Peter Dowdall: How to create a low-maintenance garden this summer

Whether you're a gardening beginner or expert, Irish Examiner columnist Peter Dowdall has the answer to your questions

A beautiful, informal style of planting can be left to nature to maintain and will enhance biodiversity as well as looking quite beautiful all year long. Picture: iStock

Do you hanker after the elusive “low maintenance” garden? Do you love being out there pulling weeds and cutting back plants or is it a chore that you struggle to find time for?

It may surprise you to learn that one way to reduce maintenance is to leave it to nature. I’m not talking about re-wilding as many of us don’t want our suburban or urban plot to be too unkempt, allied to the fact that many of us have to fit a lot into a relatively small space.