Does a maintenance-free gardening plan exist?
No. You will always need to maintain your garden area. Build a maintenance team to help with weeding, watering, replacing damaged plants, maintaining signage and fencing, controlling pests, mulching, pruning, and filling and cleaning bird feeders. Find advice for designing a maintenance strategy in The Learning Grounds Guide for Elementary Schools (PDF, 750 Kb) or The Learning Grounds Guide for Secondary Schools (PDF, 640 Kb). For tips on how to manage your volunteer maintenance team, see Chapter 6 of All Hands in the Dirt: A Guide to Designing and Creating Natural School Grounds.