If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I try to find the easiest way to do anything. Gardening is no exception.
Life is busy. Even with stay-at-home orders, we still have a ton to do. We don’t have time to putz around.
When it comes to gardening and yard work, I try to work with nature as much as possible. Play by Mother Nature’s rules, and life will be a lot easier.
- Vegetables, tomatoes, and roses need sun.
- Bulbs are plant once, and it grows every year.
- Mulch helps keep soil moist and weeds down.
- Soil needs to have something to increase its nutrients. Things like egg shells and coffee grounds can be worked into soil to loosen it up and increase its nutrients. And occasional Miracle Grow helps too. Compost would be great, but its a lot of work.
So I start by clearing the area where I want to plant, removing any weeds, grass, rocks and loosening up the soil. This is when I would work in some crushed egg shells and some coffee grounds. I usually buy a bag of dirt for the actual planting part.
I do buy started plants. I don’t have time for the whole seed thing. It never worked well for me.
I dig a hole a little bigger than the pot the plant is in. I take the plant out of the pot, with the dirt and set it in the hole. I fill it in with new dirt and press the dirt down around the plant.
If I’m planting bulbs, I dig a small hole as deep as the planting requirements say. Put the bulb in, and cover it with dirt.
When I’m done adding plants, I cover the whole bed with an inch or 2 of mulch. Go for natural around vegetables. No dye.
Now keep it watered and weeded.
That’s pretty much it.
Broccoli takes a really long time, like 90 days, but home grown broccoli is so good! So are radishes. Pretty much anything out of the garden is way better than you can buy in the store.
I like to grow leaf lettuce. It comes up pretty quickly. You can plant a few seeds every week and then you’ll always have fresh lettuce.
Petunias are easy and last a long time as long as you dead head them. (take off the dead flowers)
I love lilies. They are low maintenance. The pinks bloom in late spring. Reds and oranges bloom in the summer.
The white casa blanca lilies bloom in mid July around here, right around my birthday. And they are very, very fragrant. Its my favorite flower. Unfortunately, the squirrels love them too.
Tiger lilies bloom last.
If you have a large space to fill, if you can get your hands on the orange American Day Lilies you see growing all over, those work great. They multiply. And the green plants look great even when the flowers aren’t blooming.
Gardening is actually very relaxing when you keep it easy. And nothing beats growing your own food. My sister grows all her own fruits and vegetables, and has chickens. I’m so jealous! But that’s way too much work for me!
How about you?