Gardening Comments -- Lazy Gardening

It's hot out there! Who wants to sweat and weed? Not me! Then again, I don't have to.

(I see several avid gardeners just fainted at my sacrilege.) Nope, I don't have to weed. Much. Why? Because I took the time to prepare *before* my weeds arrived.

1. I use Square Foot Gardening methods to create my garden ONCE. Not once a year. Once. These slightly raised beds, properly dug and using landscaping fabric, are more than adequate to stop many weeds, moles, and allow me to work standing up. The soil in them is new, fresh, and mixed by me. I'm starting with the most friable soil possible, and it will stay that way because I'll never walk on it. The 4' square garden is small enough for me to reach in the center to pluck a weed or pick a vegetable without stepping inside the square.

2. I planted only what I needed. We're three adults in my household. Two "weed eaters" as my DH calls Dante and I, and one who'd be a full time carnivore if he could. One 4'x4' square more than adequately provides us with salad greens (3), bell peppers (1), squash (1), cherry tomatoes(1), zuchinni (1), and green beans (1). Reminds me, I really do need to get the pumpkin seed (yes, just one) in the ground so I have a fresh pumpkin for Thanksgiving. Why should I plant more than I need, waste seeds, and then end up "thinning" --which is essentially killing 90% of what I planted? Therefore, if there's supposed to be one squash plant in a certain location, everything else that appears around it is a weed seedling to be yanked while small. I'm also aided by the layers of black and white newspaper and mulch wherever I didn't plant in my flower beds. A short stroll in the early morning with the dog and a small bucket in my hand, and my weeding is done.

3. A new practice I've just enacted is adding the Jerry Baker system to my present gardening scheme. His tonics may be witches' brews of beer, dish soap, cola, ammonia, and other odd things, but they work. They REALLY work. I have the proof. I have two banana plants in my yard. Both get equal amounts of sun and shade. One has been getting a regular dose of the tonics, the other I keep forgetting because of its isolated location. Banana plants are heavy feeders, and they require a lot of nutrients. I've fed neither any other fertilizer but the tonics. The Jerry Baker plant is twice the size of the other, even though the other is older and in a better location to get more water!

Here's another reason to be lazy: Jerry Baker and many other gardening experts tell you to water early in the morning before the sun gets hot. I do. Because Jerry's formulas only need to be applied once a week, and you do them in rotation, I'm only out in the garden in the very early morning once a week to apply this week's tonic, stroll around for a fast weeding, and I'm back inside before the sun is over the treetops.

Even mowing is done after 7 PM, when the day has begun to cool. We have a huge lawn, so we mow in sections. The front yard is done on Friday. Immediately after DH or Dante are done with that chore, I'm out there with the Thatch Buster tonic, breaking down the clippings to give the nutrients back to the soil. Whew! We're done, and back in the house to enjoy the scent of freshly mown grass from our chairs in the Florida room. We'll repeat on Saturday and Sunday evening. Mowing late gives the cut ends of the grass time to heal before the scorching sun burns the injuries. I don't have little brown ends on my grass, and it's thicker and lusher than my carpets.

I really urge you to get the books, "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew and "The Impatient Gardener" by Jerry Baker. They'll change the way you garden from a chore to a happy reward.