A beautiful and well kept garden can add a lot to increase the appeal of your home which in turn could add to your home's value. However, the thought of all the work that goes into maintaining a beautiful garden puts people off. There are many ways on how to develop a low maintenance garden. This article summarizes twelve simple ways that you can follow to decrease the time spent in maintaining your garden.

1. Design a yard that reduces the tasks that you find mundane. Tasks like mowing and edging your lawn. If this is a task that you don't like to do or you complain about and put off constantly then consider paying someone to mow your lawn for you. This will save you time and consequently help support a local business. You can also use a low growing groundcover in hard to mow areas.

2. Copy designs from yards that seem to work in your neighborhood. Also, commercially landscaped properties are a great source of ideas, too. Do not be afraid to copy their ideas. Professionals know what plants work well together and grow well in your climate zone and which plantings will make a low maintenance garden.

3. When installing pathways, use materials that are low maintenance. Stone pavers surrounded by pebbles or mulch will minimize weeding between the pavers. Even mulch simply layered over a landscaping cloth makes an attractive weed-free pathway which will blend in naturally with your garden.

4. Know the different gardening niches in your yard. This information is very helpful when choosing the right plants for the different niches. This way you are able to avoid the task of having to replace them since incorrectly placed plants do not thrive.

5. The more natural your garden is, the easier it is to maintain. Avoid plants that require manipulation like staking or pruning. Nature is the best gardener so rely on your zone's native species which are always low maintenance.

6. Group together plants that have similar maintenance tasks, which can be done at the same time, in the same space, saving you valuable time. For example, have an annual flowerbed with plantings that can be planted at the same time in the season and weeded, deadheaded and cleared at the same time.

7. Grow plants that you love. Gardening among your favorite beautiful blooms and scents is a real treat. This makes gardening easier and pleasant.

8. Grow perennials that do not need to be replanted every year like annuals do. If you have to plant annuals, use them to fill in the gaps while waiting for perennials to bloom.

9. Leave no room for weeds in your garden. This can be done by using landscape cloth and/or mulch. If you do see weeds, weed often and remove the weeds when they are still small. Make sure all empty spaces either have a plant or are mulched.

10. Randomly placed containers in your garden then add a splash of color. Container gardening allows you to move and place color to strategic areas in your garden without having to plant new plants in the beds.

11. Using raised bed to grow your vegetables enhances the look of your garden. Raised beds drain easier which is a plus in heavy clay soils. Raised beds also confine foot traffic to the outside of the box which keeps the soil loose allowing the roots to grow deeper for healthier looking plants.

12. Choosing a good time to work in your garden makes the gardening tasks seem easier. Work in the early morning or the late evening when temperatures are cooler.

If you follow all of these or even just some of the above steps then you will find that you will start having more time to enjoy the rewards of your well maintained low maintenance garden. Let your landscape design do the work for you.

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