Who doesn’t like to have a beautiful garden they can lounge into to unwind and relax on a lazy weekend? However, if you have little to no budget and time to create the garden of your dreams, you’re less likely to enjoy a relaxing and entertaining outdoors as the fastidious and green-thumb homeowners.
Plants, grass, seeds, soil amendments, regular watering, tools, row covers, supports—it all adds up. As if you’re not already busy or have enough bills to cover. That said, you can opt for a low-cost, low-maintenance lawn and gardening.
Also, investing in quality Garden Tools can significantly reduce the physical effort required for soil preparation, making it more accessible for those with busy schedules or limited budgets. With the right garden tools, like prongs, you can efficiently turn the soil, plant seeds, and maintain your garden without the need for expensive equipment or professional assistance.
In this article, the expert Gardener Sydney has to offer answers to some of homeowners’ most frequently asked questions about low-cost and low-maintenance lawn and gardens in Australia.
What Does A Low-Cost And Low-Maintenance Lawn And Garden Mean?
A low-cost, low-maintenance garden is ideal if you don’t like gardening or have the time to garden. In terms of low-maintenance gardens, less is more, and it is a style that works with all sizes, particularly those with smaller gardens.
It can mean that you’re using a limited number of plants or those that don’t require extensive care or recycling materials to create decorative gardening plans.
When Should I Consider Low-Maintenance Gardening?
With busy lives, most people are looking to keep their gardening and lawn maintenance tasks manageable. Still, there are specific circumstances when low or easy maintenance gardening is most relevant. These include:
- Beginner gardeners
- For seniors or disabled who like gardening
- When you’re busy raising a family
- When renting out a property with a garden
- For the non-gardeners who needs to look after a garden
What Are The Best Plants For A Low-Maintenance Garden?
Plants make up the most of your garden. However, if you don’t want to spend too much time tending to your garden, these plants can help create an attractive garden that’s also easy to care for.
Native and modern plants
Australia offers a unique and beautiful range of native plants which are hardy and doesn’t require too much attention. These include the westringia, philotheca, rhoeo, palm lily, giant bromeliad, and cycad.
Cacti and succulents
Cacti and succulents are excellent choices for a low-maintenance garden since they can tolerate the hot temperatures of Australia and require minimal watering. Some of the best succulents and cacti include Irish rose, blue chalk sticks, rock rose, crassula campfire, and echeveria species.
Living mulch
You also want to include a groundcover plant that can help reduce water usage and stop weeds from growing. Moreover, the best living mulch that requires little to no maintenance but looks amazing includes bronze rambler, snow-in-summer, creeping boobialla, and fairy fan flower.
What Are The Best Grasses For Low-Maintenance Lawns?
There are lawn grasses that require frequent mowing and watering, and then there are those you can leave for a month and won’t even grow an inch or drought-tolerant. Here are some of the most popular low-maintenance Australian grasses to choose from:
Zoysia matrella
Varieties of zoysia matrella, such as Sir Grange, are some of the most preferred low-maintenance lawn turfs. This is because their very slow growth pattern results in significantly less mowing. Also, this grass type requires minimal watering
and lower nitrogen requirements.
Soft-leaf buffalo
Similar to zoysia, buffalo grass is a very low-maintenance turf variety. They need less mowing and also require slightly less nitrogen. Additionally, premium varieties have extremely high shade tolerance and have soft leaves ad great colour, making them a perfect choice in most modern landscaping.
Tall fescue
The perfect instant lawn, tall fescue adapts to different soil qualities and climates. It’s not invasive as other popular types of grass and is very durable to withstand moderate foot traffic.
Queensland blue couch grass
This is a great-looking ‘fluffy’ grass suitable in warmer regions. It’s low maintenance since you don’t need to water it regularly, and it grows slowly. A possible concern is that it can be sensitive to weed killers.
Can Landscaping And Gardening Add Value To My Home?
Yes, gardening and landscaping are the two most cost-effective ways to add value to your home. In fact, according to research, landscaping can add about 6% – 7% or approximately AUD$20,700 to the value of your home. To capitalize on this potential, homeowners may consider enlisting the expertise of landscaping services near me, easily accessible through online platforms. With their professional guidance and meticulous attention to detail, these local providers can help maximize the aesthetic appeal and functional efficiency of outdoor spaces, further boosting the property’s overall value while creating an inviting and harmonious environment for residents to enjoy.
How Much Does Gardening And Landscaping Cost In Australia?
The landscaping and gardening cost in Australia will vary from one project to another. This would depend on the designs you want, the number of trees and plants involved, hardscaping details, and your location—whether you live in a rural or urban setting.
In general, a simple backyard makeover with low-maintenance gardening will cost you about AUD$2,700. On the other hand, an entire backyard landscaping project could go from AUD$7,000 to over AUD$28,000.
How Do I Build A Low-Cost And Low-Maintenance Garden?
There are several pieces of advice to create a low-cost and low-maintenance garden. However, the golden rules include:
- Limit the number of different types of plants you have. The fewer plants you have, the lower the maintenance you will need. Consider sticking between 5 and 10 varieties.
- The more hard-landscaping you have, the lower workload you need. When designing a low-cost, low-maintenance garden, make sure to minimise the size of planted areas. For instance, paving a path around the garden can minimise lawn space that requires frequent mowing.
- Have plenty of accessible storage in your garden. The easier it is to put away things and access them, the lower your workload. Consider investing in a small narrow garden shed.
- Replace some or all of your perennial beds with shrubs. Shrubs are easy to plant, prevent weeds from growing, and don’t require regular watering.
- Include nectar-rich flowers in your garden. This helps attract pest predators that can act as your natural pest control. Flowers such as cosmos and coreopsis can draw in lacewings, ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and hoverflies that eat pests like aphids.
Conclusion
And there you have it!
Whether gardening is your hobby or simply decorating your home, you don’t need lots of money or time to create a beautiful garden. The details above intend to shed some light on your questions about having a low-cost, low-maintenance garden in Australia.
