Maintenance Made Easy

Making a garden is a process that doesn't end when the construction and planting stages are complete. Even in low-maintenance plots, gardens only thrive when the plants are tended and the soil replenished. Some jobs are regular weekly tasks, but many others only need to be done once or twice a year.

When and How to Water

Environmentally conscious gardeners and people living in drought-prone areas are increasingly aware of the need to save water. Containers, together with some types of vegetable crops and bedding plants, may need regular summer irrigation. Shrubs, trees and perennials need watering only at planting time and during dry spells in the first year or two, or until they are well established. No matter how brown the grass may turn, established lawns never actually need watering and will eventually recover from drought.

If you need to water, do so in the cool of the morning or evening to minimize evaporation, and water close to the soil rather than overhead, targeting specific plants. Mulches, such as bark compost, help seal in moisture and reduce competition from weeds. It is better to water heavily, and less often, allowing moisture to penetrate well into the soil and encourage deep rooting, than to water lightly but more frequently.

Making Watering Easy

Although watering can be an enjoyable task, if you are pressed for time or have a large plot, some shortcuts are welcome. Automatic irrigation can be very efficient and, if properly managed, help to save water. It also makes sense to collect rainwater at sites around the garden and to make use of recycled or "gray" water, for example from the bath or dish water if you've used natural cleaning products.

The perfect use for your old, leaky garden hose: connect it to an outdoor faucet or water barrel so it can channel water directly to where it is needed, through a newly planted border, for example (image 1).

If you are often away from the garden for more than a couple of days or are too busy to water all your patio containers regularly, consider installing an automatic irrigation system with a timer (image 2).

Benefits of Deadheading

In order to attempt to reproduce, plants divert their resources from other activities to focus on developing a seedhead. To encourage more flowers you need to remove faded blooms before they have a chance to form seed, in a process called deadheading. This is especially important for annuals which can stop flowering altogether and even die if you don’t deadhead regularly. But perennials, including so-called patio plants, can also be encouraged to flower for much longer if they are deadheaded. Removing old, blemished heads also improves the appearance of plants and reduces the risk of disease.

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