Low Maintenance Landscaping Ideas for Your Home

It’s satisfying to roll up to your house and see the yard well-groomed and tidy. But when it’s not, it can feel exhausting just to look at. Although every yard will take some amount of work, you may be able to lighten your load by adjusting things like your choice of ground cover, adding mulch or stone to your garden beds, or opting for plants that are easier to grow.

Related Topic: Fast-Growing Ground Cover

Landscaping for Easy Care

The best way to keep your yard work from getting overwhelming is to set up your space with lower maintenance in mind. Cultivate the landscape you want, that looks beautiful, compliments your home, and that requires minimal upkeep.

• Mulch Bed: Mulch is a wonderful component to add to your flower bed or to designate a walkway through your yard. Although it serves as a decorative element to tidy up the space, it also reduces weed growth, slowly releases water for plants so you don’t have to water as often, and it also breaks down in the soil, offering nutrients for healthier plants. Because it does break down, it would have to be replaced every few years.
• Crushed Stone: Crushed stone can be used in addition or as an alternative to mulch, both for pathways and for garden beds. Similarly, it discourages weeds and offers a distinct look. But it doesn’t help with reducing watering or increasing soil nutrients. On the bright side, it does not need to be replaced like mulch would.
• Alternative Ground Cover: Keeping the grass trim can get tedious and eat into your weekend. But there are other options to consider. Low-growing grass blends require little to no mowing. You may also opt for an artificial grass that keeps its colour without watering or trimming. Consult a landscaping expert, like your trusted Grounds Guys®, to find the ground cover that works best for your yard.
• Irrigation System: By setting up a system to water your yard and other plants, you can direct the water where it’s needed most without having to spend time caring for each section. If you can set up a timer on the system, you will hardly have to think about it at all.
• Slow-Release Garden Food: Depending on the plants you choose, you may want to add extra fertilizer to the soil. An easy application of this is using a slow-release fertilizer that you can stick in the ground near your plant and let it slowly break down and offer nutrition to the soil over the summer.
• Landscaping Borders: To add interest to your yard, you can stack stone or bricks to set up barriers that divide the space into different parts. With this, you can set up several types of gardens and limit the extent of your yard that needs to be mowed or watered.
• Rock Garden: The Japanese have perfected beauty in simplicity with their rock gardens. If you enjoy a minimalistic look, you may want to try this. Fill your designated space with crushed stone or sand. Decorate the space with some interesting rocks and perhaps a bench for contemplating. If you choose, you can rake designs in the sand.
• Wildflower Garden: Wildflower seeds grow easily and add a pop of colour to your yard. If you choose perennial seeds, they will also come back every year.

Low Maintenance Outdoor Plants

To keep your space cheery, but low maintenance, choose plants and grasses that are native to where you live. This will increase their chance of flourishing even if you don’t have a strict water schedule. Nonfussy flowers are another ideal pick for this reason. You can also fill your garden with perennials to keep from having to plant new things year after year. These are a few easy plants to grow outside.

• Hostas: A great fill-in foliage, hostas have varieties that prefer full sun and others that like partial shade. They also require little watering through the summer.
• Lavender: Lavender loves full sunlight and well-drained soil. It has a beautiful scent and attracts honeybees. It’s a good choice if you are happy to feed the bees. Lavender is an evergreen shrub that, if cared for, can last for years.
• Sunflowers: Sunflowers are wonderful for pet-friendly yards. They love direct sun and should be watered several times to grow tall. Add some supports once the stem has reached a metre tall. You can collect the seeds to dry out after the flower dies and use them again for planting next season.
• Pansies: These flowers like full sunlight and moist but well-drained soil. Plant them 15 centimetres apart for room to grow, and water once or twice a week, depending on the heat.
• Marigolds: Marigolds can go for full sunlight or dappled shade. The flower does best in well-drained soil. Only water when the topsoil is dry.
• Peonies: As a perennial, peonies will come back every year. They like full sun and well-drained soil.

Related Topic: How to Install Drip Irrigation

Landscaping Made Easy

If you’re not careful, keeping up with yard work and making sure your landscaping looks its best can be a full-time job. But some well-planned changes to your landscape design can really help lighten your workload and give you more time throughout the year to do the things you really enjoy.

If you need help getting started, or maintaining your current landscaping, your local pros at The Grounds Guys can help. We are experts when it comes to providing landscaping services that will keep your yard looking great all year long. Give us a call at (888) 972-8063 or request an estimate online today.