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IS 'LOW-MAINTENANCE GARDENING' AN OXYMORON?
I was challenged to write a column on "low-maintenance gardening."
To arrive at a working definition of the concept, I asked for thoughts from other gardeners.
I learned quickly that low-maintenance gardening has many meanings depending on whether the practitioner is a perfectionist or is able to tolerate, as one writer put it, "a few dandelions, crabgrass in the lawn, or slugs on the hostas."
Most gardeners define low-maintenance gardening as a way of saving time so gardens can delight and not tyrannize. The most-often mentioned "tools" of low-maintenance gardeners are mulching, watering systems, weed-control strategies, and smaller lawns.
"Low maintenance gardening means I don't have to use fertilizers, pesticides and weedkillers," writes Nori. "I don't have to do much, if any, pruning, staking, weeding or thinning out. When things are done blooming, they still look good. I don't want to worry too much about watering either. In a nutshell, that's what I want in low maintenance."
Without question, serious gardeners depend on wood mulch, more than any other input, to reduce maintenance in their gardens. "While I have read that you can mulch too much, and that some mulches may promote disease, my weeding has dropped by 80% since I began mulching perennial beds in the spring," writes MJ from Hennepin County. "So far, I haven't had any problem with increased disease. I can't believe I didn't do it before."
A key concept in low-maintenance gardening is selecting the right plants. "I learned long ago that, if it doesn't like Minnesota, it's not in my garden," wrote Grace. "Part of being sustainable means that the work required is tolerable."
Smart selection means doing research before walking into the garden center. Of all the horticultural phone calls I've received from residents of Carver and Scott counties, a surprisingly high percentage have focused on problems that can be traced to selecting inappropriate plants or planting the right plant in the wrong place. Examples are legion: fungal disease on Colorado blue spruce, winterkill on plants not tolerant of Minnesota's harsh climate, sun-loving plants growing in shade, messy fruit or seeds on trees, and white birch or maples planted in compacted lawns.
"The best way to achieve a low-maintenance garden is to choose plants that require little care," writes a veteran gardener. She suggests growing plants that don't need to be divided more often than once every four years; plants that are winter hardy to at least -15 degrees with little winter protection; plants that don't need staking; plants that tolerate a wide range of soils; and plants that retain nice foliage after the flowers are finished blooming. She recommends avoiding plants that self-sow or spread via root runners.
Her list of low-maintenance plants includes coneflower, astilbe, coralbells, lady's mantle (her favorite), lavender, catmint (not catnip), and some ornamental grasses. "Remember," she concludes, "that gardening is very therapeutic regardless of how much or how little time you choose to spend in your garden. It is so good for your mind, body and soul."
Another tenet of low-maintenance gardening is that it is somewhat synonymous with experience. Beginning gardens require more maintenance than established gardens, and rookie gardeners (due to inexperience) invest more labor than veteran gardeners who have learned tricks and methods for minimizing labor.
"After 27 years, my garden is relatively 'low maintenance' partly because it's as mature as I am!" writes Mary. " I have learned the absolute necessity of mulching and I use many different types. I have given up on beautiful tea roses and grow hardier shrub roses, especially the wonderful Canadian and Iowa-bred varieties and the dependable Rugosas. I no longer have to have the latest or newest and appreciate the many native and proven choices for Minnesota. Most of the time I let the insects fight it out unless the infestation is life threatening (rarely). And if Mother Nature does something in, I treat it as opportunity to use that space for something else. The payoff is that I am enjoying my garden more than ever. My one wish is that I would have had a watering system over the years although I have used many soaker hoses which helps a little."
Esther, a veteran of 40 years of gardening, says that low maintenance depends on age and knowledge and that she learned the secrets gradually over her four decades. Here is her learning timeline:
First 10 years: "Ugh! There is no low maintenance...digging up the lawn, amending the soil, finding the right plant for the right spot, making beginner's errors, weeds everywhere!"
Second 10 years: "Save the perennials that keep growing each year and forget about the struggling ones, forget about the perfect lawn...discovered mulch is a back saver that helps control weeds, found some helpful tools, got rid of those suckering plants that are difficult to control."
Third 10 years: "Can afford watering system, trees begin shading gardens so shady perennials go in, learned more and discovered more helpful tools."
Fourth 10 years: "Grow only plants that I enjoy, discovered that weeding can be a joy on nice days since I have the time, that picking four-lined bugs off the flowers in June along with slugs in early evening can be fun, that allowing dried perennials to stay in the garden till spring works, and that it is okay not to have the most-immaculate garden."
Perhaps the best low-maintenance advice came from Laurie who wrote: "To me low-maintenance gardening means that on Saturdays and Sundays after the gardening tasks are done, I still have plenty of time to lay in my hammock and enjoy the garden before it get's too hot.
"For me gardening is a hobby. Hobbies are supposed to be fun! When garden tasks feel like work, then I've gotten too far away from the purpose of my garden."
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
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