i find that my garden needs different attention for different plants every year. the coneflowers have to be split almost every year, the stonecrop every 3 - 4 years, the mint every year, the chives every other year, the astilbes every 3 - 4 years, the bleeding hearts never, the roses only need to be trimmed back and so on. i only have strips along the house, but they're thickly planted to keep down the weeds. and i do aerate the soil and compost . this year i took the plunge and *gasp* bought a composter at costco. i was tired of seeing a pile of kitchen garbage in a corner of my yard.
when i started i thought that i would plant and be done. nope! perennial just means they come back if they survive the winter. sometimes it means that the second year i don't like them anymore. then i swap them out. as you go, you learn what you want to feed the deer and squirrels, how much water you want to use, how important flowers are as opposed to year-round greenery and such. i made lots of changes in 30 years and now that a 70 - 80-foot pine was removed, we have lots of sun. more roses are coming in!!! and maybe grapes. does anyone have grapes??
but yes! the garden needs care every year. sorry about that. for me too.