If you're not particularly green-fingered, it can be difficult to know what you need to do to keep your outdoor space in tip-top shape. Here are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure your garden looks beautiful all year round.
Invest in the right tools
A few carefully-selected tools can make the process of tending to your garden far less challenging and time-consuming. A lawn mower is perhaps one of the most essential items that virtually every novice gardener will need. When choosing one, make sure to take into consideration not only your budget, but also the topography of the garden and the variety of grass it contains.
For those with larger outdoor spaces that feature slopes and more than one type of grass for instance, rotary lawn mowers which come with horizontally-rotating blades would be the best choice. Conversely, those with smaller, level lawns may find a cylinder lawn mower to be a more suitable option.
In addition to this piece of equipment, you may also need a number of other tools; a hand rake for scraping away debris from plants and shrubbery, as well as for gathering up leaves during the autumn months, a pair of shears for trimming away excess growth on perennials and trimming the grass that surrounds the edges of flower beds, and of course, a quality watering can for hand-watering plants.
Get informed
One of the biggest challenges of keeping your garden in good condition is understanding what type of plants and shrubbery are suitable for it and how they should be cared for. If your knowledge in this area is somewhat lacking, do a bit of research online, or pop into your local garden centre to get some advice.
It's especially important to find out what type of soil your garden has (this can be done quite easily using an inexpensive soil-testing kit), as certain plants can only flourish in specific types of earth; as such, this piece of information will ensure that you don't waste money on varieties that aren't a good fit.
Be consistent
Establishing a consistent maintenance routine is crucial if you want to maintain the appearance and health of your garden. Draw up a simple schedule in a notepad, which includes all of the weekly, monthly and seasonal tasks you need to do; make sure to include everything from weeding, watering and trimming, to fertilising, composting and mowing.
