Reduce Maintenance and Boost Your Garden Enjoyment

July 15, 2025

by Melinda Myers

Every gardener has personal reasons for gardening whether it be the hope that their garden brings joy, productivity, beauty, or peace throughout the growing season. Embrace what makes you happy as you tend, view, and enjoy every aspect of your garden.

Weather, busy schedules, and life in general can interfere with the best laid plans for any garden and landscape. Take some time now to evaluate what is working so you can do more of that and decide what needs changing in your garden plantings, designs, and maintenance.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with the maintenance but still want seasonal interest, consider filling garden beds with shrubs.  Look for low maintenance varieties suited to your growing conditions and climate. Select those with multiple seasons of beauty from flowers, foliage, fall color, and interesting form and bark. Include some that provide birds with food, shelter, and protection from predators. You’ll appreciate the beauty and motion these winged visitors provide.

Consider using fewer species of low-maintenance perennials and more of each. You’ll have fewer plants to try to identify as the garden comes to life in spring and as you weed throughout the growing season. Look for those that are disease and insect-pest resistant, need minimal or no deadheading and pruning, and attract and support pollinators as well as provide winter interest and food for songbirds in the winter.

Then add season-long color with pockets or containers of annuals. With fewer to buy and maintain you may decide your schedule and budget will allow you to change them out as the seasons change.

Accept and embrace the beauty of a less-than-perfect garden. Most visitors won’t notice the imperfections unless you point them out. Plus, faded flowers and seed pods can provide unique texture and food for songbirds. 

Do minimal cleanup that is better for the plants, pollinators and songbirds. Do remove or cut back diseased and insect-infested plant material as needed. Leave fall leaves in the garden to serve as mulch, a home for some beneficial insects, and insulation for toads, queen bumblebees, and others that overwinter underground. Allow perennials to stand for winter, increasing hardiness, providing homes for beneficial insects, food for songbirds, and adding winter interest. Leave some of these stems standing throughout the upcoming growing season to serve as homes for some of the native bees.

Ask for or hire help if needed. As much as you love gardening, securing help for some of the larger tasks or those that just aren’t getting done can help boost your enjoyment. It can be hard to find gardening help so you may need to get creative. Consider sharing your gardening space with someone who loves to garden but lacks a garden. Barter your knowledge and skills for help in your garden. Or plan a round robin of fun and gardening with a few friends. Take turns visiting and tending each other’s gardens. You’ll enjoy the time spent together in each other’s gardens as you tackle a gardening task or two. Then top off the visit with a favorite beverage and snack or meal.

Don’t let your list of unaccomplished tasks or weeds stop you from enjoying your garden and what you have accomplished.  Relish every bloom, fresh tomato, or visiting bird or butterfly.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2^nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.