Low Maintenance Gardening Methods Worth Trying

Do you tend to forget your garden and lose all of your hard work? This is a pretty common problem but the good news is that there are some great low maintenance gardening methods and a few simple tricks worth trying to help make it easier to maintain your garden.

Why low maintenance gardening can be a great option for you

Not everyone is suited to gardening. Some of us tend to have a black thumb and kill off everything in our gardens. Usually, this is because the garden is too much for you to handle on your own or you tend to forget about your garden.

The good news is that if you do tend to kill plants, you don’t have to give up on gardening. In fact, there are some gardening methods that are so low maintenance that anyone can use them to make gardening easier.

The Best Low Maintenance gardening methods you should try

If you struggle to keep a garden alive you can greatly benefit from choosing a gardening method that is designed to make gardening easier and to help plants thrive so you can do less work and still get a great turnout for your time and effort.

Square foot gardening

Square Foot gardening is one of the most friendly gardening methods available. This is for several reasons. A square foot gardening involves planting several of most plants into a 1 square foot spot.

This method reduces weeding by using the plants as a living mulch, allows more plants to grow in a single area, and makes it so you can reach every inch of your garden easily. Add in a simple drip irrigation on a timer and watch your garden thrive even if you forget about it for a while.

If you need to grow a lot of food in your garden to feed your family but need something easy to do, this is a great option that allows you to save time and effort whilst also growing more.

Lasagna gardening

If you wish to put garden beds in and do not want the hard work of digging out your garden beds. Mark off where you want your garden beds to go and layer the same ingredients that you would use in your compost including green and brown ingredients. These will break down over a few weeks and leave your garden ready to plant without worrying about soil quality or weed issues.

If you need to start a new garden bed and do not want to dig but do have some time to work on layering and allowing the pile to compost down you can use this method to be successful. A hot compost pile will be the quickest option so be prepared to make a lot at once.

Hydroponics

Hydroponics is a great low-maintenance gardening option. With the right automation like your lights being on a timer, you can simply check your water and PH levels once a week or so.

Not only does this make maintaining a garden and growing your own food easy, but it also allows you to do your gardening indoors over the wintertime so you can grow food year-round.

If you need something that can grow indoors over the winter to provide things like salad greens this is the best low-maintenance garden option for you. This method is best done for smaller plants though if you have enough space other plants like tomatoes will thrive in a hydroponics system.

Raised bed gardens

Raised beds are one of the best ways to start a garden that is easy to manage. When you start with raised garden beds you are able to snuff out the weeds already growing in the area and give yourself full control over the soil that is used in your garden.

Because of this keeping, your garden alive is easier than it would be if you had just chosen a spot and started to dig a hole in the backyard. Raised beds are one of the most popular options for gardening and you can use raised beds paired with other gardening methods like square foot and lasagna gardening.

Grow a native plant garden

One great way to make gardening easy is to plant a native plant garden. Check-in with your local extension office is a great way to find out what plants are naturally grown in the area you live in.

Some areas have some amazing native varieties like the Florida Everglades tomato that will grow wild and produce a massive amount of cherry tomatoes without any work on your part.

Low maintenance gardening tricks you can use in any garden

Try deep watering to help your plants handle being forgotten. When you use the deep watering method that involves giving your plants more water less often to encourage deeper roots you are helping your plants handle drought better. This will make it easier on your plants when you forget about them for a while.

Automated watering systems can be a great tool to help care for your garden. By taking advantage of an automated watering system set on a timer you never have to worry about forgetting to water your plants. This is one of the most common causes of failed gardens and is an extremely easy fix.

Thick layered mulch is a great way to help your garden thrive even without much work from you. To do this you can take advantage of several mulching options.

Layering down cardboard around your plants to block weeds from popping up then following with grass clippings and topping off with a more decorative mulch (if you would like) is a great way to get a thick mulch for the garden and flower beds at a low cost.

Inviting natural predators for pest control can help make it easier to maintain your garden. This is because your plants can thrive without having pests harm them even if you tend to forget to check for common pests on a regular basis.

To attract solitary bees, parasitic wasps, lacewings, and ladybugs to your garden try adding in an organic bughouse that will provide them with the shelter to make these insects more likely to stick around.

Hummingbirds also make great natural predators that will help your plants thrive by eating aphids, ants, and gnats that attack your garden.