b'words: Rachel Macdonald pictures: Sally Taggin touch with your rootsTherearetwowaystocreateatidy,harmonious,No garden is completely maintenance-free. Those that productivegarden.Youcanemploymetresofplasticcome close can tend not to feel like healthy spaces, and weed-mat, soak everything with chemical fertilisers, andin fact often arent particularly eco-friendly either, says employ lashings of pesticide. Maggie. Im thinking of the advent of fortress properties Alternatively, you can take a more organised approach;as we demand increased privacy and security. Hedges plant to suit the conditions, think about mulches andhave given way to walls in many suburbs, so we lose the groundcovers, and keep on top of garden pests as theyplants that create habitats for our birds and other animals start to appear, rather than struggling with full-blownlike hedgehogs, both of which are great for slug and infestations, afterwards. However, all this doesnt meansnail control.your garden has to be high maintenance, says MaggieTheres also an impression that hedges are hard work, she Barry. It just means taking time out to keep in touch withsays, but with the choice of plants now available, they the plants, always with timely intervention in mind. dont need to be huge and dusty these days. They can be 114 |'