6 things a gardener would not do in his garden

Garden consultant Marja Kärki wants her own yard to be as natural and easy to maintain as possible. He would leave these things undone in his garden.

Garden advice Marja Kärki works daily with garden design. In his own yard, he doesn’t want to mess around, but the yard should be as easy to maintain and natural as possible.

We asked what things he would never do in his own garden.

1. Remove the lawn

Kärki wouldn’t put a lawn in his own yard, because it requires a lot of work. At least he wouldn’t fertilize the lawn, because then it would grow even faster.

“The lawn has its place, of course, if you want a place to play in your yard, but if the city’s grassy areas are nearby, I’d rather make use of them.”

Instead of a lawn, Kärki would put ground cover plants, stones or meadows in his yard, where only the walkways are cut.

“Meadow vegetation makes the garden more diverse, and at the same time I can enjoy the wonderful splendor of flowers.”

2. Cutting trees and bushes for less

“I am often asked how to cut trees and bushes, and I often answer by asking why they need to be cut at all.”

According to the tip, if the right plant grows in the right place, it doesn’t need to be cut much. If the place is wrong for the plant, it requires a lot of care.

The exception is apple trees. For berry bushes and many leafy bushes, it is enough to remove old branches from time to time.

When a plant is cut, there should be a reason for it, for example, that the branches are rubbing each other. grow inwards in the tree or are in the way of access routes. By cutting trees and bushes, you can also make them branch out, if they haven’t done so otherwise. Dry branches are removed, but otherwise trees and bushes do not need to be pruned every spring.

3. Not for cutting hedges

In his own garden, Kärki wants to get by with as little work as possible, and that’s why he would never put a cut hedge in his yard.

“That’s a terrible thing. I would prefer to put up a fence with different bushes in a zigzag formation that are allowed to grow as they grow.”

“To me, your fence, which contains bushes of different species and flowering at different times, looks natural and nice, in contrast to a single-species hedge with a straight line or geometrically precisely cut.”

Read also on Anna.fi: Yard designer Helga says: everyone wants a yard like this right now

4. No asphalt even for the parking lot

Kärki would not put asphalt in his yard on the parking spaces or in front of the house, because he wants the stormwater to be absorbed into the soil as well as possible.

He would choose the paving so that water can seep into the ground from the seams.

Kärki says that nowadays there are many surfaces in cities that do not absorb water, and as a result there are many stormwater floods and flows.

5. Strong poisons in collar

“I wouldn’t use strong poisons or pesticides in my yard, but I would try to use natural substances and biological control.”

Kärki would by no means control weeds with poisons, but by mechanical uprooting or suffocating them with the help of fabrics, a layer of soil or bark mulch.

6. The moss is allowed to remain

Many people fight against moss growing in their lawns.

“I personally love moss and cherish it, it is the most beautiful thing in the world to me. I have just planted it between the tiles on top of stone ash.”

The downside of moss is that it cannot withstand heavy trampling. If you walk or play a lot on a mossy lawn, the surface of the ground will quickly change.