It’s the start of a new year, which means that anyone living with a garden has a whole new season of work to look forward to in a month or two. If you feel like you have had trouble keeping up with the demands that your own patch of green has been making, then you might be thinking about what you can do to take some of the work out of your chores and to make gardening a little easier.
Here, we’re going to look at a few tips that can help make gardening more efficient and easier to handle, without skimping down on the quality of the finished garden.
Re-design the space
The first thing that you can do is start by making the garden easier to maintain, itself. If you have the budget, or you’re growing a new garden, then you should think about the ways you can improve your gardening design and how easily you access it. For instance, you can go for raised beds to fit the soil level closer to you, naturally. You can also keep the width of the borders between you and the flowers down so that it’s easier to simply reach over and water, prune, or do whatever you need to do.
Choose flowers that are easier to take care of
Your choice of plants in the garden is, naturally, going to play a key role in dictating how much work it’s going to take to care for all of it. To that end, you should look up some of the low-maintenance flowers that you can choose to populate your garden with. Typically, the easiest flowers to care for are going to be those that would naturally live in a climate like yours, regardless. This way, they’re not going to take as much work to help them fit an environment they have already evolved to thrive in.
Invest in some quality tools (and keep them in good condition)
Good tools are going to make any workload much easier to work with, making it easier to keep your garden in top condition. Replacing old manual tools with high-garden power tools can turn a lot of work into a simple breeze. This much becomes clear as soon as you upgrade to a powered mower or a trimmer instead of having to trim everything by hand. It’s important you take care of your equipment, as well, performing what maintenance and cleaning is necessary before storing them in a cool, dry space where they’re not as likely to suffer from the effects of corrosion.
Consider automating some of it
Aside from the tools that can make your work a lot easier, you should consider the fixtures that can almost entirely take care of the work for you. When it comes to gardening, the most common tool of this type is the sprinkler system. There are plenty of sprinkler systems that can make sure your plants are getting precisely as much water as they need, even adjusting smartly to different needs. Many of these can be controlled with simple digital tech, as well, so that you can manage them without even having to take a step out into the garden.
Don’t forget the mulch
In case you haven’t been aware yet, mulch can easily become the gardener’s best friend. A good layer of mulch on top of your flower beds is going to help take care of them in a variety of ways, from preserving moisture so that you don’t have to water them quite as much to protect them from plants. Natural mulch options tend to work better than the alternative, but they’re all good.
Give yourself less garden to contend with
Of course, you’re going to have less work to do if you simply don’t have as much gardening that you have to do in the first place. One way to do this is to use more of the garden as a livable or entertainment space, opening out pathways, patios, or decking onto it. However, a lot of people have taken to replacing their lawn entirely with artificial grass, so they never have to worry about watering, weeds, or the woes of soil management ever again. To some people, this is a drastic action, but it definitely reduces your gardening workload.
Consider the tips above and which of them best fit your needs. Some might fit your budget better than others, and some might not work for the type of garden that you have. Hopefully, however, there’s at least one tip for everyone above.
Image by Peggychoucair
