Time-Saving Tips For Your Garden

by Pat Diaz, from the May 2004 Newsletter

Many of you have probably started your gardens for this year. So how about enjoying the garden more, instead of spending more time working in it. Here are some tips to help you free up your time.

• Know your pH numbers – a pH level between 6.0 and 7.0 enables most vegetables to grow better and be more resistant to disease and insects. If you haven’t ever tested your soil’s alkalinity or acidity, contact the local Extension Office and obtain a test kit.
• Grow in raised beds – raised beds cut down on weeding and also allow the soil to warm up faster in the Spring, allowing your seeds to germinate quicker and the seedlings to grow faster.
• Grow self-seeding annuals – many annuals such as snapdragons, nicotiana, calendula, nasturtiums, and pansies will seed themselves for you if you leave the spent flower heads on in the fall.
• Fertilize when you cook – instead of throwing out the leftover liquid from boiling or steaming vegetables, use it (cooled) to water your potted flowers and it will give them added energy.
• Grow good performers – plant flowers such as alyssum, cornflowers, poppies, nasturtiums, portulaca, calendula, and four-o’clocks, as they are hardy and will perform even in poor soil.
• Encourage beneficial insects – grow nectar-rich cosmos, zinnias, alyssum, and goldenrod to invite pest-controlling insects to your garden.
• Attract birds – attract birds to your garden so they’ll eat insects (hopefully more of the “bad” ones than the good ones). Supply birdhouses, birdbaths, and seed- and fruit-bearing plants and trees (good choices are purple coneflower, sunflowers, grapevines, honeysuckles, holly, and dogwood) and watch the birds control the pest population.
• Use soaker hoses and drip irrigation – using these watering systems is much more timesaving than overhead watering. Better for your plants too.
• Boil those weeds – if you have weeds that poke up in unwanted places, pour boiling water on them.
• Plant nitrogen-fixers next to heavy feeders – get free nitrogen by planting lupines, sweet peas, and clover next to your heavy-feeding roses and astilbes.

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