While many people have a dream of creating an elaborate garden with some amazing plantlife, there are many more who would settle for a space that simply looks neat and tidy. In fact, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive as a beautiful space is built on a foundation of the hard work of maintenance. If your garden has started to look a little unruly or you are simply looking for some advice on upkeep, here are a few of the best ideas that you can put into practice.
Mow and water the lawn on a regular basis
The lawn is the centerpoint of your garden space and you certainly need to make sure that it is well-maintained. This is particularly true when the sun is beating down on it during the warmer months of the year. At this stage, you need to put a regular mowing schedule at the heart of what you are doing. At the same time, you don’t want to forget about watering it on a regular basis. This is particularly important during a dry spell. Otherwise, it can easily start to yellow, which will spoil the rest of your space very quickly.
Remove any weeds regularly
Many people forget about weeds for a long time and then try to remove them all in one fell swoop. However, taking on a little and often approach is a much more effective way of keeping them at bay. Make sure that you have the right tools to hand such as a weed eater. Remember that you can’t simply pull them out without removing the roots. Otherwise, they are going to keep on coming back time and time again. Some people take a chemical approach, but make sure that you know exactly what you are using and this isn’t going to have a harmful impact on the rest of your garden space.
Choose plants and flowers that you can maintain
When you are planting new plants and flowers, you should make sure to go for ones that you are able to maintain. This means looking at the rest of your responsibilities and only committing to the ones that you can actually take care of. For some people, they are so busy in the rest of their lives that they know only low maintenance plants are going to be for them. If you start off with a base of plants that you actually have time to look after, this will seriously help in making sure that your garden looks at its best.
Clean ornaments and hard surfaces
As well as the maintenance work that you need to do on the plant life itself, you also need to consider the ornaments and hard surfaces. Having the right hosepipe is obviously going to make your job a whole lot easier. However, you may wish to invest in something a little stronger such as a pressure washer as this can really help in looking after a patio. Again, regular cleaning helps to ensure that dirt and grime doesn’t build up too much and start to overwhelm the space. This helps to turn it into a job that takes a matter of minutes compared to hours. Of course, at the end of the winter period, it is likely that you will need to do more as gardens tend to naturally not be as well looked after during this time.
Prune your shrubs and bushes
As well as taking good care of your lawn, one of the parts of the garden that can easily start to look quite scruffy if you are not careful are the shrubs and bushes. So, you should keep an eye out for any branches that are starting to get out of control. You should also look for any that are dying or decaying as you don’t want to risk it spreading to other parts of the plant. This way, you can prevent a problem that was originally quite isolated causing more of an issue than it needs to. This is where a good pair of pruning shears can be such a worthwhile investment.
Protect your garden furniture
Part of looking after your garden furniture comes down to ensuring that you are cleaning it on a regular basis. At the same time, you should also try to protect it from the worst of the elements. Investing in some good-quality covers can make all the difference here as you can then protect the furniture when it would otherwise get soaking wet or blown over. If you have a garage or shed space, you should aim to put your furniture away during the winter months when it is not in use at all.
Trim your hedges
You may feel like trimming the hedges is an easy enough job that is not going to get out of control. However, many of these are very fast growers that can quickly start to rise at a rate that you would not have thought. Ideally, you should get into a habit of trimming these at least twice a month. As well as reducing the shape on top, you also need to look at the sides as well. This is an area that many people overlook, but it is also a space where it can easily get very scruffy if you are not careful. Garden shears can help with the general trimming and maintenance work, but a good way of reducing the hard graft comes from investing in a good pair of electric hedge trimmers.
While all of these points may feel like they are a lot of work, if you make the time to do them all on a regular basis, you make it much more likely that you have a garden that looks both neat and tidy. This way, not only do you have a space of which you can be proud, but you are also more likely to want to spend more time in it. This is especially attractive if it has been long neglected.
