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This beautiful two-acre garden was created and maintained by one gardener over 38 years—without a grand plan or a team. Instead, it’s full of practical ways to enjoy more garden, less work. Whether your garden is large or modest, these tips can help you save time and still have a beautiful, flourishing space.
1. Give Up Growing Veg (Unless You Love It)
Vegetable gardening is hard work—digging, sowing, watering, and protecting crops.
If you don’t love it, let it go. Focus on flowers, trees and shrubs. Add an apple tree or two if you still want some home-grown produce.
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Apple tree in flower in low-maintenance garden – more garden less work
2. Plant Vigorous Plants to Cut Down on Weeding
Strong-growing plants quickly cover the soil and crowd out weeds. You’ll need to weed less often—and often not at all.
Try Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Persicaria, or ferns. These are especially good in mild or damp climates.
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Vigorous geraniums filling a border and suppressing weeds – more garden less work
3. Use Bold Hedges to Add Structure
Hedges divide a garden into rooms, making it feel bigger and more interesting.
Try beech, yew, or hornbeam. They’re easy to trim once or twice a year. Avoid planting yew in soggy soil—it doesn’t like sitting in water.
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Hornbeam hedge creating structure in a low-maintenance garden – more garden less work
4. Balance Wildness with Structure
Use solid hedges or paths to frame looser, more natural planting. It creates a balance that’s both beautiful and easy to care for.
Let plants fight it out—they’ll form bold combinations that look natural and fill the space.
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Wild planting meets crisp hedges in a relaxed garden – more garden less work
5. Skip the Big Autumn Clear-Up
Don’t spend weekends dragging garden waste to the compost heap. Instead, try chop and drop.
Cut down faded growth with hedge trimmers in early spring. Leave it in place to feed the soil and reduce watering.
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Cut-down border left as mulch for the soil – more garden less work
6. Say No to Garden Edging
Edging lawns is fiddly and often unnecessary. Try letting borders blend naturally or edge paths with low-growing plants like camomile or hardy geraniums.
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Camomile edging softens the border without extra work – more garden less work
7. Use Local Quarry Dust for Easy Paths
Paths made from gravel mixed with quarry dust compact naturally over time. They’re simple, affordable, and solid underfoot.
Be careful in wet weather, though—moss can form on them and may need managing.
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Gravel and clay path through naturalistic garden – more garden less work
8. Let Ivy Grow Up Walls
Ivy doesn’t damage walls if managed correctly. It can keep your house warmer and gives your garden a romantic, classic feel.
Just trim it regularly like a hedge and let it be.
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Ivy-covered brick wall adding charm to low-maintenance garden – more garden less work
9. Build Comfortable Seating That Suits You
Most garden seats are too tall or shallow. Build your own from breeze blocks and timber so it’s deep enough to lean back, and low enough for your feet to touch the ground.
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Breeze block garden bench designed for comfort – more garden less work
10. Keep Refining Your Planting
A garden evolves. Notice which combinations work and what might need changing. For example, pairing Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’ with purple alliums can create striking contrast.
It’s about adjusting as you go—enjoying more garden, less work each year.
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Euphorbia and alliums for bold, low-maintenance planting – more garden less work
Final Note:
There’s no need to follow gardening “rules” if they don’t suit you. Observe your garden. Learn what works. And most importantly, enjoy it.
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