WWhen they moved 39 years ago, it seemed to plant a good idea for Bridget and John Ramsay. Wind forward until 2021 and the roses and the rest of the half -hectare, untouched garden with large lawn and mixed herbaceous boundaries were viewed in a different light.
“We founded for years and then found that we couldn't go on because it was too much work,” says Bridget, now 79. “The work was grown and grown, especially because we have grown many one-year-olds,” says John, 76. In addition to the garden, the Ramsays had half a field of fields.
They had created the garden themselves from the bare earth and a vegetable stain when they bought the house and choose one Cottage style corresponds to its straw-covered property from the 18th century. They kept it flawless to take part in Chelsworth Open Gardens in Suffolk every June.
The couple made their garden with increased beds, which contain grasses, ferns, shrubs and simple perennials
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
Before retirement, they worked as a management consultant in London during the week for years and then spent the opening at their Chelsworth House at the weekend, including “Work like Biber” for the opening. Deadheading, pruning, plants, watering, cutting back and mowing made it a maintenance -like garden.
They also had a pond. “What turned out to be a lot more work than you think. At the end of October, someone had to wade in every year and get the leaves and weeds out,” says John.
In 2021 they asked Tom Hoblyn, a garden designer awarded with Chelsea gold, for help. At that time they did not know Hoblyn's luminous login information and only selected him because he lived locally. For Hoblyn, a low -maintenance space meant replacing the untouched lawn and beds with a much loose style.
• Read more professional advice on real estate, interiors and home improvement
Bridget and John tend to their vegetable beds
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
To show them what he meant, he invited them to see his own sustainable, naturalistic 2.5 hectare garden. “I needed her to get on board. You have to go shopping. John likes things very neat, neat and crispy, and I wanted to make sure that you understood how it is okay when things are eaten or flop or if they are not dead.
The Ramsays liked Hoblyn's garden and approved a complete change of direction.
First, he accepted the lawn and vegetable field. “You have to cut a lawn 30 times a year, so that is your maintenance doctor for a vegetable garden,” says Hobly, 62.
The Ramsays wanted to keep some grass, so that Hoblyn drastically reduced the lawn into a meandering path, 3 m wide and to the end of the garden, which lasts 15 minutes to mow. He reduced a large vegetable spots 35 m from the house to four elevated beds from railway sleepers and moved it to the kitchen door.
Maintenance plant planting, including Petunia and Verbena
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
“Now we catch and choose something more than before,” says John.
The regimental beds also went outside with dolphinia, cosmos, peony, penmenons, marigolds and all rose bushes.
“Strangely enough, we now have more beds than at the beginning. What was a little amazing because I had assumed that less work corresponds to more grass,” says John.
The difference is that the new, scattered beds are filled with simple care systems. Ornamental grass including moliniaPresent Pennisetum and Miscanthus are used everywhere. In beds on the more shaded side of the garden, mix with ferns such as athyrium and aspenium and epimedium. On the more sunny side, they are interspersed with Rudbeckias, Heleniums, Teucriiums and Lavender.
John Ramsay with his Lythrum Salicaria. “The redesign has changed everything”
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
The Ramsays had never grown grasses. “You look nice,” says Bridget. “In summer we have a lot of flower tips that survive the winter and look fabulous when we have a frost. And they move in the wind.”
• Why I founded a garden club for children
Hoblybles removed thick shrubs to reduce the workload and open borrowed views on each side. He replaced a hedge through a post and chain fence with a view of the meadow of a farmer and felled laurel on the right to reveal the north of the neighbors.
The pond remained. “A real pond will make itself,” says Hobly. He planted it again and avoided rampant spreads like Norfolk Reed and Water Soldiers. “It is about entering plants that are behaving, but colonized enough to prevent unwanted things from getting in.”
The renovated pond
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
The fertile fertile, muddy fluid floor of the garden is due to the Brett river, which runs next to the former paddock and is susceptible to floods. This made the paddock unsuitable as a wildflower meadow, so that Hobly planted lamps with daffodils, camassias, snowdrops and snowflakes to create a flower meadow.
In spring, the ramsays, which have a gardener three hours a week, are overgrown shrubs and have a large “chop and drop” grasses and perennials, causing the cuttail to be mulch.
“One of the advantages of redesign was to change the way we think about the garden,” says John. “To accept that it is just as neat when we leaf through the beds blowing and hacking and falling. I hate admitting that, but I am now less interested in the edges of the beds. It looks absolutely okay.”
• We had to restore a 100 -year -old garden before we could build a home
You prefer your former garden. “It feels more coherent, it flows from the house around different beds into the dark corners below. It is much more interesting,” says Bridget.
The most important thing is that you now have time to just sit and enjoy the prospects.
“A lower maintenance is a matter of attitude. Simply say:” I will be different, I will be less interested, I will not mow the lawn so often that it doesn't matter to me that the edges are not exactly “,” says John. “You do it a bit, but it doesn't work because the garden, your expectations and your habits are the same. The redesign has changed everything we have concentrated. If you want to change your habits, you have to change a lot around you.”
The reduction of your workload, when you get older, requires a change in the setting.
Tom Hoblyn's top tips for a manageable plot
Accept mistakes on the way. “There are things I thought of Viburnum Tinus. Whereabouts V. X Bodnantense Love it absolutely and I don't know why. A tree carer (Paunally Lake) In the main bed, it has become higher than the usual 1.2 m. It is now 1.8-2 m and starts to block the view. Mother Nature never plays according to the rules. It makes no sense to force something to be there – let it go and continue. “
Adopta A naturalistic scheme This eliminates the need to sweep beds, stake, water, feed and deadhead plants.
Plants of light care plantsLike ornamental grasses, ferns, Rudbeckia, Helenium, Salvia and hydrangea.
Remove or reduce the lawn and vegetable stainswhich are the greatest workload.
Ponds can be manageable If you avoid widespread spreads like water soldiers (Stratiotes aloides) and use slower self -croses such as Iris pseudacorus And Lythrum Salicaria (Lila Loosestrife).
Change the topography Give focal points and open views. Plants that need good drainage on higher hills and moist-tolerant.
Weadering paths By beds, create the river and abolish yourself through symmetry and straight edges.
Plants in thick lumps And repeating through a garden gives coherence and is more successful than small groups.
Plant plenty. “If you have up to 25 plants that grow in a square meter, there is no space for weeds.”
Keep the maintenance -term characteristics small and near the house. The Ramsays have a gravel garden with plants in the Mediterranean style such as Cistus, Salvia and Osmanthus Topiary. Due to its size and closeness to the terrace of the Ramsays, it is easy to recognize and remove weeds.