I try to reduce labor in the garden - I see so many examples of multiplying work for no reason.
People use giant riding lawnmowers to cut their small lawns when a push mower would easily do the job. So they stop and fix their monster machines every few feet, or go without mowing for weeks, which turns lawns into Dogpatch in this rainy weather. My friend on the corner cussed a blue streak about his mower, which is always breaking. "But it does a good job when it is working."
Soil has to be hauled at times, but why not buy inexpensive bags of good soil and tote those around? I like Miracle Gro and Mushroom Compost.
Rototilling is an enormous waste of machinery. People always brag that they till their leaves and garden trash in the fall. They clearly do not grasp composting on the ground over the winter. They should have their gardening licenses revoked until they get some training in the basics. Soil creatures are far more efficient at mixing the soil, but they get spin-killed during autumn in the name of adding organics to the soil. The surviving soil creatures that try to build up the soil population over the winter get osterized in the spring.
The straw bale gardener extolled his method for decreasing labor, but that means buying heavy bales, dragging or hauling them around, and dealing with the collapsed remains at the end of the season. He published a photo of dragging a bale of straw with some tarp, after wetting the lawn. If I save labor that way, I will be found on the ground with a cardio team trying to get a pulse.
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| Can you see me building a trellis that will not fall down? Straw is cheap, but soil is free. |
Chalking lines to plant the veggies in straight rows? They are not appearing in a parade for the Queen. They grow better in wide rows.
When I see diagrams for trellises and other equipment - all easy to build - I think of ways around it. My fence is good for 75 feet or more of trellis. Pole beans and Malabar spinach plants are already growing there.
Those fancy $150 to $300 bird baths moved me to install five of my own. I bought plant pot plates (to reduce leakage under big flower pots) and distributed them where they would catch soaker hose water. I now have six bird baths at minimal cost and no labor. One catches the AC condensate water, and birds are always there. Perhaps other wildlife enjoy the double bath ensemble - a deep aluminum baking pan to catch the water, a ceramic pot plate to create a shallow bathing feature from the overflow.
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| Solar lights are very little trouble and recycle the Creator's sunlight energy. |
