What?

If you want a low-maintenance garden, the best thing you can do is fill it with easy plants. A professional gardener will know what to use, as they often get requests along these lines. Once a garden is filled with slowly growing plants it requires only little attention.

Black soil is often seen as a sign of neatness (at least by many people in the Netherlands) but it really is a sign of lifelessness. Naked soil with nothing growing in it is unnatural, and nature will try hard to concur it -- namely, by priming it with pioneering plants that we commonly refer to as weeds. Since nature will keep on blowing these easy-growing seeds into any bit of naked soil, it is a fight that you cannot win. Even spraying harsh chemicals only helps temporarily. The solution is simple: allow something to grow in the soil with a ground cover pant of your choice that fills the free space as vigorously as a weed would.

Grass is often a bit of a nuisance, because it needs frequent mowing and rarely has the even green colour of perfection. A solution to that is the use of other plants that withstand walking on, like moss. Moss won't need mowing and stays green throughout winter.

Why?

Plants fixate CO₂, because it helps them to building blocks for their structures. This makes a garden a good way of retrieving a material from the air that works out so badly for nature in its gasseous form. In addition, plants attract other life forms, such as birds. And humans rarely dislike being surrounded by beautiful bushes.

Purely from the perspective of easy maintenance, a plant can be a choice for less work than rock -- unless you fancy scraping weeds from between your tiles on a regular basis. Plants may need a bit of pruning once a year, but it is usually possible to do that together with a friendly neighbour, and because it is a batch job it is also practical to rent a gardener to do it for you.

Keep an eye on things that happen in an undesturbed garden if you leave a patch of ground open. Or what happens if you plant a clove of garlic in autumn. It is lovely to see nature come to life all by itself, and a little experimentation patch may be a nice idea to try. Watch, learn and enjoy.

How?

If you want a low-maintenance garden, look for plants and bushes that do not grow very vigerously. This means that they will require few nutrients from the soil. Look for perennials, so there will be no need to plant new plants every year.

Professional gardeners are often asked for low-maintenance gardens, so they can certainly tell you how to make one. They can even lay out the garden for you if you prefer.

Where?

Visit local nurseries to get an idea of the possibilities. Talk to your neighbours; there is a enthousiastic gardener in just about any street, and he will generally enjoy making some suggestions for your garden. People who work in nurseries and professional gardeners may also be willing to come by and help you design your garden.