One of the easiest mistakes to make with your garden, especially if you’re not used to having one, is to neglect to give it the routine care that it’s going to demand of you. If you don’t take the time to stay on top of its needs and to keep it neat, then it’s going to become overwhelming, and it’s easy to throw in the towel at the prospect of all that work. However, it need not really be all that much trouble. Here, we’re going to look at the simple steps you can start taking to get your garden back under control, and to establish the routine you can stick to.

Put away any clutter

If you try to get started with fixing up the garden before you’ve cleared away everything in it, then your work is going to constantly be interrupted as you have to move one thing from here to there. Whether it’s furniture, decorative pieces, or even toys and outdoor equipment that’s been left lying out there, you want to tidy it all away for now. If you have a shed, then that’s the perfect place to put it, but if not, even just tidying it into one corner of the garden so you can do the real work is going to do the trick. You can sort through it all and see it in its right place.

Break the task down

You do not have to do everything in one day. If you have a big garden, with lawns, plants, weeds, bushes, trees, and plenty of surfaces to take care of, you’re simply not going to get it all done in one day, especially if garden maintenance is new to you. You can approach the task in one of two ways, you can break it down into individual tasks, and handle all of the tasks that require the same kind of equipment and approach at a time, or you can break them down into time blocks. You can break it down to 45 minutes, 30 minutes, or even 15 minutes a day, setting a timer, and taking a break when the time goes off to get back to it the next day. You won’t see the results as quickly, but it will make sure you don’t get frustrated with long working periods.

Start with the lawn

Let’s start with the most basic part of all: keeping your lawn neat and trim. You should really have your own lawn mower if you have a lawn, and there are simple types to fit all budgets. When that grass is really overgrown, though, you might want to get heavy-duty with it. You can rent a rideable lawn mower to help take care of any overly tall grass, then maintain it on a weekly basis with a more lightweight and easy-to-handle model. Make sure that you check the blades of your lawnmower before using it for caked-in grass if it’s been a while.

Clean up your edges

If you have flower beds and lawns, and the two are supposed to be separate, nothing feels quite as demoralizing as going out to see that the grass has crept all up in those flower beds, making the garden look much messier. You need to maintain the edging of your garden, creating that clear boundary between flowerbed and lawn, and the best way to do that is to kill the grass growing in those flowerbeds. Simple herbicide is going to do the trick, and you can find herbicides that target only grasses. Once the grass is dead, you’re going to want to take your trowel and dig the plant out entirely.

Manage your trees, bushes, and shrubs

The other, larger plants of the garden can be wonderful for their aesthetic, adding shade, privacy, and some aesthetic variety, but if they’re allowed free reign, they can grow to become very unwieldy indeed. Not only is this going to look messy but, in the case of trees, it can be downright dangerous. Heavy tree branches are a lot more likely to snap and fall off, which can cause physical harm as well as damage to the property. It’s wise to find tree trimmers near you and to let them carefully tidy your tree. Professionals can ensure that you’re tidying enough of the trees away and slimming them down, without causing damage by taking away too much.

Get hands-on with those weeds

If you don’t keep a close eye on your garden, then those weeds are going to be one of the most pervasive and consistent problems you have to deal with for a while. Weeds are an issue that every gardener has to deal with, not just you. It might just look like you have a lot more since others are taking the time to eliminate them every time they pop up. There are weed killers that you can use, but if you’re not able to spray without affecting other plants, then you simply need to start digging them the old-fashioned way, with your hands and tools.

Take inventory

Once you’ve weeded, cleaned up the edges, and you’ve got most of the most notable mess under control, it’s time to take a look at the plants that are still standing. There are some that might have grown that you didn’t want, that you should dig out by the roots to prevent them from continuing to sprout. For perennials, you want to stop them from growing too widely and too strong. The only real criteria here is your own. Does the plant look good in your garden and is it worth keeping? Make sure you check for dead plants or even dead portions of plants, and remove them accordingly, too.

Clean up your surfaces

If you have an overgrown garden, you’re also more likely to have hard surfaces that have been caked in grime and residue from all of that organic matter. This is likely to be true of your walkways, your driveway, patios, and any other hard surfaces. If those surfaces are on the flatter side, this can become a real slipping hazard, as the rain can make it hard to get a grip on them. The best way to deal with this is to bring out the pressure washer or hire a pressure washer team near you. The right combination of water, pressure, and nature-friendly cleaning chemicals can help you restore those surfaces to how they’re meant to be, making them look and feel better.

Could you leave a part of it alone?

Rewilding is something that’s become a lot more popular, as of late. With many people becoming more aware of the ecological impact frequent gardening can have on their environment, they’ve started to look at ways to share their garden with nature a little more. This doesn’t mean that you should let your entire lawn grow freely. However, some people are taking steps like creating a raised bed, perhaps where they have a shrub or a tree, and letting wild plants grow around it. If you look at your local garden center, you can probably find packets of wildflower seeds that are local to your area. 

If you’re not a natural gardener, then taking care of one can feel like a real hassle. However, you might find that putting in that time can start to be a lot more relaxing than you might have thought, and the end result is well worth it.