LAWN MOWING, watering and weeding are the three biggest jobs in home landscape maintenance and between them, they can put a serious dent in your relaxation time. Whether you're landscaping a new homesite or living with an es- tablished one, there are steps you can take to drastically reduce maintenance time. These ideas will also save water. © Less Work and Waler with Groundcovers: Large lawns require substantial maintenance and use more water than any other feature in the land- scape. Consider converting part or ali of your Jawn area to low- maintenance, flow-water-using groundcovers. These are low-growing plants that spread to form a carpet over the ground. Commonly used groundcovers are ground ivy, myr- tle, vinca, pachysandra, and dichondria. Your focal garden center should be able to recom- mend others for your area and needs, These groundcovers require lite maintenance and need far less water than turf grass. They tend to be somewhat fess durable than grass, so use them where there is little or no foot traffic, Confine turfgrass (o those outdoor recre- ation areas where it’s really need- ed. © Choose Maintenance: Many plants need little care or water {to thrive. Herbs, for exam- ple, are wonderfully attractive, low-maintenance, fow-water-using plants that will enhance home- cooked meals as well as decorate the landscape. Excellent choices are perennials like rosemary and oregano or an- nials like basil and parsley. Lav- ender, though inedible, graws into a beautiful and aromatic hedgelike shrub that can be used to make Plants for Low These tips save gardening time sweet smelling sachets. Your local nursery can recom- mend attractive and useful land- scape plants, many native to your area, that will thrive with hule care and only natural rainfall. Attractive possibilities include juniper, cotoneaster, cuonymous and heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica). ¢ Mulch for Work and Water Savings: The best all-round water-and- work-saver you can employ in the garden. mulch, is simply a two- to-four inch layer of organic mate- tial — bark chips, compost, pine needles, shredded leaves, even stones and gravel -— placed over the soil around your plants. Mulch keeps moisture in the soil, plant roots cool in summer and prevents many weeds from coming up. You can buy mulches atthe garden center or make your own with a garden shredder. ¢ Stop Weeds, Reduce Watering: Before you put down bark chips or other organic mulch, lay down a layer Of one of the new permanent landscape fabrics. This is a relatively new techno- logical development for landscape gardening. The fabric allows water and air to pass through to plan roots but cuts out light so weeds can't grow. It also helps to main- tain soil moisture. Covered with an inch or two of bark chips, the fabric will last vir- tually forever while reducing weeding and watering require- ments. © Water Wise Gardening: Most of the water from a garden hose or standard lawn sprinkler is lost to runoff or evaporation be- fore it ever reaches plant roots. Consider installing a ftow-volume drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation uses far less water than conventional systems and can be set up to be fully automatic. Specializing in chipping & shredding for the home gardener Left us turn your garden refuse into soil conditioning compost & muich 2) Guild House Antiques & Quality Olde We invite you to come in and ‘ browse through two floors of ~‘© antiques and collectibles. We offer sivle and quality for a traditional setting. Open daily 10-5 pyr, Antiques bought & Consignment welcome. te Guild House Antiques 1731 MARINE DRIVE Ambleside By-The-Sea West Vancouver 926-6272 - Friday, June &, 1990 - North Shore News 21 Demonstration Sat. June 9 ing all. é rde : for pers, alled. by DEERWOOD ¢ GARDEN & LANDSCAPE SU! PLIES RECLINER Assorted Fabrics & and Coiours @@ FROM SWIVEL ROCKER Assorted Fabrics and Colours FROM $249 LIFTER RECLINER Assorted Fabrics and Colours FREE DELIVERY ' mabey Schneider . FREE PICK-UP ca en ‘sell: for less” OF OLD FURNITURE = FURNITURELAN ps) ue E.Srd ST ORT | VANCOUVER oe 1361