Master gardener Paul James, the host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, offers some practical tips to reduce your gardening maintenance chores. For a new gardener, the smartest thing to do is start small. Make a first flower or vegetable garden no more than 100 square feet. The easiest way to reduce maintenance in an established lawn or garden is to stay on top of things. Try to spend about a half hour a day tending the yard and gardens, not including the time it takes to mow and water. One of the surest ways to make gardening less time-consuming is to select the rights plant for the site. Stick with shade-tolerant plants in the shade, acid-lovers in acidic soil, and so on. Go with plants that, once established, need only routine maintenance. Most perennials need only annual feedings and occasional division, and many are also disease-resistant. If you've got a plant that repeatedly succumbs to disease, try one of two options: get rid of it, or switch to a disease-resistant variety of the same plant. Another way to save time is to let shrubs grow naturally rather than prune them. Switching to slow-release fertilizers for your lawn and gardens can save a lot of time and money, and one application of these products often lasts as long as four months. A mulching mower is a great timesaver too. Studies show that these machines can reduce lawn-maintenance time by at least 20 percent, compared with mowers equipped with grass catchers. Another benefit is that the nutrients in the clippings are good for the grass. Watering can consume a great deal of time, especially if you deep-soak plants (as you should, with a hose-end sprayer) or you're constantly having to move a sprinkler. An automatic sprinkler system can solve the problem, but not everyone can afford one. Drip-irrigation hoses are inexpensive, however, and it's easy to turn the water on and let it drip for a few hours. Water timers work well too because they can be set and then left alone. Tips: - Locate the garden near a faucet.
- Keep the compost pile close by to save trips between the pile and the garden. The same holds true for the garage or tool shed.
- The greatest labor-saving gardening product is mulch. Nothing does more to control weeds, maintain soil moisture and improve the health of plants.
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