Choose low maintenance plants
Always opt for native plants. Gardens that include introduced plants will always need more TLC to survive our climate and sandy soil.
A native garden will not only be water wise but will look attractive and can provide year-round flowering - and you can even achieve a cottage garden look without all the hard work!
If you don't fancy a native garden, there are many resilient plants that can stay alive all year round (and are quite difficult to kill!).
Reduce your lawn areas
Lawns have to be one of the most labour-intensive aspects of gardening. They must be mowed, fed, aerated, and watered on a regular basis. You could take the artificial lawn route to reduce maintenance or fill some areas with ground covers instead.
Automate reticulation
You could spend hours standing with a hose to water your garden or attach a sprinkler to your outdoor tap and water your garden, paving and decking. The simple solution is a reticulation system on a timer. The way to achieve maximum effectiveness for a reticulation system is to group plants together with similar watering needs and have your retic system set for different zones.
Mulch!
Who loves weeding? Nobody! Okay, there may be a few people out there who love this backbreaking task, but I'm guessing they are in the minority. Mulching is an excellent way of cutting down on weeding time.
Add plants in pots
You can spread these potted plants out throughout the garden for a bit of variety and to cheer up shady areas (obviously choose plants that don't need as much sunlight). Plants in pots are easier to maintain (especially if you put them in self-watering pots).
Happy low-maintenance gardening!
