8 Tips to Keep Gardening Fun

Gardening lifts the spirits, relieves stress and yields great satisfaction when you eat the fruits of your labor. However, the weeding, watering and constant battle of the bugs makes for hard work. There are easy solutions to many tough jobs in the garden. Use these tips to keep gardening fun and less of a job.

Grass It Up

Keep weeds at bay by spreading your grass clippings between plants. A thick layer of 2 to 3 inches traps the weeds under a dark blanket and keeps them from germinating. The grass clippings break down through the year and make an excellent additive to the soil. You can also use newspapers, cardboard or dried leaves to create a weed barrier. All of these components will decompose into the soil.

Wet It Down

Grab some 5-gallon buckets from your local bakery or fast food restaurant and place them at the farthest edges of your garden. Cover the tops with a piece of screening. Attach a small plastic cup to the bucket handle. These buckets capture rain water and keep water handy for a quick drink for the plants. This works great in the evenings when you are strolling through and see a drooping plant. Simply fill the cup and water the plant.

Net It Up

Save those netting bags your onions and other produce come in to protect your garden goodies from predators. Fasten the netting around large tomatoes, strawberry plants or other items you wish to keep bird and bug free. Use lady's nylons stockings or panty-hose for the same purpose. If you grow cucumbers and squash vertically, keep the vegetables from dropping off the vine by suspending them in a stocking made of netting or nylons.

Screen Savers

Keep those pesky bugs out of your potted plants by covering the drainage hole, at the bottom, with a piece of window screen. Cover with a layer of pebbles and add your soil. You may also lay a section of screen around the stem of the plant to keep cats or other pests from digging in the dirt.

Cooking Outside

Nothing cuts like a knife and keeping one handy outdoors is a good idea. A sharp knife makes quick work of an invasive vine or spent flower stalks. Other kitchen gadgets for the garden include a large colander, for rinsing produce outside so the soil stays out of you kitchen, and a turkey baster, to remove slugs with a single squeeze. Ick! You may also want to use old pans to mix potting soils or for brewing batches of organic fertilizers and bug repellent.

Bag It Up

Carry a plastic bag in your pocket to put unwanted weeds or nasties, like those slugs, into when you need to keep the stuff out of the compost pile. Once you are done with your garden tour and pest patrol, toss the bag into the trash.

Pot It Up

Plant vigorous growers into separate containers and place the container into a hole in your garden, leaving at least 2 inches of the pot exposed. With a raised rim, the plants have more trouble traveling down the pot and sending out runners. You may also create a flower bed liner made from herbs planted in sections of 6 inch diameter white PVC pipe. Cut an 8 inch section of pipe and bury it vertically into the soil. Fill with a quality planting mix and plant your favorite mints and herbs.

Soak It Up

Cut the bottom off a milk jug or punch holes in a coffee can and partially bury beside tomato plants or other plants needing extra water. Fill the cans and jugs with water and let it seep into the soil as the plant is in need. Use this trick for when you go on short vacations. During periods of drought or dry weather conditions, layer sheets of newspaper around water-loving plants and wet the paper thoroughly. The excess water leaches into the soil and also evaporates into the air around the plants.