Gardening doesn’t have to be all toil in the soil. With the application of these four tips your time spent in the garden could be more about appreciation and enjoyment than tending and weeding.
Use Raised Beds
Creating defined boundaries makes controlling your garden much easier. Raised beds have many benefits and can be simple and relatively quick to construct plus you can choose the best and most suitable topsoil and compost to fill them with, ideal for gardens hampered by sticky clay, sandy or otherwise unfriendly soil. Raised beds have better drainage and warm up quicker than a regular garden area so you can start planting earlier in the year and they help to limit the ingress of weeds, grass roots, and other unwelcome visitors. They also reduce the amount of bending down and therefore back strain and should be built small enough to be reached from both sides so there is no need to climb in and start compacting the prepared soil.
Add A Mulch Layer
One of the best time saving measures a gardener can take is applying mulch. Inorganic mulches such as gravel, stones and landscaping plastic and fabrics help to inhibit weed growth and let the soil hold moisture more effectively especially during hot and dry weather conditions. Organic mulches like straw, grass clippings, wood chips and shredded bark have similar weed inhibition and moisture retention properties but can also enrich the soil as they break down and decompose.
Water The Easy Way
There are several labour saving watering methods to consider. A soaker hose is water permeable so when placed in your garden, ideally covered with mulch to reduce evaporation loss, it allows the water to slowly seep out throughout its length and once set up the most energy you have to expend is in turning on the tap. Drip irrigation is a system that delivers water slowly to the roots of plants, it is more costly initially than other methods but can save you money in the long term by using less water. Couple this with an inexpensive timer and all the work is done for you. Hydrogels or water storing gels also help to maintain a steady supply of water to your plants and claim to reduce total water use by up to 90%.
Get Some Help
By far and away the best way to take the effort out of gardening is to get someone else to do it for you. This can be paid help with landscaping, planting, garden clearance and general maintenance assistance or you could enlist the help of friends and family. Children can be eager helpers who are keen to learn and passing on knowledge and experience to future gardening generations can be rewarding as well as beneficial.
