Are you feeling overwhelmed by how much work you have to do in your landscape? Creating small gardens within a larger space not only is a good design strategy but it also helps you feel on top of your gardening tasks.
Paul James, host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, has been gardening on a grand scale for the past few years--first on a one-acre property and now at a place roughly twice that size. Gardening on such a scale can be overwhelming, pretty pricey and frustrating, and it's a lot of garden for one man to manage. Inspired by a visit to some friends' courtyard garden, James decided to create a series of minigardens so that he could focus his efforts on more manageable areas.
"Since adopting this approach, I've been a lot less frustrated and overwhelmed," James says. "Whether I spend two minutes or two hours tending each minigarden, I walk away with a greater sense of accomplishment. It's an approach that all gardeners can take regardless of the size of their property or their gardens."
The whole point in creating minigardens is simple: little gardens allow you to focus your efforts on one small area at a time, and when you are finished, you can move on the next. As you create each minigarden, aim for low-maintenance plantings. Then add mulch to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and add contrast.
In a shady nook, James has created a new minigarden, planting a Japanese maple as a focal point. The garden is now ready for finishing touches; he adds 'Palace Purple' coral bells (Heuchera sanguinea). (He chose one-gallon container plants, but he would have preferred four-inch pots for ease of planting). After finishing the minigarden, he tops the entire bed with a layer of shredded bark mulch. This completed mini-garden measures no more than 50 square feet, and it's relatively carefree.
In his front yard, James created the framework for another minigarden with a stone border and a large limestone boulder. He decided to leave the grass and simply add a few accent plants. A cutleaf Japanese maple is nestled into a nook at the base of the boulder; its branches will cascade down the sides of the stone. A spruce called Picea abies 'Formencka' is a dwarf conifer that won't grow more than six inches in six years; its branches will also hang down over the rocks. To soften the edges, he adds a few Japanese-painted ferns. This little area will serve to keep visitors from driving over his lawn when they back out of the driveway--and it will be virtually maintenance-free.
"The next time you go to your yard or garden, don't try to accomplish too much at once," James advises. "Instead, divide existing gardens into minigardens. You'll find you'll get a lot more done and also enjoy it that much more."
