Maintanence free garden that still looks ok?

R

roxy

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Hi Everyone,

I am sick of looking at my clumps of grass in the back garden deteriorating before my eyes as the weather gets worse. I have a dog which is not helping it. We are planning on putting in decking next year when we have the money but for the moment I want something easy and cost efficient to get me through the winter before it turns into a swamp. The boyfriend is talking about rotovating it, whatever that entails, but I don't really want any grass and all, maybe just stones and a few pot plants to last us out till next year. What do you guys suggest?
 
The only maintenance free garden that I can think of is one that is concreted over. Otherwise anything that grows will need some maintenance.
 
Plant things like Bamboo and hardy shrubs / trees and cover the place in decking/paving and gravel/pepple over everything. Will keep the weeks down, the shrubs need almost zero maintenance and will look ok.
 
email [email protected] with your query and any/ all available info

hope this helps
oirish

ps i know this isnt advice as such but garden advice should be based on some exact specifics ie garden size, family, lifestyle, budget etc
 
Re: Maintenence free garden that still looks ok?

Magoo said:
In fairness, what would he know about gardening?:)
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Actually, he is in fact a she, and she knows a fair bit about digging holes I must say! If only I could get her to listen to instructions!

I like the sounds of the bamboo shoots and pebbles, I don't need it to be completely maintenence free, just easy enough to look after. What would I have to do for the pebbles, would it have to be concreted first, how do I get rid of the grass? Sorry, I really am clueless with this sort of thing! The decking is definetely not till next year, really can't afford such a luxury at the moment!

And thanks for the link, Oirish, will give them a go too.
 
You could cover the whole grassed area in a permeable membrane. This could then be covered in the aforementioned pebbles!!
 
liteweight said:
You could cover the whole grassed area in a permeable membrane. This could then be covered in the aforementioned pebbles!!
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Thanks liteweight, is that the sheet stuff you buy on a roll and peg down?
If it is, the trouble is we had this last year in another house in the dogs' 'area' and she tore it all up. It was under bark chippings.
 
It's probably the same stuff. Maybe she wouldn't be as keen to dig in pebbles? They're easily raked back into place anyway. The main trouble with her ripping the membrane is that the grass/weeds might poke through!!
 
liteweight said:
It's probably the same stuff. Maybe she wouldn't be as keen to dig in pebbles? They're easily raked back into place anyway. The main trouble with her ripping the membrane is that the grass/weeds might poke through!!
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Hmmm, might try it anyway though, are those bags of pebbles expensive? I'm sure as soon as I put it to my boyfriend, I'll get 'what's the point, she'll just dig it up anyway', but I think it might be worth a shot. I'll douse the weeks in weedkiller before I do it. Thanks!
 
Not sure of the price but I think it's cheaper to order them by the ton from somewhere like Roadstone!
 
liteweight said:
Not sure of the price but I think it's cheaper to order them by the ton from somewhere like Roadstone!
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Great, have a friend who works for them, will get him to get me a price and let you all know how it goes.
 
roxy said:
Great, have a friend who works for them, will get him to get me a price and let you all know how it goes.
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Don't go for the most expensive. I got a ton of the ordinary stuff and then bought 2 bags of white to scatter over top. Looks great, much better than all white which I find 'glary'!;)
 
liteweight said:
Don't go for the most expensive. I got a ton of the ordinary stuff and then bought 2 bags of white to scatter over top. Looks great, much better than all white which I find 'glary'!;)
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Brilliant, great idea. The white reminds of the quarry when I was on Robben Island! How much was a ton of it?
 
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