your area. Such a plant does not require watering even in hot summers and the construction of special labor-intensive winter shelters.

The category of practical and unpretentious plants also includes local aromatic and medicinal plants, naturalized bulbous(daffodils, crocuses, snowdrops, cold-resistant cyclamens, scillas, colchicums, hazel grouse, crocosmia and others, depending on your region). To naturalize these plants in your garden, plant the bulbs in a suitable location and simply leave them alone. The plants will begin to live their usual seasonal life in your garden.

Avoid plants and elements garden design, which, on the contrary, will require constant attention and care. These include plants in hanging baskets and small containers, formal flower beds and hedges, topiary, and lawns. Instead of the latter, sow the lawn with thyme, chamomile or clover; in the shade, use moss instead of grass; Place gravel, tiles, or boardwalk next to the house.

Lush greenery or structure and order

The choice of vigorously growing or, on the contrary, slowly growing perennials depends on whether you want lush natural greenery on the borders or, on the contrary, consistency and order. The same applies to annuals and biennials that actively reproduce by self-sowing. I like poppies sleeping pills and self-seeding, so I leave the most beautiful specimens(usually black), and then I scatter the seeds from a mature capsule over the flower bed. I do the same with the forget-me-nots in the back "natural" part of my garden. If you find it difficult to control self-seeding, it is better not to have such plants at all, because they spread throughout the garden like weeds.

To quickly cover large areas of your garden with greenery, use ground cover flowers and plants.

Plants that are beautiful all year round

Good for lung garden care plants that look good not just one, but two or three seasons a year (ideally all year round). Compare rowan or mahonia, which are interesting and beautiful in all four seasons, with lilac or mock orange. Yes, the latter bloom charmingly and are very fragrant, but their flowering lasts 2 weeks, and these trees spend the rest of the year looking monotonous. It is especially important to select plants that are beautiful all year round, those who have small gardens or space on the site is strictly limited.

Less is more

Don’t rush to plant every plant square meter garden or replace immediately dead plant for something new. Firstly, existing plants will certainly grow over time. Secondly, save money and labor, because we create easy care garden. Thirdly, it is good when the garden has some structure that is provided harmonious combination different elements. There is a place for fullness and emptiness, soft and hard textures, bright colors plants and the darkness of the soil or the monotony of the mulch.

Instead of plant variety, focus on quality and repeatability. Plant at least 3-5 specimens of the same perennial side by side to create consistency in the design, instead of the variegation that occurs from an abundance of different plants individually.

If you can’t do it or you just don’t want to remake the entire area into a “garden for the lazy,” then limit yourself to one unpretentious garden area and see how you like it.

Smart technologies for a beautiful and practical garden

Good soil - healthy plants

When planting and replanting plants, dig more deep hole, to the bottom of which be sure to add

Sow and plant new plants in spring or fall, when there is enough moisture in the garden and plants take root easily without additional watering.

Combine plants according to their needs. By planting plants that need periodic watering next to each other rather than in different corners of the garden, you will save time and effort in the future.

If you want to have a cozy one, neat area, but there is not enough time to care for it, there are ways reduce volumes main works: maintaining the surface (lawn) in good condition, weed control, preserving the decorative appearance of plants.

It is important to choose correctly grass mixture for lawn. Grass that is regularly walked on must resist trampling so that the lawn does not have to be rebuilt. Stable and not requiring much attention - a park lawn, it does not need mowing every 10 days, it is not afraid of lack of moisture.

Read also: Indoor flowers for the lazy

At irregular mowing the lawn will begin to become lumpy. If there is no need for a perfectly flat surface, the frequency of mowing can be reduced. No need to mow at all Moorish lawn, blooming in early summer. It is better to plant it along the edges of the site.

So that the ground is not visible and weeds do not grow, they plant ground cover plants, for example ayuga (also suitable for shaded areas).

Free sites are available mulch bark, pebbles, crushed stone, sawdust, pine needles. They will retain moisture in the soil and reduce the amount of watering. Geotextiles are placed under the mulch layer, which makes the coating more durable and prevents the growth of weeds, reducing weeding work.

If you do not have the time or opportunity to take care of your site, then you can entrust this to the professionals of our plant nursery, or initially plant plants taking into account their needs. Fastidious plants need regular loosening of the soil, watering, fertilizing, pruning, removing weeds, and protection from diseases and pests.

When creating a low-maintenance garden you need to choose unpretentious plants, not requiring special care. But in order for it not to look too “rural”, you need to find a reasonable balance between wild plants and plants that require minimal care.

For creating beautiful flower beds that do not require constant weeding and watering, you should once correctly prepare the soil and select perennials, based on the microclimate of your area. Wrongly chosen plants will die without having time to please you with their beauty.

For hedges, you can select slow-growing species, and some of the annuals can be replaced with perennial, long-flowering plants.

For the garden with minimal care sow grains and flowers that reproduce by self-sowing.

Of course, there is no complete replacement for a lawn, but small lawns can be replaced with pebbles or turned into wild lawns that require minimal maintenance. Ground cover plants and creeping perennials form dense, low carpets above the soil surface. Ferns, cotoneaster, Fortune's euonymus, balsam fir, common juniper, yew - all of them are suitable for an area that does not require a lot of care.

Yew berry

Fruit trees and berry bushes are undemanding plants. Given the optimal location, they develop and bear fruit well. The main prerequisites for this are fertile soil, lots of sun and protected from strong wind, but ventilated place. Caring for dwarf forms in the garden is less complicated. At a lower altitude, it is easier to see pests and diseased parts of plants, and it is also easier to deal with them.

When planting new trees, it is necessary to provide them with support until they are firmly rooted. U fruit trees And berry bushes Growth, flowering and especially fruiting takes a lot of effort. Therefore for them great importance has constant replenishment nutrients in the soil. In spring, introduce into the soil organic fertilizers, mulch the soil, and also water it abundantly. The rest of the time, quality trees planted in good location, will require almost no maintenance.

It is enough to plant various bulbous flowers (crocuses, daffodils) only once, and then season after season they will develop larger areas without moving additional requirements to care for their owners. Only after the snow melts will they need a little compost and, in dry times, watering.

Climbing plants are well suited for a garden that requires minimal care - they are unsurpassed decorators and at the same time completely unpretentious, and ivy grows well in the shade.

The most important thing when creating a garden with minimal care is to choose high-quality planting material. When buying plants, pay special attention to their quality. The shoots must be strong and free from blemishes or damage. Much can be said from the leaves of the plant. By the location of the branches and main shoots, you can immediately determine the plant’s capabilities in forming a beautiful crown of the correct shape.

Choose strong varieties plants well adapted to temperate climate conditions, resistant to freezing and disease.

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