Cultivating an eye-catching landscape doesn’t have to gobble up every free moment. By streamlining landscape chores, your yard can explode with beauty — even as your chore list lightens. This front yard welcomes with mixed plantings: trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Give planting beds a wide, sloping trench edge to make mowing easy. Simply drop a set of mower wheels into the trench to cut grass along the bed edge and you can skip string trimming.

The secret to mowing your way to a beautiful lawn is mowing less, but not in the way you might think. Many homeowners believe that if they delay mowing until grass is overly long and then scalp it, they won’t need to mow again soon. That type of mowing will slowly kill your lawn. The secret to a healthy lawn with the least amount of cutting? Mow to maintain a consistent height throughout the growing season, the ideal height for your type of turf (learn that from your local extension office). Never remove more than one-third of a grass blade’s length at each mowing, and let clippings lie. In combination, these practices can help you tend a lush, low-maintenance lawn.

Invest in the right watering equipment to make irrigation a hands-free chore. Simple dial-type timers paired with soaker hoses can automate watering in any planting bed. Using soaker hoses also saves water compared to overhead sprinklers, because water lands on a plant’s root zone. When using irrigation timers, be sure to turn off the system during rainy weather.

Mulch is the No. 1 secret to low maintenance gardening. Apply it in a layer 2 to 3 inches thick, and it will help suppress weeds (less weeding for you) and reduce water evaporation from soil (less watering for you). Maintain mulch by applying a fresh layer as needed to maintain that ideal depth. In warm regions, you may need to apply mulch twice a year. In zones with cold winters, an annual mulch should be sufficient.