From raised beds to ground cover: how to create a low-maintenance garden | Leave it to Miimo

Imagine a garden where the grass is always greener, and relaxation reigns supreme. A place where your new gardener is busy bustling round the garden, the gentle hum of mowing barely audible as you admire your verdant vista.

You don’t need to feel guilty about sipping your sundowner and not offering to help – because that gardener is called Miimo, and it’s a robot. Put like that, it may sound like science fiction but, in fact, robotic lawnmowers are now established tools in helping you love and live with your garden for longer. Oh, and they’re quieter too.

Before Edwin Budding’s invention of the lawnmower in 1830, grass cutting was a labour-intensive pursuit using scythes, shears or grazing animals. As suburbs began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the residential lawn became a symbol of status and prestige, as homeowners sought to emulate the manicured lawns of public parks and golf courses, driving the demand for smaller lawnmowers for domestic use.

That demand for a lush, lawn landscape, mown weekly or fortnightly between March and October, sees Brits spending hours – or, by some estimates, days – keeping their lawn neat and in good condition. But while the exercise afforded by such exertions can be helpful for some, it’s not possible for everybody.

Pam Whittle, former president of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, finds grass cutting her least preferred job in retirement. “There’s only the two of us now and the whole site is an acre. I hate cutting the grass, my husband cuts it, but he doesn’t like it either. I’m not a spring chicken any more, but I don’t want to move,” she says.

While artificial grass may seem to offer a no-maintenance solution for anyone with decreased mobility, it isn’t the answer – and comes with a list of problems. From the chemicals used in production to microplastic pollution – not to mention discarded grass being sent to landfill – it shouldn’t be the first port of call.

By contrast, a permeable ground cover, such as gravel or paving, will lower maintenance and can even be approached in a wildlife-friendly way. Planting small plants such as thyme in the gaps can reduce the number of “volunteer” plants (or weeds).

If you’re a committed lawn lover, however, and couldn’t bear to see it go, there are options. In recent years, robotic lawnmowers such as the Honda Miimo have emerged as the revolution to retirement gardening, taking on board the back-bending physicality of lawn care. This autonomous mower uses advanced sensors and navigation technology so you don’t even need to rise from a chair, allowing unbridled enjoyment of a well-manicured lawn with absolutely minimal effort.

Miimo can navigate a range of garden topography, handling slopes of up to 25 degrees, eliminating the tiresome task of pushing a mower uphill. The HRM 4000 Live model can cover up to 4,000 sq metres and – with heavy-duty rear wheels – it can cope with challenging conditions such as heavy mud, leaves and abrasive ground.

The Live part means you can connect it to your smart speaker – meaning your outdoor space can have the same convenience as inside your home – as well as a host of high-tech functionality. Neil M White, author of The Self Provisioner: How to Grow Your Own Food and Live a Self-sustaining Life in the Digital Age, says he loves the set-and-forget functions. “Although Miimo does the cutting, you are in full control via the app on your smartphone. You can choose the times and days for cutting and even avoid the times when you want to be out enjoying the garden.”

Prefer the simplest life possible? The HRM 1000 has a simplified display with just three buttons: play, home and power.

Of course, not all gardening can be easy. Part of the fun can be getting your hands dirty and connecting with nature. If you want to continue doing some of the hard work yourself, try raised beds at a height that you can reach with ease. To ensure you and your guests can still move around them, pathways should be accommodating – gardening community the Thrive Gardening Club recommends a 1.2-metre width for wheelchairs, with more for turning circles. If you have grass between them or other garden features, you’ll want to make sure your robotic lawnmower can operate in narrow spaces (the new Honda Miimo range can).

Not that every inch has to be perfectly planted and groomed; there’s a lot to be said for letting go a bit – both in gardening and in life. Consider setting your robotic lawnmower to avoid some areas, ensuring that specific areas of your garden remain untouched, perhaps to encourage biodiversity.

Honda Miimo also has a micro-mulching function: this reduces trimmings to a fine grade then distributes these on the lawn, returning valuable nutrients back to the lawn. No more bending down to pick up the clippings, or figuring out how you’ll dispose of them, which can quickly overwhelm even the most vigorous composter.

With so many of us entertaining in our homes and gardens post-pandemic, it’s reassuring to know that having a beautiful garden doesn’t have to involve a lot of kneeling and digging. So if – like 67% of respondents in a survey by home improvement community Houzz – you believe that having a low-maintenance garden is important, it could be time to make it happen. So sip that sundowner, let Miimo mow, and relax.

Find out more about how the latest Honda Miimo robotic lawnmowers could transform your lawn