When you’re not paying attention, it can sneak up on you. If you have a yard but aren’t the most green-fingered of people, it’s surprising how overgrown and untidy it can become over a relatively short period. However, it doesn’t have to be tough to get it back in shape.

These are our favorite ways to keep your garden tidy when you don’t have the time and interest to do so.

Make it a habit to do a little bit more regularly.

One of the leading causes of an unkempt garden is not keeping on top of it. We know, you don’t want to spend the entire day in the garden. However, you can split the job into much smaller activities by following a basic weekly maintenance schedule. This will make it much more manageable.

Reduce the amount of garden work you have to do.

If you don’t enjoy yard work, you can always give yourself a lot less to do. With the right landscaping, for example, separating distinct garden areas, you can make your yard low maintenance. Building a deck will reduce the amount of lawn you have to mow or weeds you have to pull.

You could even go all-in and install artificial grass to replace your entire lawn.

Then there’s equipment that can automate some portions of garden maintenance, such as self-driving lawn mowers and water sprinklers with timers.

Hire someone to do it for you

If you hate gardening that much, consider paying someone to do all or some of it for you. Although a good garden service will have all the necessary equipment and insurance, you could consider a local neighbor, student, or family member for simple jobs like cutting the grass.

However, specific jobs, such as tree work, should always be left to the pros. Then there are certain jobs you could do, but it’s better left to someone who knows what they’re doing. For example dead rat removal – it’s best left to the pros.

Also, you don’t have to take on a regular service. A one-off blitz by someone else can be enough to get things back under control, to a point where you can manage again.

Do you want to live with a cluttered garden?

In certain circumstances, you might not even need to reclaim your garden at all.

It’s a plausible aesthetic choice, as long as there are no issues to compromise the health and safety of your home, such as a tree that touches your roof or a bug infestation coming in from the garden. You might even purposely let it grow wild by spreading wildflower seeds to replace a tidy and uniform lawn with a more organic (and some might argue beautifully) display of life.

However, as long as you have natural vegetation in your yard or garden, you will have to take care of your garden in some way or another. However, that does not exclude you from taking a few shortcuts along the road.