How to Set Up a Garden You Can Actually Keep Up

set up a garden thats easy to keep up with

Gardening feeds more than my body it feeds my soul and connects me to my food and the earth. I love being in my yard and feeling of the cool soil between my fingers. But something you don’t know about me is that I have a chronic pain condition that makes hard labor difficult. How do I keep up with a 1200 square foot garden?

Better to start small than too big

Learning to garden is a process that most gardeners will tell you never ends. There is no rush to grow everything now. Start small and add to your successes each year. I have heard countless stories of people who started with half an acre and burned out before they reached the harvest.

Don’t fight if you don’t have to

Raised beds can be helpful when you are battling invasive grasses and weeds or if bending down to work on a traditional row garden is painful. A couple of years ago the soil in my garden needed some amendments but I didn’t have it in the budget to bring in compost for the full 1200 square feet. We chose instead, to amend just the rows. Be creative, don’t fight if you don’t have to.

Weed Control

deep mulch garden

Traditionally, the growing season was spent hoeing and raking between the rows in the garden to keep the weeds at bay. Over the last 40 years, there has been a shift in our thinking as we have come to realize weeds are the Earth’s method of protecting the living micro-organisms in the soil. Those little “bugs” feed the soil and ultimately your plants.

Bare earth is not necessary for a thriving garden. Mulch, cover crops, and companion planting are all strategies you can employ to guard those healthy micro-organisms and hold the weeds at bay. I have a deep mulch garden and spend very little time weeding.

Irrigation

watering gardenWatering cans make for pretty pictures and flower pots but are entirely ineffective at keeping a backyard garden watered. Growing a successful garden relies on consistent water. The first few weeks with my current garden I was trying to water with a hose. It took nearly two hours a day. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep that up, especially when the heat of summer kicked in.

We set up drip hoses that could all be turned on at once. I attribute much of my success in the garden to our drip system. There are lots of ways to successfully water your garden. Make sure that whatever you choose is easy to keep up with so that your hard work is not lost on a busy, hot summer day.

 

Preemptive pest control

Some plants are more susceptible to pests than others. Cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower are some of the worst. They seem to send out signals calling the cabbage moths and aphids to come feast. Placing row covers over these plants when you plant them into the garden prevents pests from laying eggs on them. Fighting pests can be a full-time job, save yourself a headache and keep them out from the beginning.

The easiest way to keep up with your garden is to set yourself up for success before anything is planted. Be creative, don’t fight if you don’t have to, keep it small and then build on your successes. Gardening doesn’t have to be a full-time job.

Your Turn!

  • What makes your garden easy to care for?
  • What intimidates you most when you think about gardening?
10 Comments
  1. I like gardening too. I have two big gardens so far. There, I plant many kinds of vegetables and small

    flower plants. It’s a very good article when I get this as a gardening writing form. After this article, I got to

    know and learn a lot about Gardening. Thank you for sharing such an effective post.

  2. Great article! More people need to keep this in mind and not try to go for a huge green space, at least not straight away

  3. Your garden is all about being creative. I really like the idea of just sorting the soil on the rows, as for the watering issues we here at CCL pride ourselves on our environmentally friendly, innovative watering solutions for any yard, any shape or size!

  4. Garden time!

  5. Indeed it is, love to garden!

  6. We have that mutual feeling. I love planting and foraging my own food. Indeed, having a small garden is a fresh start and you can be able to manage it with ease. Anyway, thank you for sharing!

  7. Wow! This is a fantastic technique. I will apply this to our garden. You are an expert when it comes to setting up your landscape design. Thank you for sharing.

  8. Thank you for sharing these helpful tips! I’m looking to start my own garden soon and I cant wait.

  9. Great stuff thanks for sharing how to set up a maintaining garden.

  10. Nice. This is very helpful.

Leave a Reply