I like that tip. That is my theory about cottage gardening...don't leave a bare spot of ground uncovered. Where sun can hit the soil a seed can germinate. My thickest beds have the fewest weeds.

I love how your bed looks!

So I second your tip: Leave no ground uncovered. Either mulch or cover with spreading type plants.

Gldno- Thanks :)

I think leaving no bare spot of ground is a great idea. I need more alyssum next year! LOL

Planting fewer containers has cut my work quite a bit. I decided that not only was it taking too long to water everything every day, but then we were starting to dread fall clean up. Getting all the plants ready to go in for the winter, cleaning all the pots and putting them all away. Now I place fewer containers in just the areas where they will give the most punch. I don't even miss all the containers I used to pot up.

Prairiemoon, me too! I did a few large, dramatic pots, and that's it, and I'm so much happier.

My tip is so obvious, but I'll post it anyway. Mulch. We mulched four years ago, and then did not bother again, even though the mulch was mostly decomposed. Watering became a huge pain, and the weeds drove us crazy. Finally, this year, we mulched again, and life is so much better. So--bite the bullet--and mulch!

One other tip doesn't really make gardening easier, but it does make me enjoy my garden more. Edge your beds often (if you have an edger, that is). When my beds are edged, I can enjoy them so much more because they look neat and tidy. Somehow, having a neat edge keeps me from caring quite so much about the weeds, or the dead-heading I should be doing, etc. I know this sounds crazy, but it's true for me at least.

I totally agree about mulch, i always love the look but in one area i didnt because i never finished planting,,,and it is weed central!

I agree about the mulch too, good tip, xantippe. We skipped some of the mulch this year in a long perennial border that is pretty closely planted. I thought there was little weed competition in that bed and the mulch at the front of the border was still pretty thick, but the middle and back of the border was nonexistent. This year we had no rain and I was watering all the time. I think if I had a thicker layer of mulch over the entire border, it might have conserved moisture better.

Oh, and the other thing I forgot to say about the containers, it was also expensive to buy all the pots, fill all the pots with new potting soil as often as they should be done. Plus then what do you do with the old soil every fall. And where do you store all those pots. Needed a lot of space for them all.

For even more protection against drying out and weeds, lay a thick layer of newspaper down on the ground before you mulch. I do that in my rose bed and it works very well. If it's thick enough, it also discourages the squirrels from digging there.

Beautiful alyssum! I'd never heard that tip before. Many years ago, a wonderful gardener told me, "Never dig a new bed. Instead, lay down cardboard or at least four layers of newspaper right on the grass the year before. Hold it down with rocks and wet it. The next spring you'll be able to plant right through it." It's true!

As I get older, I'm doing the same thing over and over with annual beds. When my sunflowers and zinnias are done for the year, I pull the finished plants and lay down cardboard for the winter. It's not pretty, but the look can be improved with the addition of grass clippings or even old horse manure. I love that cardboard attracts worms and eliminates weeds.

I too like to use allysum around my roses and other plants. Last year I planted alot of an old fashioned strain of allysum from seed, it was called Tiny Tim and it grew very well, smaller blossoms than what I usually get from the local nursery. Well, this year it all came back from seed and spread everywhere! very hardy!
roseberri

I have a minor bulb bed (crocus and snowdrops) at the base of a pink dogwood, very hard to weed so after the bulbs have died down I cover the bed with a piece of landscape cloth cut to fit the area and cover this with shavings. It looks neat all summer, no weeding. In november the shavings and landscape cloth come off, there's usually a bit of dried up stuff but it's easy to remove and after top dressing with a little sea soil it's all ready for the bulbs to pop through in january/february. This same piece of heavy landscape cloth has been used for the last 4 years.

Annette

My tip for making gardening less work and more fun:

Learn to make peace with the look of a less-than-perfect, less-than-tidy garden! ;-)

There are some times I am just not interested in doing much work in the garden (except watering, that is my daily duty). In the early years I would force myself to get out there and do things even if I didn't feel like it- hence the mid to end of season burn out when I was plain sick of gardening! Now I do what I like when I like and take however long I like doing it. Sometimes I don't weed or trim for a whole month. Sure the garden looks messy when doing this, but I can live with that. It gives me enough beauty for the amount of work I put into it. Sometimes ya' feel like sitting outside and not doing a solitary thing. ;-)
CMK

CMK- LOL! That's a great tip!

Since I have such a short frost free season (about three months) I don't deadhead...anything. A lot of things will rebloom on their own, but I like the seedpods for the birds and I don't want to cut things back...and then get an early frost.

This year, I also didn't trim anything back in the spring. Not the lavender, the salvia, the butterfly bushes, the coneflowers, nothing. My mom had trimmed back her butterfly bush too early last year and it froze, so I didn't trim anything. Amazingly, everything bloomed and looked beautiful, so the old stuff either fell off or was covered up by the blooms :)

I know I have posted it before, but I use Preen underneath mulch to pretty much eliminate weeding. You have to initially remove the weeds, then Preeen and then mulch.

The iris beds get Preen only since mulch will cause rot. I do very little weeding as a result.
kay

I have deer and spraying repellent is costly and time-consuming, so I grow plants that are never browsed, or seldom browsed, by deer.

I prefer to plant perennials in the fall (zone 7b) and sow annual seeds between those -- also in the fall. Survival rate is much better and the annuals cover the bare ground until the perennials are mature. I apply compost after a few frosts and before sowing the flower seeds. Fewer weeds and more flowers in spring. Fall weather is more pleasant for working in the garden, too.

Cameron

One of the main things that helped areas of my garden is raised beds. Maybe it's just my perception, but weeds seem much more plentiful here in the country than when we lived in town. the raised beds let me get out earlier in the spring(except this year), easier to weed (not much needed), get lots of produce and flowers out of them.

Alisande:I'm trying your idea of paper/cardboard this fall to start a couple new beds. Thanks.

CMK, I need to work on developing your attitude....this year my body forced me to take some long breaks, then there was drought. I just did the bare minimum but it frustrated me. I had already planned to cut way back next year....and plan to stay with it.

Here is my new tip: Just have a garden the size you can take care of easily....leaving you time to relax and enjoy it.

I am even writing about it in a journal. It seems if I write things down, they seem more real to me.

-Glenda, took me a long time to learn it!
I really like your tip too- exactly what I have been telling myself lately. I don't need to be making more beds (for all those new plants I want you know) when there already plenty here to take care of and water!!
CMK

Not sure if this 'tip' will work for many but I've let my standards slip quite a bit! LOL My DH does a really good weeding early on and then I weed casually the rest of the season IF I'm not busy with other things in life. I do try very hard tho to pull weeds before they go to seed.

I carefully deadhead expensive plants such as roses and lilies and let a lot of the rest go unless I have nothing better to do. My garden doesn't have to be a showplace all the time. It's just a matter of adjusting my attitude, it's not important to anyone else so I don't have to obsess.

The best tips have already been mentioned, I am just seconding those opinions.

Do not plant more than you can care for adequately.
Don't think that you must have every new plant introduced.
Passalong plants from your area are the hardiest, and require less care.

Relax and enjoy the beauty of your garden instead of thinking about the next chore. That is the hardest thing for me. I am one who wants to pull weeds form all gardens that I visit.

This is an oldie but a goodie;
plant things with similar water requirements together.

You'll thank yourself in high summer when you're toting that water hose!

I am so with everyone on the letting our standards slip a little!

We've just come off a round of out-of-town guests, and I did not get to the weeding/deadheading/mowing that I wanted to do before they arrived. I was embarrassed, and it made me not enjoy the process of showing them my garden. How sad.

Xantippe- They came to see you, not your garden. I've noticed that most people think my gardens look great...but they don't garden. Where I see a weed, they see a plant they don't recognize.

Unless you are friends with a lot of gardeners, they won't notice...and if they are gardeners, they'd probably think it was fun to take a morning, help you weed, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in your garden! I know I would, if I lived nearby :)

Here's a perfect example...my kitchen garden. People drive by and think all those little white flowers are there on purpose. Wrong! They're ALL weeds.

At first, they really annoyed me (I've weeded three times already) but then I thought, they actually give the garden definition and look much better than my baby shrubs with all the space between them. The garden has an air of mystery about it, which I really like. Next year, hopefully less weeds, but this year, it's really not so bad. LOL

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Wow, I never would have guessed they were weeds! They look like such a romantic drift of flowers. Do you know what they are?

Divide and give away. And mulch even more.Got many tall phlox I have started dividing. And read about plants before planting. And I can't have all the plants inthe world for my zone.

Here are a couple of tips that I've used.....

Attach a plant tray with bungee cords so that it fits right behind your wheelbarrow "bowl" and sets on top of the wheelbarrow handles. Just run the bungee cord from one side of the tray, under the handles and to the other side of the tray. It's really handy for tools.

Also, I use remesh for my tomato cages. It's a heavy duty wire stabilizer that is used in concrete work and can be found at the big box stores. I form a half moon shape (looks like a little quonset hut) and cover it with remay to protect seedlings when starting spinach, lettuce, etc When it's time to transplant tomatoes, I tie two together to form a complete, upright cylinder.

Xantippe- Best guess so far is feverfew. I'm not sure, but it's everywhere. Usually the flowers turn brown pretty fast, out in the field, but with all my watering, they look great! LOL

See those little yellow flowers peeking out...those are the pontilia...and I've weeded this area at least three times. All that manure (this was a horse pasture last year) and water made the weeds a little crazy this year :)

Pfmastin- Great tips. I might try those little quonset hut covers. Do you have any pictures?

My little green acre is about as dry as a dust bowl at this stage. It has rained once here since Juneit rained a little on August 23. IÂm keeping a garden diary and thatÂs what I wrote in it. ItÂs been scorching hotÂupper 90Âs with high humidity. All my plants aside from the ones with deep taproots are stressed & struggling. My tip: watering with plant nannies, gallon milk jugs & 3-gallon cat litter jugs. I poke a pinhole an inch from the bottom of the jugs opposite the handle and fill them with the hose. Once the water drains down to the level of the pinhole, the water left in the jug keeps them from blowing around in the wind. It isnÂt pretty but itÂs practical in this awful drought. Plants get watered at the base and no water is wasted on foliage or mulch. It also allows me to take breaks from watering so the well pump motor gets a rest.

MulchÂitÂs priceless on top of cardboard to smother weeds plus worms love it. I spread cardboard (if I had it) or 30 thicknesses of newspapers under bark mulch on the grassy slope beside my garage back in the spring. Now IÂm ready to plant out winter sown perennials and when I pull the mulch & cardboard aside, the grass is dead and there are lots of big, fat worms underneath.

Plant fall-blooming perennials. There are SO many that bloom May-June-July, the daylilies, butterfly bushes & phlox stretch it out through August but having something in bloom late in the season is very inspiring & rewarding.

Agastache rupestris (WS)
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Caryopteris/blue mist shrub
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Carnation
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Toad lily
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Sedum
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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.

gardenweed_z6a, your toad lily is amazing! Doesn't appear to be hardy in my zone unfortunately so I'm just enjoying your pretty pic.

Thanks luckygal. I'm loving them. This is the first time I've grown them. Bought them bare-root and divided them between three beds. The flowers are tiny but they usually bloom in groups of 3-5. I'm ordering seeds from Hazzard's this winter & will winter sow them--they need cold stratification to germinate. I really want to pack them in my shade beds for the autumn show. Same with the agastache rupestris--it's gorgeous.