How To Manage Your Garden With Little Time To Do So
It’s hard not to admire the beautiful landscaping efforts of gardeners who work on large areas of space. They cultivate the land, tend to the lawn, arrange the flowers, beautifully harvest their root vegetables, and keep their garden tools shiny and clean.
But of course, in reality, most people can’t afford a team of gardeners for their own green space, nor would they want to. While it can be wise to use help when you need it, especially if dealing with issues such as improperly routed water runoff, managing your garden with care is about a step-by-step process of management, not clicking your fingers and expecting it all to be done.
But what if you have limited time each week for your own personal affairs, let alone house maintenance and garden care? This can be upsetting for some homeowners because it would be nice to invest time in our green spaces. Sometimes our routine just doesn’t agree, at least for the moment.
So, are you doomed to suffer a garden with limited care? Not necessarily. Let’s discuss a few worthwhile options to help you:
Pay Your Neighbor’s Child To Mow Your Lawn
Hiring a neighbor’s child or a local teen can be a rare win-win situation – they make a little extra pocket money, and you save time. It can be nice to provide for a neighbor’s child, it teaches them responsibility, and of course, it’ll increase the bond with your neighbor. Though of course, only make sure their parent is okay with this, and only consider this if you’re on good terms with them already.
The bonus here is that you’re keeping it local, which feels much more personal than hiring a service. They’ll likely do a good job for you as well because it’s not like the teen has anywhere to hide if they ruin your garden.
Use Effective Gardening Tools That Save You Time
While you don’t need all the latest and greatest tools to garden effectively, you may find a level of comfort in purchasing a few tools that save you time. For example, a high-quality leaf blower can turn hours of raking into a quick task as you get rid of the autumn leaves from your garden.
In addition, a self-watering planter can save you time monitoring how thirsty your plants are. Moreover, an excellent battery-powered hedge trimmer or easy lawn mowers (ride-on are best for larger gardens) can save you time and also effort. So you may only need to care for that about an hour in the morning every month. This way you can deal with the small tasks without necessarily wasting time going over the same tasks.
Consider Low-Maintenance Plants
It’s fine if the main approach of your garden care is just making sure your plants don’t require constant babysitting. That’s where low-maintenance plants can be such a help. For instance, perennials like lavender, succulents, or ornamental grasses that need minimal attention but still bring texture and color to your garden are a wonderful place to start, because they can still give you a comforting garden without demanding too much work. They’re usually pretty resistant to pests, too.
If you prepare a garden this way (which, ironically does take a little bit of work), you won’t feel guilty about missing a watering session or two. Better yet, this way you won’t lament the loss of a garden constantly reminding you of its untapped potential, instead you’ll have an area you’re proud of but without feeling bound to it.
Pressure Wash Occasionally
While this isn’t directly related to tending plants or green space, keeping the hard surfaces in your garden clean goes a long way toward making the whole space feel fresh and maintained, and it helps you feel prouder of the entire exterior. That will include paths, patios, and even garden furniture, because they tend to collect grime over time, and a quick pressure wash every so often can make them look brand new again.
A pressure washer unit doesn’t have to be very expensive, and cleaning these spaces one after the other can take about ten minutes or so. Of course, you can also hire a pressure washer to come and conduct a professional job if your driveway is particularly dirty. This can have the same effect as having a window cleaner coming at the start of each season, for example.
Trim & Cut To Prevent A Disheveled Exterior
Tiny maintenance tasks often keep the entire aesthetic looking fine, and if that’s all you have time for, that’s good enough too.
As mentioned in our tool section above, trimming hedges, cutting back overgrown plants, and edging the lawn can make your space feel well-kept without requiring constant planning. You can do one after the other on separate weeks. You can spend ten minutes pulling weeds when you notice them. You don’t need to aim for perfection, but keeping things from growing wild helps your garden maintain its shape and structure and helps you avoid a costly repair. You might liken this to cleaning your bathroom or washing your dishes – a little effort now and then helps you live more comfortably, but it also helps you save a real problem later on.
Sell Land If You Have It
This is an optional recommendation of course, but if you move into a rural property and you don’t have time to manage the land it came with (such as a couple of acres of wood outside of your home), you may be surprised just how many people are interested in it. Selling this to a local farmer can help you ensure the land is well used again, and can help you with the costs of living in such a property. If you know you don’t have the time, ceding the land to someone who can and benefiting from it at auction isn’t always a bad idea.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily manage your garden or exterior space, even if you have limited time to do so.
