A maintenance-free garden or almost: tips and ideas

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Mow, prune, weed, water … You do not have time to take care of your garden and yet, you dream of a garden that makes envy the neighbor. Do not panic !

You can always create a pleasant and relaxing garden, without spending your weekend exhausting yourself on your garden. Here is a practical guide to achieving your dream: a maintenance free garden… Or almost.

Maintenance-free garden: gravel and cactus

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The lawn is one of the elements of the garden that requires the most maintenance: it must be watered and mowed regularly, not to mention the scarification, fertilization, etc. That’s why, if you want a maintenance-free garden, you can replace your lawn with ground cover plants like sedum or dwarf chamomile.

Landscape garden with slabs that draw a path in the middle of the gravel

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To avoid the proliferation of weeds, you can create a landscaped garden punctuated with stone slabs or slate slabs. As for the massifs, think of decorative grass like angel hair or blue fescue, two plants that do not require much watering and will shelter insects that will devour fleas and pests.

Garden on gravel: zen attitude

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Ground cover perennials are an excellent solution as they will save you both weeding, watering and planting seasonal flowers. After all, time is precious and the result is just as beautiful! You can also install an automatic watering and program watering at the beginning or end of the day, when the sun does not touch.

Ultra-contemporary landscaping garden

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Why not transform a part of your garden into a kitchen garden without much maintenance? There are several varieties of vegetables that can be reseeded, such as cherry tomato, oak leaf lettuce, spinach-strawberry or watercress. In two phases, you have just created a garden two in one.

Gravel and pebbles articulate around a green lawn

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The gravel garden is another effective technique for reducing maintenance. We have already devoted an entire publication to it, but we are clearing the essentials. Perfect for fans who do not have time to maintain their garden, the gravel will replace your lawn and give this space a look as natural as aesthetic.

Stone slabs and trees of life Bonsai lit from the ground

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If you like potted plants, abelia confetti is an aesthetic and elegant choice. Side trees, the Catalpa and the tree of life Bonsai are an excellent solution.

Small garden with concrete and brazier furniture

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If you have a palisade, why not dress it with honeysuckle, climbing plants like hydrangea or creeping dwarf charcoal?

Maintenance free garden with minimalist concrete slabs

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To limit the frequency of watering, also think about mulching your plantations. To do this, opt for pine bark, wood chips or dead leaves. This step is important because it will also promote microbial life.

Beautiful garden with artificial turf

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In addition to the gravel garden, permaculture is another widely recognized technique. What is permaculture? Inspired by nature, the concept aims to limit the use of chemical fertilizers without which the forest grows without problems.

Garden with wooden terrace and flower boxes

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In fact, the soil of a forest is home to animals, bacteria and fungi that promote soil fertility without chemical components. You can take inspiration from this concept in your own garden and make nature work for you.

Garden in Ireland that looks more like a refuge in Provence

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If it is not gravel or lawn, it will often be a floor covering like slate slab or stone. Opt for slabs of different sizes and create an interesting graphic and textured effect.

Garden on gravel and border stone slabs

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You can also dress your floor with pavers or with maintenance-free exterior woods such as solid wood cladding, plywood panels or terrace floors.

Garden in gravel and border stone slabs

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Use wood to give relief to your garden and make some flower boxes or just create a garden path.

Maintenance free garden with gravel

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To satisfy your olfactory sense, choose aromatic plants such as laurel, rosemary, sage, thyme, mint or chives, all plants that do not need to be renewed. Beware, basil and tarragon will struggle to withstand low temperatures.

Garden terrace with beautiful pool and thatched hut

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As we said above, turf requires a lot of maintenance. But if you want to have one at all costs, prefer low-maintenance turf. Instead of sowing it, you can also opt for sod plates to put in the first 24 hours after your purchase.

A green garden is built around a gravel yard

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For borders, choose a flat brick border.

The floor covering delineates several spaces on this easy-to-maintain terrace

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For a maintenance-free garden that makes you dream, take inspiration from the image above where the various floor coverings do not leave indifferent.

Set up a mini Zen garden under the stairs

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Low maintenance requirements, a slab driveway will only need high pressure cleaning in the spring. To avoid weed profiling through gravel pathways, loosen the soil and then incorporate sand to improve drainage.

Garden on gravel easy to maintain

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A maintenance-free garden is also synonymous with maintenance-free garden furniture. Opt for rotproof wood furniture, certified PEFC or FSC and therefore from a reasonably managed forest.

Garden path that resembles a staircase

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Forget the metal furniture that needs to be maintained and repainted regularly. Do not just settle for plastic furniture that is not very aesthetic.

Maintenance-free garden inspired by Japanese minimalism

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Last but not least, prepare your garden for the winter. Collect healthy dead leaves and put them on the compost and burn the sick dead leaves. Cut dead branches, protect fragile shrubs, grease your lawnmower, store the garden hose and be ready when spring returns …

Floor slabs punctuated by borderless flower beds

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