A Guide to Garden Landscaping and Maintenance

Not all of us are green-fingered and relish the thought of spending an entire weekend tending to our gardens. Even if this is the case, any garden will still need to be tended to so your options are to hire a gardener or get on with it yourself.

Luckily, with a bit of forward planning, gardening and basic landscaping doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Why not have a go yourself and save yourself some money in the process? This guide will provide you with an overview of the basic tasks that you should be completing to leave your garden looking presentable.

Start with Cleaning Up

Your first step is to find your rake and a couple of garden waste bags and collect all of the leaves and vegetation that are lying on your lawn and on your pathways.

You will be surprised at how a simple clean-up and tidy will immediately improve the look and feel of your garden, even if nothing is currently growing or your lawn isn’t looking as green as it could.

After that we suggest that you give the garden a once over with your lawnmower, just to give it that freshly cut look.

Weed Your Garden Beds and Paved Areas

Weeding can involve significant effort if tackled incorrectly. There is right and a wrong way to go about weed removal so start by;

• Use a hand trowel to dig underneath the weeds sitting in any soiled areas of your garden. You need to remove the entire plant and its roots to avoid regrowth.

• Just pulling at each weed with your hands is going to be tiring and unproductive.

• Use a specialist weed killer spray for any paved areas with weeds growing between the paving joints. Be careful not to get any weed killer on your hands or clothes.

Edge Your Flower Beds

The idea here is to create a clean line between your lawn and any adjoining flower beds. This in itself is landscaping and will go a long way to dramatically improving the look of your garden.

Start by using a flat shovel to slice through the edge of the lawn and create clean lines. If you’re skilled enough, you will be able to add a few gentle curves to create a nice flowing effect. We suggest that you invest in a few landscape materials such as decorative gravel and edging boards which will serve well as additional features or focal points of your garden. The key is to experiment and incorporate elements that will complement the existing layout of your garden.

Plant New Flowers and Vegetables

Depending on the overall goal of your garden, you might want to add a few new flower species or perhaps a vegetable or two. Adding any additional vegetation will require upkeep so keep this in mind. Also, consider adding some mulch to any areas with are looking a little sparse. Mulch is great for keeping the soil moist and suppressing weeds. We suggest a layer of no more than 4 inches thick. 

By now your garden should look totally transformed and the whole process may have even changed your attitude towards gardening.