Next, think about your lawn. It should not take up a disproportionately large area of your yard and can readily be replaced with an evergreen ground cover. Mowing and trimming the edges of an average lawn of 120-240sq yd/100-200sq m shouldn’t take more than half an hour a week. The most important thing is to keep the shape simple, avoiding wavy edges and island beds or individual plants in the lawn. Mowing a lawn containing two large flower beds can take twice as long as mowing the same-sized lawn that has no obstacles.

Edging the whole lawn with bricks or paving slabs cut out the need for edge-trimming altogether – set them just below the lawn level and skim over them with the mower. And don’t feed it too often – it’ll only grow faster and need more cutting. Two feedings of an organic mulch a year, one in spring and the second in early fall, should be sufficient.

Your choice of plants is also important. Research carried out at a horticultural college a few years ago measured how much time is needed to care for different types of plants. On identically sized plots, a bedding scheme of annuals took 45 hours a year, rock garden 35 hours, mixed border 33 hours, and shrub border 30 hours. However, the shrub border underplanted with ground cover took just seven hours a year to maintain.

So it makes sense to cut back on labor-intensive plants like summer bedding and gradually introduce more easy-care shrubs. This includes the undemanding evergreen shrubs which provide the backbone of the garden, plus plenty of weed-suppressing ground covers. You don’t have to sacrifice flowers entirely, of course, but try to concentrate on a few of the long-flowering shrubs and climbers (some roses and clematis, for instance, will produce blooms right through summer) and include plenty of ground covers valued for their flowers, such as ajuga and candytuft.

Vegetables, although very rewarding to grow, are also time consuming, and fruit isn’t a bowl of cherries, either. Containers and, in particular, hanging baskets provide a wonderful splash of color, but can need a great deal of watering in summer. So don’t get too carried away with these labor-intensive plants – have a few, by all means, but don’t overdo it.

Once you’ve dug up the vegetable garden and thrown out the annuals, and you’re looking for something more carefree to plant, make sure you stick to varieties that suit your soil, climate, and the location you want to put them in. If you don’t, it’ll be hard work trying to get them established, and, even if they do grow, they’ll be far more prone to pests and diseases. A reputable garden center should be able to advise you on the best plants for local conditions.
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