How to maintain your yard on a shoestring budget

By Hosea Omole

There are indications that the hard economic times are not about to go away. Many of us have been forced to down budgets to reflect this reality. However, this should not compromise the quality of our gardens. Here are seven tips that will help you adjust your landscape maintenance budget suitably.

1. Plan

No one intentionally installs a landscape that requires a great deal of maintenance. However, unless deliberate care is taken during planning to achieve this objective, you may find yourself spending much more time and money taking care of your garden. Thinking about maintenance as you plan your garden is probably the most effective way to avoid high maintenance costs in the long run.

You need to plant the right plant at the right place in the right way. Take your time to understand your site. Isolate the special micro-climate-areas that are particularly protected, exposed, dry, sunny, cool or hot. Try as much as possible to grow each plant in its most ideal setting rather than try to adapt the environment to suit the plant.

Plants from your region are usually the best adapted to that environment and should constitute the bulk of your planting palette. Find out which plants perform best in your neighbourhood and make this your starting point.

2. Reduce your lawn

For majority of gardens, lawn-care consumes a large chunk of maintenance time and money. The biggest step you can take towards a low maintenance garden is, therefore, to reduce your watering and mowing needs by reducing the size of your grass lawn. If you have a really large compound, concentrate your efforts on a small area near the house and allow areas further away to naturalise. Many low maintenance ground covers can also be used as alternatives to the traditional grass lawn.

3. Keep it simple

Simplicity is one of the principles of landscape design and is a strategy for low maintenance. Avoid over-planting. Make sure each plant is serving a purpose. Allow each plant enough space to grow to its full size without constant pruning to contain it. By all means go for plants of different textures, forms and colour, but avoid excessive variety that gives a busy appearance.

4. Incorporate hardscapes

Hardscapes such as parking, decks and patios increase the usable outdoor living space. At the same time they require relatively little maintenance. Incorporated into your garden space, they add aesthetic value, utility as well as spare your lawn too much foot traffic. Edges of such hardscapes should be designed to reduce the amount of hand trimming required. Avoid sharp corners and narrow strips that are difficult to mow.

5. Mulch

Mulch the flowerbeds and individual plants to minimise weed growth and conserve soil moisture. Mulching also saves you lots of maintenance by reducing soil compaction, moderating soil temperature and adding much needed organic matter to the soil.

6. Stick to a programme

They say a stitch in time saves nine. Do not wait until the problem is obvious before doing anything — you will probably be a little too late. After your garden is established, follow a regular maintenance schedule that suits your lifestyle. Should you opt to hire a garden service, make sure they stick to good maintenance practices and are following some kind of a programme.

7. Increase utility

Many people find garden maintenance expensive and bothersome simply because it gives them very little in return. A garden that is designed to suit and add value to your lifestyle will be much easier to maintain.