What is considered low maintenance landscaping?

Artificial turf is not considered low maintenance.

Most people are under the assumption that artificial turf is low maintenance landscaping. Unfortunately, this is not accurate. Low maintenance landscaping is actually landscaping that doesn’t require weekly or bi-weekly continual maintenance. It generally consists of slower-growing plants that don’t require regular trimming, which also typically has low water requirements, and by extension fewer fertilizer requirements. But low water requirements do not equate to low maintenance. This can be confusing because most low maintenance landscape typically are low water consumption, but not vice versa. To give you perspective, the typical home landscaping requires weekly to bi-weekly maintenance in the form of trimming and fertilization.

What are some examples of low maintenance landscaping?

Some popular examples are succulents, cactus, and ornamental grasses, which are all considered low maintenance. They require attention usually as little as once per month! And a nice side benefit is that they are also low water consumption. Other examples of low maintenance landscape are plants specifically used in dry climates such as acacia trees and California peppers. As well as shrubs like blue hibiscus and rock rose, and ground covers such as gazania and rosemary.

Why is Artificial Turf Not Considered Low Maintenance?

Artificial turf is not considered low maintenance because it collects plant debris, animal hair, and dust. Natural grass does as well, however during the frequent irrigation and mowing the natural grass is cleaned. Artificial turf must be manually cleaned to maintain its asthenic as well as biological cleanliness.

Another issue is the sanitation of the artificial turf. It is recommended for most residential residences to sanitize their artificial turf every 3-6 months depending on how frequently people, especially children, are on it.

If you have animals that pose another problem, the smell of pet urine. There are products like Urea-Z that we recommend to remove the pet urine odor. Between the cleaning, sanitizing, and maintenance of the artificial turf, you can see that while artificial turf is low water consumption, it is not considered low maintenance landscaping.