A Lazy Person's Garden: How to Save Time and Effort

Want a good harvest, but don't have much free time, and spending the whole summer on your butt in the garden isn't exactly a dream. There are secrets that will help you avoid the most labor-intensive processes. Let's explore what a lazy garden is—a no-dig garden. Experienced gardeners like Galina Kizim will share all the secrets. She's been tending her plot for many years and has come up with many ways to simplify gardening, virtually eliminating tedious digging, weeds, and endless watering. Many gardeners have already switched to similar farming systems and are thrilled—so much time and effort has been saved, and the harvest is excellent!

You might be interested in - Growing seedlings in plastic bottles on toilet paper — it also saves a lot of time and energy!

How to avoid digging a garden: secrets from experienced farmers

If you're worried that without digging, your plot will turn into a concrete pavement as hard as stone, we can convince you otherwise – that's not true. To ensure that next year's soil remains loose and enriched without the need for digging, without the need for expensive and often harmful chemicals or highly questionable fertilizers, you need to mulch. If you have a plot of hard, uncultivated soil that's too daunting to plant anything in, try this experiment. In the fall, cover the plot with a thick layer of mulch, about 10 cm or more, and watch how the soil becomes perfect for planting in the spring.

The thick mulch layer will be moist, allowing air to penetrate, and making it a favorite spot for all sorts of underground creatures. Earthworms will thrive there, carrying the remaining mulch into their burrows, creating tunnels that will aerate the soil and fertilize it with their own manure. The soil will be beautifully fertilized and loose, ready to plant your favorite tomatoes, cabbage, or cucumbers. A wonderful method for the lazy—it takes virtually no time, and by spring the soil is perfect, just go ahead and plant.

The same thing happens in nature itself. Look at how nature arranges everything in the forest—tree canopies above, a layer of fallen leaves beneath, which retains moisture and is home to all sorts of worms. And no one waters these trees, no one weeds the grass, no one digs—and yet it grows on its own, lush and lush. The same will happen in your garden.

A Lazy Person's Garden: How to Avoid Watering and Weeding

So, we've sorted out the digging—we've already saved a ton of time and effort. Now let's look at how to avoid watering, or at least minimize it. Galina Kinzima explains how she grows tomatoes using newspaper bibs. Try this method for yourself—no watering required, no weeds, a truly wonderful garden!

She grows tomato seedlings in plastic wrap. Like a baby, she wraps the seedlings in a minimal amount of soil, and they sit in a small container, growing harmoniously. Then she unwraps the wrap, adds a little more soil, and no longer covers the roots. Then she digs a hole, pours half a bucket of water into it, and places the seedlings in it standing upright. The roots grow downward, not sideways, as happens when we plant them the traditional way. The roots then grow sideways, and thus stay close to the surface, requiring a lot of watering; they won't dig deeper to find water. But tomatoes grown this way actually develop an inward-facing root system.

When planting, Kizima covers them with a newspaper bib and that's it. She doesn't water them all summer, the roots grow deep in search of moisture, the newspapers protect them from weeds, and she barely looks at them all summer, just watches the harvest, harvesting it on time. By the way, take a look. How to properly plant tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse.

Lazy People's Gardening Reviews

OlegWe've long since switched to mulching, which I love so much—it makes gardening so much easier! We fill bags with wood shavings from the woodshop and mulch the soil to a depth of about 10 cm—and woodlice and quinoa are gone! Earthworms thrive under the mulch. They enrich the soil and keep it constantly moist, eliminating the need for digging.

ElenaWhen we bought our dacha, the soil was terrible, like compacted asphalt. Thanks to a neighbor, he suggested a great solution: we mulched it in the fall, and by spring, the underground inhabitants had worked it so well that we had perfectly loosened and naturally fertilized soil. And we grew a wonderful harvest! Now we don't remove the mulch; we just throw new mulch on top, and everything works out perfectly. In extremely dry summers, we water lightly directly over the mulch—it retains moisture beautifully.

ValentinaWe've been covering all the beds with black plastic since the fall, and that's it. In the spring, we uncovered them, raked them, and it's beautiful. Plant and enjoy!

Now you know how to make your gardening life easier by eliminating digging and watering, and get an excellent harvest. Good luck!