Landscape by Design

For many of us, the first quarter of the New Year is a great time to take inventory of various aspects of our lives and determine where we can re-organize, un-clutter, re-design or, perhaps, finish a few things we've been putting off. We clean out closets and organize everything from kitchen pantry shelves to overstuffed sock drawers. We refill our notebook organizers and put a new calendar on the refrigerator door. The slate is clean. It's a good time to make changes in our diets or set new goals for how we want to spend our time.

This is just a guess, but I'll bet most of us don't include "Spend more time working in my yard" on our list of things to do this year. Our list may include "Spend more time enjoying my garden," "Re-landscape the front yard," or "Create an outdoor entertaining space." It is unlikely that we aspire to "Spend all day, every Saturday maintaining the landscape.”

Yet, many homeowners resign themselves to several hours of yard work each week. After all, depending upon the season, the grass must be mowed, edged, aerated and fertilized. The beds must be weeded and mulched. There are shrubs to prune and annuals to plant. It can be a lot of work keeping the landscape looking its best. But it doesn't have to be that way. Your yard can be both beautiful and time-efficient. I'll give you some professional tips to reduce the amount of time you spend working outside and increase the time you have for relaxing and entertaining in your outdoor rooms. Finally, I'll share some interesting information about a hot, new trend in residential landscaping that can reduce your mowing time to….zero!

Design with "Low Maintenance" in Mind

The best way to ensure your yard is low maintenance is to design it that way from the start. Even if you have an existing landscape that is "high maintenance," it may be time to re-think the entire thing to achieve a maintenance level that better suits your lifestyle and desires. With a little bit of strategic planning and the willingness to make a few changes, your landscape can look like you spend hours each week maintaining it. You will be sipping iced tea under a shade tree for much of the time you may have previously spent mowing, pruning or weeding. Let's look at a few design tips for new construction and renovation projects alike.

1. Ask yourself, "How much time do I want to commit to yard work each week?" If the answer is "very little," then you must eliminate the things that consume large amounts of time, such as excessive turf areas and high-maintenance shrubbery. This may require reducing the size of the lawn by enlarging natural areas and planting beds. In place of the lawn, install groundcovers, such as variegated Asian Jasmine, Dwarf Mondo, Big Blue Liriope or Pachysandra, to keep mulch time and expense down and minimize plant maintenance.

2. When deciding what plants to keep, remove, or install, understand how large they will be when mature and how much pruning they will require. One sure way to create a seemingly endless cycle of pruning is to install plants that when mature will block windows, encroach upon walkways, and constantly try to merge with the other shrubs. Go ahead and remove existing plantings that create unnecessary work and opt for ones that stay sized more appropriately for the location. This will also do wonders for the appearance of your home and save you a lot of work. Here are some plant varieties that will stay fairly compact, are low maintenance, require very little pruning, and also add color and interest to the garden: Harbor Dwarf Nandina, New Gold Juniper, Knock Out Roses, Autumn or Southern Shield Fern, Black-Eyed Susan, Daylily, Purple Coneflower, and a variety of ornamental grasses like Miscanthus.

4. Just let go! Say goodbye to vast lawn areas, tired and overgrown shrubbery, and plants that must constantly be sheered to look neat. Remove it. Rip it out. Replace it with better options when you can. You will experience instant gratification from the simple, decisive act of ridding your landscape of things that cost you time and detract from the appearance of your home anyway.

Maintaining the Garden

After you've done the first step of designing or re-designing your landscape to reduce overall maintenance time, there are still more ways to reduce the time you spend working in the yard. Here are ten strategies to keep time working in the yard to a minimum.

1. Use mulching blades in your lawn mower. Mulching blades chop the clippings over and over before discharging them back into the lawn. This eliminates the need for the very labor-intensive task of bagging and dumping clippings.

2. Remove grass and apply mulch around obstacles that increase mowing and trimming time, such as fences, mailboxes and trees.

3. Scalp the lawn early in the spring to reduce thatch and help keep the overall mowing height low all year. This will speed up mowing time by reducing the amount of new growth to cut off.

4. Use higher-end fertilizers. Better fertilizers are coated for timed-release, which allows for an even growth pattern and more uniform appearance. You may get a few more days between mowing when the lawn looks neat and uniform.

5. Apply combination products that do two jobs in one step, such as "Weed & Feed."

6. Invest in a commercial, hand-held, stick-style edger. The pros know these edgers reduce trimming time by about 50 percent as compared to residential push models.

7. Remove or relocate trees that litter lawn areas with excessive leaves and debris, such as Sweet Gum and Magnolias. They are better suited for natural and wooded areas.

8. Mulch around plants and trees with hardwood mulch rather than pine straw. Hardwood mulch comes in a variety of color dyes and is much quicker to apply than pine straw. It is more expensive up front, but you'll recoup the difference because it holds up longer. Often, one application of hardwood mulch will last up to two years, and this saves time and money. You can also apply a "color coat" to refresh a faded base of hardwood for a fraction of the time or expense of other mulches.

9. To save time weeding plant beds, apply a selective herbicide like Ornamec™. This liquid herbicide can be sprayed directly over most shrubs, perennials and groundcovers, thus dramatically reducing the time you'll spend hand weeding these areas. The label indicates which plant varieties it is safe to use around.

10. Hire a professional lawn maintenance service.

When you think of artificial turf, you probably imagine a football field or a miniature golf course. However, manufactures are now producing products for the residential market that fool the eye and offer a wealth of benefits. Imagine never mowing, edging, fertilizing, aerating or watering your lawn again. Imagine the time, fuel and water you could save. The idea of artificial turf for the residential market is really taking off. It comes in a variety of heights, textures and shades and closely resembles natural sod. It is costly initially with prices ranging from $2.99 to $5.99 per square foot plus installation.

Artificial turf has already become quite popular on the West Coast and is sure to gain popularity across the country as drought conditions and the associated watering restrictions force us to rethink the allocation of our precious water resources.

Enjoy the Fruit of Your Labor

Once you've reduced the time it takes to maintain your garden, you'll have more time and energy to enjoy it. Taking time to smell the roses is a great gift to give to yourself.