Sami Grover
DCL
I've already written a little about the importance of making gardening easy, and about being OK with gardening failures. After all, gardening should be a pleasant, healthful activity - not a chore or a millstone around your neck.
But one particular aspect of making gardening more pleasant stands out for me - and that's convenience. As soon as planting and maintaining your garden becomes a hassle, you can bet you'll skip the occasional watering, the weeds will start to creep in, and those tomato plants will never get staked! Here are a few ideas for making your garden as convenient as possible:
Tips for Convenient Gardening
- Plant it close: One of the core principles of permaculture is zoning, namely placing elements according to the amount of attention they need. Because a garden thrives best with a little attention daily, it makes sense to plant it as close to your kitchen door as possible. That way you can pop out to harvest a few leaves, weed a bed, or water a particularly thirsty plant. If you don't have space for a full garden close to the house, place the fussiest plants there.
- Keep it tidy: This one is a little hard for me to recommend - I'm not known for tidyness. But keeping your tool storage and your garden tidy will help make it easy and convenient to access. As soon as you have to start rooting around for the shears, or stepping over discarded pots to get to a plant, you're on a downhill slope to a neglected garden.
- Keep Hand Tools Close: Sure, it makes sense to keep your shovel, hoe and fork in the garden shed - those are only usually used for major gardening sessions anyway - but why not keep handtools like a trowel, some shears etc either by the backdoor, or even in a storage box in the garden? Add some gloves, a small watering can, and some twine for staking - and it becomes easy to throw in 5 minutes of gardening time here, or ten minutes there.
- Invest in Infrastructure: I mentioned this when I talked about taking it easy on yourself - but sometimes it's worth splashing out on infrastructure that will make your job easier. A faucet next to your garden, properly cleared and maintained paths, and well-built raised beds will all make gardening that much more pleasant - and they'll save you time in the long run.
More: Organic Gardening
Need proof that it's possible to balance being green and still be a supportive partner and parent? See how Ed Begley, Jr. does it on Planet Green TV's Living with Ed.
