Not quite the loveliest picture you'll ever see, but there are some hints to a well-managed garden here.
You'll notice I did not say 'weed-free garden'! Weeds are a bit like time,
you can try your best to manage it,
but you can never fully control it. But there I go philosophizing again.
Let's start with the pathway.
Pea gravel makes a cost-effective walkway, with a few bricks laid into it
for texture and color.
I highly recommend pathways,
firstly because, if done right, there is that much less to weed,
and secondly, we need to walk through our gardens, not just observe them from the outside.
To do a pathway right, first dig it down, thus building up the garden beds around it. Then lay down landscape fabric, lay down your bricks or slate, then add the pea gravel.
Next, you'll notice the little hedge on the edge of the pathway. These are wild violets that just appeared in my garden one year. I adore them, but after a while, that was pretty much all you could see in the garden. And I must be able to see my soil! So I started to pull some out, but my soft heart got the best of me, and they ended up all over the place again. So, I put them in this little hedge, and don't let them stray out of it. If I see any of them out of the hedge, out they go. This has the added benefit of letting the garden look tidy. If I'm not able to get out there and weed, and my perennials take over along with the weeds, it's really okay. It just looks like a big jumble of loveliness, because of the tidy border. Almost like I planned it that way! Without the tidy factor, it would just look like a big jumble of work. So that's really my point here today. A bit of well-planned tidiness can make a huge difference in the management of our gardens. I hope that helps, and happy weeding!