A Lazy Girl´s Guide To Gardening






    I´m lucky enough to own a garden. A lovely one. I also happen to be lazy minimalistic when it comes to gardening. I fully belive that the garden is mean to serve me and not the other way around.
    Over the years I have collected some great tips for minimising the work on my garden. I almost never water anything, except for freshly planted stuff. I weed very little, mostly I just remove the ones that are in the way of the expansion of my ground covers. And my garden is a lush little paradise! I always feel sad when people tell me they find their gardens a lot of work as in chores, the unpleasant kind), because I realise that usually they make gardening into a chore. gardening can be  (almost) effortless!

    Here are tips for those that want to get most out of their garden with minimum of work:

* Ground covers are your friends.

    Ground covers keep weeding and watering down to a minimum, since you won´t have any bare patches of soil that dry out and invite wild seeds. Ground covers also make the garden look lush (again, no bare earth). Some (like clover) naturally fertilise the garden or help other plants in some way. My favourite ground cover is wild strawberries, which have the most divine taste on earth. Second place goes to Waldmeister (Galium Odoratum) (a lovely patch in my garden) for its delicate foliage  its ability to spread and bloom even in the shade. Oh, and it tastes great in wine.

* Pick your (weed) enemies:

      I only pull out ones that are very ugly / annoying / aggressive, and leave the rest. I don´t have time, folks, I have a blog to run.

* Work with the weather

      Best time to pull up weeds is after rain, when the soil is soft and wet. The best time to plant stuff is before rain, since you won´t have to water it every day.


a part of my garden

* Know your garden

     Which gardening zone are you in? What is the pH of your soil? Is it sandy, heavy, dry or wet? Do you realise that different parts of your garden have different micro climates -- a corner near stones will be warmer, a patch near a pine tree will be more acidic, some parts get way more sun than others, parts will be wetter than others. Work with that, and choose plants that like those conditions. I like Dave's Garden for that kind of info!


* Don´t plant anything that needs a lot of TLC

     Needs to be overwintered in the greenhouse ? I´m too lazy to do that. Needs constant fertilising / watering / friendly conversations? Sorry, still too lazy. Get stuff that thrives easily in your micro climate. Peeking into neighbouring gardens is a great way to see what grows best in you area.

* Don´t bother with a neat, formal garden

      It´s way too much work. A more natural garden can look gorgeous even if you forget to weed it for weeks. Let yourself be inspired by English gardens and nature. Let plants seek out the best spots for themselves. If you have followed the two previous steps, your garden will surprise you by it's natural beauty.


* Plant bulbs

     Spring and summer bulbs are some of the most easy to plant and care for. Spring bulbs like crocuses, narcissus and tulips come up when there is nothing else growing anyway, and then die down to make place for other plants. Summer bulbs are lovely too, my favourite being purple alliums.

* Annuals are rarely worth it

      Unless they are tasty / drop-dead-gorgeous / self-seeding. Or you have too much time and energy on your hands. Perennials have to be planted once, and they last for years!

* Plant something edible

      I love berries because they are easy to grow and so tasty, and normally berries are very expensive to buy in the stores. Same goes for mediterranean herbs (don't need almost any attention at all), as well as fruit trees.


    Over to you: do you have a green thumb? What are your favourite plants to grow?


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