Best tips for less maintenance?

13 years ago

Inspired by the simplicity in gardening thread, I'm asking everyone for their favorite tips to make gardening less maintenance and therefore, less time consuming. While we all enjoy certain aspects of gardening more than others (like to water, don't like to weed) saving a little time is always a good thing :)

My tip is that if you underplant your smaller beds of vegetables with alyssum, it will shade the soil...keeping weeds from growing and requiring less water. If a few weeds do get through, they're much easier to pull out.

I had great success with this last year, but decided to try bigger vegetable beds this year...big mistake! A lot more weeds and harder to reach the plants. Next year, back to smaller beds and lots of alyssum! LOL

Here's a picture of the front bed (mostly roses and lavender) but all the smaller purple flowers are alyssum and they really help keep down the weeds.

What is your favorite tip for less maintenance? Include pics if you have them, please!

Comments (16)

glib
13 years ago
If you underplant it with radicchio, you will get a second crop free.
nc_crn
13 years ago
Put in adequate mulch if your garden is in a high-weed area. That extra inch or so of mulch you think you can do without...you probably shouldn't.
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These tips are all great! I use the "pack 'em in" theory of gardening to cut down on the weeds as others do. It also cuts down on the chore and expense of mulching. I used to deadhead, but the goldfinches and other birds really appreciate the seed heads, so now I do lots of my garden clean-up in the spring. Actually the plant material is brown and dried up at that point and I've found usually I can rake an area and the dead stems come right up. As opposed to clipping back in the fall when I have to cut each stem. There simply seems to be "less" plant material to get rid of after a winter since it's all dried and shriveled up, if that makes sense at all. I am really learning to settle down about getting it all done. This summer I haven't worked too much in the garden (because of the heat) and it has been so enjoyable finding other fun things to do (like the beach, etc!). The thread about garden seating pushed me to add adirondack chairs to the backyard and lately after work I come home and read a magazine out there instead of weeding. Much more enjoyable. What LL said is true. If people aren't gardeners they won't even know they're weeds and I really think that most gardeners going through a garden that has weeds think to themselves "PHEW! I'm SO glad to see that they have weeds too!!" Let's face it, ALL gardeners fight the weed battle and can appreciate weeds in any garden. I still have not learned to garden the size I can take care of. I'm only on phase 3 of my yard and have another 2 or 3 fairly sizable areas to work on. However, I have learned to pace myself and work for about 5 years on a certain phase of building an area before moving on to another area. During that time I think a lot about the next phase (plant material, design, most especially how will it be watered, etc....) So far we've been OK with the amount of space we've gardened. I'm wondering in which phase I say "Uh Oh, now I've bitten off more than I should have!" I know someday that will happen but for now I'm going to keep my phased approach and hope for the best. Unfortunately, once all the phases are done, I'll be 15 years older and at that point will be looking at how to pare down the garden!! LOL! Pfmstin, I've never heard of that material and it sounds very interesting. I'm definitely going to check that out. Xantippe, what type of edger to you have? Do you have a machine? So far, my DH is my machine! We're (OK, really HE) is edging many new garden beds and anything we (HE) can do to reduce time/energy would be great to know. You see, the less time he spends on edging, the more time he'll have to help me with other things! LOL!! Gardenweed, Amen to planting more fall plants. The garden season for those of us in northern climates can be extended into November with flowers and color. There are so many great fall plants and shrubs out there that are worthy to extend the season. You know, I've heard many times about cardboard and newspaper under mulch and have "thought" about doing that for weed control. But some of you brought up a very good, important point with that tip in that the worms love it. I hadn't thought about that before so thank you for mentioning it. I am going to use this tip in the backyard where it's a new area and needs to be covered.
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lantanascape
13 years ago
Feed the soil, put in drip irrigation, and then lots of mulch. Those are the three things that cut down on maintenance the most. I bring in tons of manure in the fall and let it compost in the beds, and rarely fertilize during the season. Having drip irrigation set up either on a timer, or where you can just turn the spigot on for a few hours and have everything watered is a huge time saver, and saves water too. Same goes for mulch. Keeps the soil from drying out between waterings, suppresses weeds, and reduces the total amount of water needed.
digdirt2
13 years ago
Agree with nc-crn - MULCH! and more mulch. And not decorative wood chip mulch either. Use good soil-improving and plant feeding organic mulches like straw, leaf mold, hay, or grass clippings or compost.

Drip irrigation lines or soaker hose under the mulch is another good one especially if you add an auto feeding fertigation system to it.

Dave
wordwiz
13 years ago
If you don't want to spend time in your garden, pulling up weeds, watering the plants, trimming dead leaves to help the plants to grow better - sow grass and go to the supermarket or a Farmer's Market to get your produce.

There's nothing wrong with adding mulch, sticking in an automatic watering system, hiring someone to pick the ripe fruits - I think that's how most commercial growers do it. Personally, I like pulling up weeds, no matter how many there are and adding them to the compost pile, when necessary using a hose to water the plants and deciding whether a fruit is worth saving or chucking. YMMV!

Mike
nc_crn
13 years ago
Well, I pull weeds...just not many since I have 2-3" of straw mulch covering everything.

I don't battle my garden. I give it a good environment to do well on it's own and it pretty much does. I'm happy enough not giving weeds enough time to get a start on life so I don't have to deal with them. It's not like straw is $20 a bale and has to be shipped in from far away lands.

While I do water by hand currently, I'm a fan of automatic drip irrigation and that's something I wouldn't mind investing in as a luxury to my hobby in a different garden at a future time.

Healthy plants in a healthy environment leads to big harvests and that's what I'm shooting for.
laceyvail 6A, WV
13 years ago
My garden is permanent beds, not raised. I never till. The paths are wood mulch, the beds hay (not straw). I have very few weeds and water only newly sown areas. Very little work for quite a large garden.
denninmi
13 years ago
Can't say it enough times -- MULCH, MULCH, MULCH
oilpainter
13 years ago
The only tip I can think of is an old gardeners saying--
1 weed in seed means 100 the next year.
lavender_lass
Original Author
13 years ago
Everyone, great tips (except maybe Wordwiz...although he does make a good point LOL) but does anyone have any pictures of their garden? I'd love to see what they look like...drip irrigation, mulch and all!
taz6122
13 years ago

Can't say it enough times -- MULCH, MULCH, MULCH

Mulching in certain areas including the majority of the PNW this year would have been a disaster. Everything would have rotted.

For the best and cheapest weed protection lay down cardboard and then cover with a couple inches of soil and water in. I've never had a weed grow through the cardboard and new ones on top are easy to pull.

There's nothing better than drip or soaker hose irrigation on an automatic timer as far as making watering easy except for the atmospheric pressure system I'll be using next year.
I totally agree with Mike, if you want the fruit but don't want to do the work then buy it.
mauirose
13 years ago
It's not like straw is $20 a bale and has to be shipped in from far away lands.

Unless you're me ; )
techiegardener
13 years ago
I have thought of using cardboard (lasagna gardening) but I have no idea what kind of chemicals will leach into the soil from all the glue in the cardboard.
taz6122
13 years ago

I have thought of using cardboard (lasagna gardening) but I have no idea what kind of chemicals will leach into the soil from all the glue in the cardboard.

Are you saying you don't sleep on, eat, live around or drive in anything that's contents was packaged in CARDBOARD?

Is that a question?
How well do they hold up in rain?
Do you know what paste is and what it's made from?

The paste used to hold cardboard together is an organic starch that has been consumed by children in homes and classrooms for decades. Specialty boxes not included of course but most of them are coated with a wax that is also nontoxic and(possibly)edible if you have enough greens with those browns. LOL!

Oh and WELCOME techiegardener!
loribee2
13 years ago
Drip, Drip, Drip!!

I learned in 25 years of gardening that if I have to stand and water everything by hand, it's not going to happen with any regularity. Thus, last year we went through painstaking efforts to run a drip line to each of our garden beds (by converting the existing sprinkler system).

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Here's the garden one year later.

{{gwi:9086}}

Now, when the weather man says it's going to be 90 and I've got to get to work, I can flip the switch and water everything while I'm making my lunch. I think if I had to choose one time-saver that was most important to me, it would be my drip system.
lavender_lass
Original Author
13 years ago
Loribee- Great idea and your garden is beautiful!

Best tips for less maintenance?

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glib

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