The New Low-maintenance Garden: How to Have a Beautiful, Productive Garden and the Time to Enjoy It

How often have you said I d love tobe able to garden more; I just don thave the time. Modern life, with itsever-growing demands, leaves little time for the pleasures of gardening. But sometimes gardening itselfis the culprit: elaborate, traditional perennial borders; water-hungry or disease-prone plants; needylawns; and high-maintenance plants that require staking or clipping all suck up precious hours.Simply put, we need to start gardening in a whole new way. In this inspiring book, Val Easton showsexactly how to have a low-maintenance garden that doesn t sacrifice style. You won t have to give upyour favorite plants or settle for expanses of ugly bark nuggets. You just have to unlearn some bad oldhabits and pick up some good new ones.So, how do you go about making a new low-maintenance garden? First, design your garden withmaintenance in mind good-looking hardscape will both save weeding time and showcase yourfavorite plants. Second, simplify your garden routines learn the most efficient planting and maintenancetechniques and don t get stressed if everything isn t letter-perfect. Third, learn how to work withnature rather than against it. And finally, embrace home-grown fruits, herbs, and vegetables; well plantedcontainers; and thoughtfully chosen plants.The New Low-Maintenance Garden doesn t just tell you how to garden in a whole new way it showsyou, through profiles and beautiful photographs of real gardens that embody low-maintenancetechniques. The pressures of life are not likely to ease up anytime soon, but the lessons of this timelybook will help you replace guilt over undone garden chores with pleasure in your garden successes.