Low-Maintenance Basics
As always, we look to the wild world for instruction. In the natural landscape there are no weeds, no mowers or edgers, nobody prunes or spreads bark, and there is surely no landscape fabric. What makes this arrangement both beautiful and laborfree?
For starters, think about the maintenance tasks you wish to avoid. Weed removal and prevention represents surely the greatest time expenditure in the built landscape.
What are weeds?
They are the species that are adapted to filling in the disturbed places, the open spaces, the unplanted areas. These species — including buttercups, horsetails, annual bluegrass and all their kin — are really nature’s first responders, the EMTs of the plant world. When a landslide rips away the plant cover, or a big tree blows over and lays bare the forest floor, the first plants that grow are these very species that are rushing in to fill the space and cover the soil. Their job is to protect the essence of any landscape, its soil.
Designing to minimize weeds
If open spaces are the invitation to these disturbance-adapted species, how can we design a landscape that will require the least labor input over the long run? The answer is to plant shrubbery in sizes, patterns and spacing so that within a couple of seasons it grows together into a carpet, hiding and then shading out the weeds.
In your own landscape, pick focus areas for flowers and then plant hardy perennials there. Plant the majority of the land in tough shrubbery that will take the absolute minimum of care, and space them so that they will cover the soil completely within a couple of seasons.
