Now that summer is just about here, you may be thinking about spending more time in the garden. However, if it has been a long time since you have done any gardening work, you may decide that now is the time to reconnect with your green thumb. If you don’t have hours and hours to spend planting, watering, harvesting, and caring, you may be looking for ways that you can make gardening just a little bit easier. Luckily for you, you have come to the right place and this is exactly what we are going to provide you with. Let’s go into more detail about some simple gardening advice which you can follow.
Start with Great Soil
Unless your soil is up to scratch and a place where your plants can thrive and prosper, you are going to struggle to create a thriving garden environment. To start off with, you should analyse your existing soil. You can get kits which allow you to test the pH levels and you can also test it by hand to see how porous it is. If your soil is lacking in essential nutrients, you are going to have to add these on a regular basis. Slow release organic fertilisers are always a good option as they will stop you from having to add more and more on a regular basis.
Grow Plants According to Their Needs
Different plants will thrive in different environments, so it is worth checking out the conditions that will help them to grow to their full potential so that you can provide these to them. Some are going to need huge amounts of sunlight – annuals like vegetables tend to be in this category. Some will need gallons of water to stay fresh and health, so you may want to position these plants close to the water source to make it easier to give them the H20 that they need on a regular basis. Some are best off in containers or in a greenhouse environment – check out a quality greenhouse manufacturer if you are thinking of investing in one. A bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to growing the ideal garden.
Choose Plants Which Are Easy to Maintain
If you have very limited time on your hands, you are much better off choosing plants which are easy to maintain. Perennial flowers fall nicely into this category and they are an ideal choice for the gardener who finds themself with limited time. Container gardening is an easy approach to take which saves you from having to prepare the soil and space out the plants etc. Otherwise you could separate garden beds from their surroundings by raising them up. Lift your them up by six inches and you have the twin advantages of controlling the garden borders while also not needing to bed down quite so far!
Add Drip Irrigation
If you have read the words ‘drip irrigation’ in the past and automatically assumed that this was something which was going to be too complicated for you to handle in your garden, now is the time to think again! The initial cost is not as high as you would might think, and you are likely to save money in the long-run unless you only rely on rain to get your garden properly watered. This is a much more efficient way of watering your plants which gets them what they need, where they need it. Add a timer to complete the job and just sit back and enjoy how much time you will save yourself!
Ergonomic Tools
Even if you are in very good physical condition, the repetitive nature of gardening can end up being extremely stressful to your joints and can put a lot of pressure on various parts of your body. You can help to get around this by investing in some ergonomic tools which have been specially designed to help reduce and alleviate these issues. Look out for cushioned handles, extended reaches and any features which will help to prevent you from bending your joints in any way.
A Wheely Good Idea
If you have not yet got a wheelbarrow, this is one of the best garden investments that you can make. Just think of the amount of time that you will save yourself by being able to pile up so many things and transport them all in one go rather than needing to go backwards and forwards again and again. No matter how small the plot that you are working with is, you are bound to get more done when you have some wheels.
Mulch
If you have heard the word mulch a million times before in relation to your garden but you have done nothing about it, now is the time to start. Some gardeners only use mulch as decoration, but it actually has plenty of practical uses as well. To start off with, it plays a big role in keeping soil and plant roots cool, which, in turn, helps to retain the moisture so you won’t need to water quite so often. It also plays a part in ensuring that weeds don’t see the light of day and end up choking the life out of your garden environment.
Time-Released Fertilizer
We have already talked about adding drip irrigation on a timer, but another aspect of your garden which is useful to be timed is the fertilizer. After all, you want to have a healthy and flourishing garden but you may not have the time to put into creating it. Slow releasefertilizer pellets and water polymers are two things which you can add to your garden which are readily available in garden centers.
Just because you don’t have a huge amount of time on your hands, this doesn’t mean that you can’t create the garden that you always wanted. Follow these shortcuts and you should already be well on the way to achieving your aims.
Photo Credit: April Walker, Binyamin Mellish, Pexels, Kaboompics
