10 low maintenance garden ideas

Planning a low maintenance garden

Choose easy shrubs

Evergreen shrubs not only provide structure and winter interest in the garden, but they're also a low maintenance plant. Choose shrubs that are slow growing and don't need much pruning, such as abelias and pittosporum. Look also for shrubs that don't need deadheading, such as fuchsias.

• Buy abelia from Crocus

Buy vegetable plug plants

Sowing vegetables from seed is budget friendly, but it can take time, especially if you grow labour intensive vegetables like tomatoes, which need to be potted on several times. Save time by buying vegetable plug plants, which can be planted direct outdoors. For tender veg, wait until the danger of frosts is over. If you only need a few tomato or kale plants, for example, it can be much easier to buy a strip of plug plants.

• Buy veg plug plants from Crocus

Grow low-maintenance fruit

Fruit such as strawberries, rhubarb, gooseberries and currants provide a crop every year but need little attention after planting. Choose low maintenance fruit and you'll get an easy harvest for very little effort. Strawberry plants may need replacing after three or four years, but otherwise they are easy to look after, while gooseberries and currants just need light pruning in winter.

• Buy strawberry plants from Crocus

Add easy access raised beds

If bending down is a problem or you are planning a garden for elderly gardeners, raised beds are a good option. This brings the soil level up to a more accessible height, making planting and weeding easier.

• Buy a raised bed kit from Crocus

Choose large containers

Large pots will dry out more slowly than small ones, so you won't have to water them as often. Make a focal point with a big container, using one or two plants that can stay in year round. This will cut down on the amount of seasonal planting you need to change.

• Buy containers from Thompson & Morgan

Look for reliable plants

Choose reliable plants such as hardy geraniums or hebes that don't need lots of attention to thrive. Look for plants with an RHS Award of Garden Merit, which is given to plants that perform well. Make sure you choose plants that suit the conditions in your garden. This will cut down on the amount of time you spend maintaining plants.

• Buy hardy geraniums from Sarah Raven

Mulch to reduce weeding

Lay a mulch around and between plants to suppress weeds. There's a wide range of mulches that can help keep weeds at bay and they have the added benefit of retaining moisture in the soil. These include home-made garden compost, gravel and woodchips or bark. Organic mulches will also release nutrients over time and improve the structure of your soil.

• Buy mulch from Thompson & Morgan

Add ground cover

Using ground cover plants is another way to suppress weeds. Avoid leaving bare patches in your borders where weeds can establish and flourish. Low maintenance ground cover plants include Persicaria bistorta, which is quick to spread and also flowers for months, from April to August, or for shade, Ajuga reptans is a good pick.

• Buy ground cover plants from Thompson & Morgan

Create a gravel garden

If you have limited time swap your lawn for a gravel garden – a great choice if you want low-maintenance landscaping. Lawns can be one of the most labour intensive parts of the garden, whereas drought tolerant plants in a gravel garden need little care once established. The gravel should also help to keep down weeds.

• Buy drought tolerant plants from Crocus

Be efficient with watering

Set up an automatic irrigation system for your containers and save time on watering, especially during summer when pots will need to be watered every day in hot weather. Irrigation systems can also be connected to a timer.

• Buy an irrigation system from B&Q