A lawn needs at least 10 cuts during the year and if you want a medium quality turf, you will need a lot of irrigation, which in addition to being expensive (especially if there is no well) is not a very eco-friendly system. If the area you are planning is very large and must necessarily include a lawn, try to separate it clearly from the flower beds of perennials and annuals, do not create abstruse geometries and remember that in areas that are too sunny and close to the edges, the lawn will struggle a lot. stay lush throughout the season.

Mulching is the real revolution in the history of the garden of the last 30 years. There are various synthetic and vegetable fiber materials. All of them offer a great obstacle to the growth of weeds, keep the soil covered and not exposed to rain erosion and give it a higher percentage of humidity in summer. They are simple to apply and quite inexpensive. If you make a flower bed with mulching cloth, do not cover everything with bark or lapillus, use small ground cover plants such as Lonicera or Cotoneaster horizontalis and scatter handfuls of bark here and there to break with the color of the cloth, if you have chosen the right ones harmonies between lines and vegetation you will get an excellent result with a small expense.

Grass cuttings, dry leaves and wood chips are excellent materials for covering a flower bed as an alternative to sheets. The advantage is in the nourishing action they perform on the soil (woody materials lower the pH, fighting the excessive alkalinity of some clayey soils), the disadvantage is the need to periodically add some material, due to decomposition of plant substances. A mulch of wisteria chips offers a fibrous, sandy-colored substance, which lends itself to an elegant contrast with the red of a Japanese maple bed.

Very often the beauty of an evergreen plant is underestimated and a deciduous species is chosen only for its abundant flowering, limited to a few days. The main advantage is that you don’t have to collect a hundred thousand leaves in autumn; it is also the most suitable type of plants for mulched flower beds. 70% / 80% of the plants used must be evergreen. The problem of choosing the most suitable species arises especially in the north due to the very harsh climatic conditions. We recommend: Photinia spp. Viburnus tinus, Buxus sempervirens, ligustrum ovalifolium, Aucuba japonica, Nandina domestica, Bamboo, Ilex aquifolium, Osmanthus fragrans, Prunus laurocerasus, Laurus nobilis, Cotoneaster franchetti, Mahonia aquifolium and others. In short, there is no risk of being monotonous. Many of these species have ornamental peculiarities such as the production of colored berries.

Each area has its own pedoclimatic characteristics, choosing plants belonging to species or genus of a native plant of the territory is a very smart choice. In the hills of the lower Piedmont, for example, splendid gorse with enchanting blooms, Dogwoods with amber stems, flowering Viburnums, splendid laburnums and luxuriant hazelnuts grow. Thinking of carrying out a project in these areas without using these beautiful and resistant plants is a big mistake.

The garden is not just plants: integrate paths with gravel, steps, use stones of all sizes, create harmonious geometries and section the flower beds with mulch. I suggest using at least 20% of the floor area to use materials of this type.

It is possible to find this type of materials also in building warehouses at low cost and good quality.

Unlike an underground system, drip irrigation is easy to install, anyone can do it and requires very little maintenance.

To regulate the right amount of water for each plant, you can spin the tube 2 or 3 times around the base of the trunk, or drill additional holes in the tube itself to obtain a more abundant wetting.