Mature garden - help

[Peanutbutteryday]

We’ve inherited a mature garden with our new property. I really want to simplify it so it’s becomes much more easier for day to day maintenance - but have absolutely no idea where to start!!! Any tips?

Photo please - what are the bits that you find to be in need of most work?

Broadly speaking, reduce flower beds, increase lawn, consider more patio, consider getting a gardener or a robot mower.

I'd leave it a full year before you start thinking about what you want to get rid of or may even want to keep. We inherited a mature garden when we moved last year and neither of us are gardeners, but I have genuinely really enjoyed seeing what plants/ flowers do what at different times of the year and what will need the most work.

We've had bonus peonies we had no idea were there! We moved in 8 months ago and I'm still getting surprised by what is doing what!

Right hopefully this photo works! Ignore up to the tree as we will build an out house!

it’s basically a mix of shrubs and ground coverage stuff that grows exponentially.

is it possible to relive beds then and relay lawn?! I’d happily pay for that.

Or I just want low maintenance hardy shrubs to be honest!

Ahhh, a garden of my dreams! But obviously not yours. Some of the shrubs might be low maintenance so might be better to keep than remove. I think, as there is so much in there, I would get a gardener or landscape designer in to help you. Explain what you are after and see what they come up with.

I'm another one who likes the garden.

I was told by a friend who had previously worked as a gardener if I wanted a low maintenance garden to plant shrubs. They need pruning once a year max and are actually less work than dealing with a lawn.

Also the ground cover should hopefully out compete weeds. Though depending on what plants they are, they may need dividing every year or so.

Anyway you have been given good advice to see what comes up over the year - take pictures - and then get someone in to help you make your garden less work.

I LOVE that garden. If you're not into gardening coukd you afford to get someone in just to do the pruning etc then all you have to do is now the lawn? It would be a real shame to get rid of all that greenery - the birds and bees must love it. You're so lucky!

Ok so what's high maintenance about it? Lawns needing cutting once a fortnight - it's flat so shouldn't be too difficult. Shrubs again get a hedge trimmer and trim once a year.

It looks like mostly shrubs so it should be pretty low maintenance already.

Came to say the same thing

Gosh that's lovely! Agree with others that it doesn't look very high maintenance. Also agree re leaving it for a year to see how it changes over the seasons.

If you are looking at day to day maintenance, any garden is easy to look after and will always look good. That garden is lovely OP. Regular pruning isn't difficult.

This is a (beautiful) low maintenance garden...

What do you think is high maintenance about it?

Sorry everyone busy evening!!

thank you everyone for your comments I feel a bit better. I was finding it a bit overwhelming if I am honest.

youre right there are a lot of shrubs already. Plus some lovely roses.

the high maintenance bits that cause me a headache are the low lying floor coverage plants - they honestly grow exponentially. I guess they were planted to stop weeds growing. But these low lying plants grow soooo quick and get out of control.

Perhaps the solution is for us to rip out the floor coverage plants and replace with something else lower maintenance that also does the job of stopping weeds forming? (Is there anything that does this?!)

Where are the groundcover plants - under the shrubs? Can you put a photo on? If they are weeds then pull them out, put down membrane and add bark.

Where are these ground cover plants going if they are getting out of control? If into the lawn just mow, if they are staying under the shrubs leave them to it.

if you cut the grass every 2 weeks and have a pro come and prune the shrubs / weed anything else once a month in the summer, that should be all the maintenance you need.

yes, you can get nice ground cover plants that suppress weeds. I have lots of ferns under my shrubs, but there are lots of options. e.g. vinca.

That actually is lovely and looks VERY low-maintenance. A little mowing and pruning and you're done. It looks like it was designed for what you want.

If the groundcover creeps out, just mow it off or use a strimmer. Groundcover is much easier than turf grass.

Please think carefully about expanding the lawn; what you have is SO good for pollinators, wildlife, insects. A monoculture lawn is not very environmentally friendly. I believe we have an obligation to steward nature where we can.

We have a large, mature (which for us is code for overgrown) garden, and a garden designer was so helpful, and less expensive than I would have thought to draw up some plans. The plans were about 70% what to remove, and 30% what to replace with / add - basically helping us edit what was there. I would have agonised about taking out lovely shrubs if left to my own devices, but now having received‘permission’ we are starting the selective clearing process, and already it has made such a difference to the feel of the garden.

it looks like the end of your garden has quite a bit going on, and if you are extending (not clear to me how far), you could end up with a relatively small, shady usable lawn space. Which might be to your taste and fit with what you want from your garden- your garden only needs to work for you! - but from my perspective I could see some benefit to cutting back a bit and opening up the end of the garden a bit.

Thank you everyone. Lots of helpful comments and quite a few things for me to think about. I’ll try an update the thread when I’ve had chance to think fir Her.

@ZeldaWillTellYourFortune yes there’s all sorts of wildlife out there and it’s lovely and peaceful. Often have a coffee out there in the morning.

Thank you that’s helpful. The end we will eventually clear and put in an outside office or something so I’m not too worried about that section

that’s helpful to know about price of landscaping being less than expected. It’s something I’ll definitly consider. Thank you. Not rushing into anything.

It looks low maintenance already. It is possible to put gravel around shrubs to reduce weeding but you'd probably want that done by a professional. You could remove some shrubs and increase the lawn area then get a robotic lawnmower. A stihl long handled hedge trimmer is expensive but a great investment, it will cut those shrubs back easily.

Thank you. We are fine with the lawn we have a good mower and it’s cable free so easy to do. It’s the beds that I was worried about. I will look at long handled shrub cutter :)

The exponentially growing stuff is probably perennials like cranesbill, which are great for swamping the weeds, flower ly summer, be chopped back to the roots in June to regrow nice and green (or flower again) and will disappear over winter.

with shrubs, if you cut them back too often they will just grow more!

Dont panic. Do you have a gardening friend, or can you ask on local facebook gardening groups, for a bit of advice? I think you can do the odd bit of chopping when you mow and all will be well.

Thank you really, really helpful comments.

I didn’t know that about perennials or shrubs! Thank you.

I actually could speak to my mum I expect as she’s not bad at gardening (if I can pin her down!!). But it’s a case of new house, lots to do in and out, and my brain nearly exploding at the moment 🤣

It would be an utter shame to simplify this garden. Instead, I would look for a local weekly help to maintain it and you could focus on mowing the lawn for now.