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to having an allotment will inevitably mean a reappraisal of your garden at home. The most sensible thing to do is to make the garden as low-maintenance as possible, while still keeping the whole space a pleasant place to relax with family and friends.If you

at first look unappealing and unattractive, they are nevertheless home to 12–14 per cent of all our red data book and nationally scarce insect species; that’s more than you find in ancient woodlands or on chalk downs.The reason they are so important

Verbena bonariensisVerbena bonariensis flowers on tall, wiry stems and can be planted with a variety of different perennials, including grasses. It has a long flowering season, making it an ideal plant for low-maintenance gardens and herbaceous

in urban areas where parking spaces are at a premium and there's a lack of availability of public transport. The popularity of low-maintenance gardens among the time-poor is also a factor. The RHS estimates around 12 square miles of London are lost

, low-maintenance and rewarding. Considering their price at the supermarket, they are also inexpensive.Don't be tempted to impulse-buy those specimens stuffed into pots that you see in large garden centres. In my experience, mail order plants from

in - unless you enjoy being observed by passers-by - but you still want it to look good. A simple pattern of box and gravel looks fabulous (especially from upstairs windows) and is pretty low maintenance. Box also works well as edging, in order to restrain

much time. They're also one of the best low-maintenance fruit crops you can grow, with fruiting times ranging from high summer to late autumn.Summer-fruiting varieties crop in July on last year's growth, so when their season finishes cut down