Related Articles
There have been years in which I spent 20 hours a week weeding, planting, watering and pruning in my garden. The garden was ablaze with color, the kitchen sink was filled with vegetables and I would proudly lead guests on a tour—whether they wanted to go or not.
Then there have been other years in which I have spent a fraction of that time tending my garden. In those years the weeds sprouted in paths, roses had blackspot and I prayed for rain when guests were coming so I could cower inside and hide the squalor that was my garden.
So although I love to garden, the appeal of the title The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden was fairly strong for me. After all, life does sometimes intrude on my best intentions and, let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger. My kind of high-maintenance gardening requires stamina. And a strong back.
The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden’s author, Valerie Easton, insists that low-maintenance gardening is not “gardening lite” or the same as overnight gardens installed by housing development ground crews.
New low-maintenance gardens are “easy to live with and live in,” writes Easton. “They’re thoughtful places for outdoor living as well as plants, tailored to the needs of the people who create and use them. New low-maintenance gardens might be rich in flowers for cutting, feature places for kids to play, consist of a few pots or a luscious vegetable garden.”
Easton explains that a truly low-maintenance garden must be guided by an intentional design that incorporates hardscaping as well as plants. Having a plan—and sticking to it—minimizes the time-stresses of haphazard gardening practices that make for more work. That means relinquishing the habit of dragging home every appealing plant from the nursery and spending the rest of the day carrying it around the garden to find it a home.
Other low-maintenance practices Easton advocates are just basic good gardening practices—generously amending the soil, weeding early and often, working with nature by putting the right plant in the right place and practicing good garden sanitation habits. But there are also plenty of other low-maintenance tips that are useful, such as planting closely together to minimize the opportunity for weeds to get a foothold and adopting an acceptance for something short of perfection. Easton also offers plant suggestions and her featured gardeners list their own low-maintenance gardening tips.
Easton lives in Washington state where she writes for the Pacific Northwest Magazine of the Seattle Times. Her Left Coast experience is evident since most of the gardens and gardeners featured as low-maintenance examples are in Washington, Oregon and California, slighting us Right Coasters a bit.
Some of the gardens featured rely heavily on hardscaping and accoutrements, with hardly a plant in sight. They appear more like architectural examples of outdoor rooms than garden rooms and probably won’t appeal to the people who actually like plants in their gardens.
Fortunately, there are many examples of low-maintenance gardens with gorgeous plant collections. San Francisco designer Jeong Lee’s succulent garden is as sumptuous as it is surprising. David Pfeiffer, a Seattle-based landscape architect, has an enviable kitchen garden that looks anything but low maintenance. The author’s own garden, mixing flowers, greenery and edibles, will also appeal to plant lovers.
The book has extras that make it particularly useful. Garden book hoarders should hide their credit cards before reading because each section in the book is followed with a list of garden book resources. If your budget or shelf space limits your garden book buying inclinations, you’ll be grateful for the list of online resources provided—something many book writers leave out for fear of the websites disappearing.
The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden is ultimately about having a plan that fits with your lifestyle and limitations. Design-a-phobic gardeners should run the other way—fast. This is not the book for you unless you get some garden therapy. But for the rest of us, there are good low-maintenance lessons to take to heart and implement before exhaustion, age or both require tilling under our high-maintenance gardens altogether.
You can reach Robin at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com and can follow her on Twitter at @RobinRipley.
Comments
Glad to see note that this is aimed at NorthWest gardeners and folks here in the Mid-Atlantic should take what they read with that in mind
Great review. It makes me want to read the book.
I'm definitely in your camp, ("My kind of high-maintenance gardening requires stamina. And a strong back.") and worry about what will happen to the garden as I age. I'm already pushing my limit in a lot of areas. From various garden tours, I feel I know that the answer is hardscaping and designed/structured place. I also know that what makes me happy about gardening is the impulsive plant buying and the puttering around. I garden (verb). I don't have a garden (noun). So until I change what I want from gardening, I doubt I'll ever be able to follow this advice even if I recognize it as being good and sensible.
Hi,
BlogFront.org is committed to uphold the quality standards of blogging. We strive to maintain and promote only the most credible blogs in their respective fields.
Spam blogs or "splogs" has been a problem for some time now and people are getting confused about which blog to trust.
We would like to thank you for maintaining such a reputable blog. We know that it takes time, effort and commitment to keep such a blog and as such, we have added your blog as one of the top Gardening Blogs.
You can see your blog listed here: http://blogfront.org/gardening
You can also claim your BlogFront Top Blogs badge at http://blogfront.org/badges/gardening
Thank you for keeping your blog credible. Let's keep the blog revolution alive!
Maria Blanchard
BlogFront.org
Blog Revolucion
very nice and informative ideas you have shared in your blog.Thanks for sharing such a nice and informative blog.For more you can visit my site at
http://www.betterbackyards.com/253/front-yard-landscaping-ideas/
Looks like another great book to add to my collection!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/OneLoomStudio
I could never understand why people spend so much time in their garden doing back breaking work. It seems as though they don't understand how to maintain a garden. Normally, if you are using mulch you only have to water once a week and without rainfall weeds are slow to form as long as you stay ahead of them. Maybe its just the way I tend to mine that makes it a lot easier to work with. You can find me at twitter.com/seedsandshovels to find out how I maintain my garden of goodies!
Great post! I think i'll get a copy of the book as well. I believe that nature has a way to live and we could only look at it and see nature working its magic. I'm a big fan of low maintenance gardening as time does not really permit me to spend enough time for my garden. Oh, by the way, this site http://danthegardener.com/ offers great gardening tips for new gardeners and people having problems with their gardens, check it out
This kind of post is what I'm craving for. I can't wait to have a copy of myself. Good luck for this new book. Thank you for such an informative post :-)
I'm truly with you on the kind of high-maintenance gardening requires stamina and a strong back. Let's just face it .... time is fast running and so our ages :-)
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!