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Design checklist
Planning before you start
Low maintenance gardening
Cutting costs
Checklists for problem areas
Getting around the garden
'Stand or sit or kneel'
Carrying small tools
Carrying large tools
Further reading and addresses

Design checklist
Planning your garden for ease and enjoyment doesn't have to mean calling in a landscape designer. The illustration and corresponding checklist show some common planning errors - and solutions!

A Make sure that shed and green house are easily reached from the path and that both are near the house. This greenhouse has a sliding door and flush threshold for easy access. Ensure that staging is the correct height for comfortable working. Wheelchair users will need space to turn around outside the door.

B Espalier or cordon-trained fruit trees grown to a height of 1.4m can be reached from a wheelchair or seat for pruning and harvesting.

C This prickly hedge is difficult and painful to trim.

D The path is too narrow and uneven. See Access/Getting around the garden/selecting surfacing material for paving options.

E Tall fruit trees aren't only difficult to reach - they can be dangerous too. F Narrow borders, beds and veg plots - easily reached from one or both sides - reduce strain. G Weeds love large areas of open soil. If wide boarders are a must, use mulches and ground cover planting to cut down on weeding. H Tools of the right weight, size and design can make all your jobs much easier. I A raised edge around the pond is convenient to sit on and can make the garden safer. Consider a raised pond or safe low maintenance water feature such as a pebble fountain. Back to top

J Lawns are hard work to mow and edge. Have you got the best tools for the job? What about replacing the lawn with paving and/or ground-cover plants?

K These steps are a barrier to a wheelchair and too steep for a gardener with poor balance.

L The cold frame is too low for easy access and its glass top is a danger.

M Many garden accidents involve stakes and canes. Use proprietory or home made cane toppers or growth-through plant supports.

N This raised cold-frame using polycarbonate is accessible and safe.

O Coloured and textured paving cuts out glare and is non-slip even when wet. Changes in paving texture can be used as reference points by visually impaired gardeners.

P Steps are replaced by a ramp with a gradient of no more than 1:15, preferably with a hand-rail.

Q Containers and raised beds can avoid the need to bend - as can lightweight long-handled tools.

Finally, chose planting that is suited to each area of the garden, bearing in mind soil conditions, drainage, light and shelter.

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Soil conditions

• Choose plants which grow happily in the soil conditions you have, rather than spending time and money altering the conditions. For instance, if you have a very hot dry patch, plant it with Mediterranean plants which thrive in such areas rather than worry about watering it each summer.
• In wet areas create a pond or bog garden. In dry areas, choose plants that can tolerate drought - such plants often have grey or silver foliage.

• In considering what to plant in a new garden, you might need to consider the length of time it will take for particular plant material to mature and create some sort of structure to the garden. A compromise may be required between plants which grow too rapidly and require regular maintenance to keep them in check and those that grow rather slowly and take time to create a feature in the garden.
• Gradually remove any unsuitable plants, which could perhaps be exchanged with a friend for a more suitable specimen. The checklist on problem areas may give you some ideas for coping.
• Prevention is better than cure. Remove dead and diseased plants, which can be a source of infection and can attract such things as slugs, which may take longer to eradicate.
• Choose good quality, disease-free plant material.
• Plant smaller and/or more compact species which are easier to handle and may be cheaper to purchase. Given a weed-free soil, they will establish themselves more quickly than larger plants and will require less watering.
• Use your garden seats or ornaments to draw attention to particular areas of your garden, rather than buying expensive specimen shrubs, if you feel you do not have greenfingers. Make sure the ornaments are frost-resistant if you intend to leave them out all year round.

  
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• Assess the frequency with which you use your garden - is it on a regular or irregular basis? Do you have any help from friends, family or neighbours? Work out what tasks you enjoy doing and those features which you would particularly like to retain, plus roughly the amount of time it takes to do them. If these items can be achieved in your timescale, it is then a case of looking at how to adapt any remaining features. If you find that items you enjoy are not within your timescale, look first at how you can make more time for these. By making time, pleasant tasks will not become chores - and once they have been adapted, they will in turn make time for secondary tasks.
• If you particularly enjoy a high maintenance task, you could look at modifying other elements within your garden to free more time for this task. Alternatively, just cut down on the extent to which you carry out the task, eg reduce the size of the rose bed to cut down on the number of roses that you have to prune.
• If you are a really keen gardener who needs satisfying gardening but has little physical strength, there are plenty of challenges in new methods of cultivation. Soil-less gardening using water and nutrients (hydroponics) may spark a new interest, or specialist studies such as alpines, bonsai or cacti.
• To change a high maintenance feature it might, initially, be necessary to undertake more work. However, it may be easier to find people willing to help with a 'one off' task than a regular weekly task such as grass-cutting, which can become rather a bind in the summer months when people have other commitments.
• Is gardening is a nightmare at which you labour out of a sense of keeping up appearances, rather than a love of plants? Why not design and build your garden around hard surfaces, like a Japanese courtyard garden, where the plant interest is minimal and you can use a few shrubs which may only take a few minutes maintenance each weekend but still look good.
• Look out for ideas to reduce or make simpler the work you do, eg, create a 'no dig' vegetable plot.
• If you want a low maintenance water feature, you do not necessarily have to have permanent or running water. A 'dry stream' of pebbles can create an interesting effect and water can be added if desired - rainwater will give temporary variety before soaking away or evaporating.
• To clear an area of grass or weeds easily, cover it with carpet or black plastic, weighted down at the sides. After a growing season, the area should be clear.
• Placing grass clippings around shrubs will act as a mulch; however, don't use clippings that contain seed heads and use a thin layer, never more than 10cm deep. Horticultural fabric mulches are permeable and a good alternative, as they can be planted through, but obviously they will be more costly than clippings.

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• Find out whether costs for 'bulk buys' are cheaper than for a small amount of the same material. If so, consider sharing the material and cost between yourself and your friends. Allotment and horticultural clubs often have this arrangement.
• Look out for materials which can be recycled, eg bricks and paving slabs. However, although such materials may be cheap or even free, there may be the proviso that you have to collect them yourself. They may also need some work in cleaning before they are ready to use. You could put an advertisement in the local paper for second-hand materials, stating roughly the quantity you require.
• It is not necessary for all structures or surfaces to be in the same material. A patchwork of different but compatible materials can be attractive and less costly than using just one type. However, bear in mind that crazy paving needs to be laid with some care, to prevent an uneven surface which may require future maintenance.
• If you have to pay for any work, try to obtain at least three written quotes. Also try to speak to someone who has recently used the same service, to see whether the job was carried out satisfactorily and was worth the price charged. It may also be an idea to ask for the quotation to be split into various elements, if possible.
• Consider whether the work could be spread over a period of time. A patio area, for example, does not have to be completely paved at one time. Gaps can be left, filled with suitable plants (herbs perhaps), until more paving can be acquired. However, take care not to create an obstacle course - keep main access routes clear of gaps and plants.
• Look out for tips on inexpensive alternatives, such as using newspaper and grass cuttings as a mulch, rather than buying expensive bark.
• Share tools and equipment with neighbours and friends. Splitting the cost of hiring a specialist piece of equipment will be cheaper and more convenient if you want its use for only a limited time. However, powered machinery can be heavy, difficult to handle and in some instances not particularly well maintained. It may be worth paying a contractor to do the job for you (which you could perhaps make less costly by getting together with neighbours who require similar work - thus creating a larger task - for which the contractor may be willing to lower costs).
• Heating a greenhouse can be expensive. However, there has to be a balance between cost and the fact that heating makes the greenhouse a comfortable environment within which to work and enjoy a hobby. Rather than heating a glasshouse all winter, you could, with changes of technique and plant types, heat the greenhouse only during the start of the growing season, from March to May, ensuring that the temperature is prevented from falling below 45F (7C). Alternatively, a small, electrically heated propagator will use little current and will save the expense of heating the whole greenhouse. If you are thinking of buying a greenhouse, bear in mind that it is cheaper to heat a lean-to glasshouse of the same capacity as a free-standing greenhouse. If the lean-to faces south, the wall will absorb heat on sunny days, giving it out at night, thus reducing heating costs still further.

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Lawns
Labour intensive

• large, closely cut lawns containing rye grass
• clearing fallen leaves
• edging

• smaller lawn area
• grass mix which incorporates creeping red fescue
• don't cut below 1 inch in height
• create 'wild' area under trees with meadow flowers and grasses
• don't sweep up all leaves; light leaf litter is good for lawns
• metal or other edging will stop grass spreading into flower beds
• avoid complex curves and 'island' beds

• fast growing species which require regular clipping (eg Lawson cypress) and which have invasive root systems

• plant slower growing species such as beech and hornbeam
• plant a more informal type of hedge with evergreen shrubs
• choose less troublesome Lawson cypress cultivars
• powered clippers can save time; avoid reaching and stretching by limiting hedges to waist height
• plant a native hedge

• Hybrid tea and floribunda roses which require regular pruning, pest and disease control

• choose shrub and ground cover roses
• choose the more disease-resistant varieties
• grow miniature roses
• grow roses intermingled with shrubs and herbaceous material (roses are less prone to disease in these circumstances than when segregated in separate beds)
• thornless types can make life easier

• fast growing, large specimens which regular clipping

• slow growing dwarf or low spreading conifers

• shrubs which require regular pruning
• control of pests and diseases

• low maintenance shrubs which require little or no pruning
• select shrubs less prone to pests and disease
• rather than dig up a shrub which is old and spindly, use it as a framework through which to train a climber, or a young version of the same shrub (obviously, do not do this if the original shrub is diseased)

• climbers which require support and tying in

• self clinging climbers
• grow climbers through shrubs for support
• grow as ground cover
• using 'Velcro' plant-ties saves fiddling with string

• bedding schemes

• annuals planted in smaller areas ie between other plants
• sow seeds in situ

• formal bedding schemes

• naturalise in grass
• grow between shrubs

• providing support

• choose varieties which do not require support
• ground cover species

• digging
• grass footpaths
• watering
• growing a large range of vegetables

• use 'no dig' method
• hard-surface footpaths
• straw-mulched paths
• disease resistant strains
• mulch around plants, buy good quality plant material, plant smaller, more compact varieties, use a seep hose, specialise in fewer, more uncommon varieties
• plant in grow-bags closer to the house

• general maintenance
• annual herbs or those which die back

• fewer, more useful herbs in a location near to the kitchen
• herbs which have dual use, eg culinary and ground-covering, or aromatic and insect-deterrent

• pruning and general maintenance

• grow cordons or espaliers trees for easier access to prune
• grow in containers on a patio for easy access
• grow strawberries which give the best return for effort involved.

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