Henri's tips on a low-maintenance garden
- Fill no more than one-third of the garden with tiles, decking or semi-paving. For a design that is balanced, two-thirds of the garden consists of greenery.
- Want to design a new front yard? With maintenance in mind, choose a garden that is easily accessible from all sides. That way you can easily get close to plants, for example, to prune them.
- Straight-line paving with planting boxes in between results in a clear division of compartments. This is an example of a design trick that ensures you can easily reach all the plants for pruning. This makes it easier to maintain the garden.
- Choose ground covers, hardy plants and shrubs. Create dense planting beds, possibly at height for convenience and to get different sight lines. This way, weeds have much less of a chance.
- Tired of a standard hedge marking the boundary between sidewalk and garden? A great solution is to plant pieces of hedge that are shaded and deeper in the garden. This way you create an open garden, but also privacy. And not a boring hedge.
- Grasses make the garden look attractive and lively even in winter. They don't require much maintenance. You don't cut them back until spring, after which they have another chance to sprout nicely.
- You can leave leaves (partially) in the winter. This is good for biodiversity and is in fact a natural form of fertilization.
- When designing the new garden, also consider installing sprinkler systems. That way it will be much easier to water plants in times of drought. That way your plants survive a dry summer and you have less work (and expense!) replacing plants.
Create such a low-maintenance design yourself?
Are your hands itching to get started with Henri's tips and design your own dream garden? This can be done quickly and easily with the online drawing tool www.tekenjetuin.nl
See the result
Want to see a great example of a low-maintenance, green front yard? Check out the video.
