Are you trying to set up a homestead alongside your 40+ hour work week? Are you simultaneously excited and dreading spring worrying about how you will get everything done? Read on to find out some time saving garden hacks you can try this year to help you make the most of your free time to enjoy the things you love.
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It’s Tough Being a Suburban Homesteader
Being a suburban homesteader means that you are most likely juggling both your normal work in the city and your homestead back at home. In fact it can be tougher than those homesteaders with hundreds of rolling acres because you have to battle the rush hour traffic commuting to and from work, trying to appease the boss on a daily basis, that co-worker that drives you crazy and then you have the homestead chores to do when you get home like:
- Feeding the animals
- Cleaning out pens or coops
- Sowing seeds
- Harvesting produce
- Watering the garden
- Mowing the lawn
- Weeding and trying to keep the yard looking neat and presentable so you don’t get a nasty letter from the City of the HOA about your suburban backyard farm.
All this work leaves little time to head out for a few hours on your own fishing or to cook a lovely meal from your own produce and enjoy the fruits of your labor with friends and family.
Which Side Of The Fence Are You?
Do you love gardening? Does the prospect of putting your gardening gloves on fill you with joy? Are you somebody who just can’t wait to get outside, plant a few perennials, harvest your vegetables, and then stand back to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Gardening is your passion and your place of Zen.
Or do you find gardening a chore? Do you enjoy it occasionally but sometimes resent the hard work it takes to keep your garden looking fresh and healthy? Have you dreamed about hiring a gardener, or have you considered bringing in a few sheep and goats disguised as dogs to nibble away at your overgrown lawn and to hide them from your ever so vigilant HOA neighbors?
If you tend towards the latter, fear not! There are ways to maintain your garden without sacrificing too much of your valuable time, so consider our helpful gardening hacks below.
Hack 1: Create An Ecosystem
Okay, so this sounds like hard work in itself, but a little bit of effort to create an ecosystem will save you a lot of time later on. For starters, grow a few plants that will bring in a few of earth’s natural predators, such as lacewings and ladybugs who will feed on many of your regular garden pests. Grow plants that will draw in these beneficial bugs near your vegetable garden to get the best benefit. By bringing in natural insect predators, you will have less need to go searching for those critters munching your seedlings.
You can also take steps to bring bees into your garden, as they will pollinate your plants and keep them healthy. While they are as busy as a bee (literally), you can sit back and let them get on with it. With time, you can create an ecosystem that will do much of your work for you with integrated pest management systems in your garden.
Hack 2: Grow Companion Plants
Similar to creating an ecosystem, companion plants are grown alongside some of your more fragile plants and look after them. There are a number of combinations, including garlic chives, whose scent will ward off root flies attacking your carrots; lavender which will deter aphids; and larger plants that will protect those more vulnerable from the wind and harsh sunlight.
You will need to do a little research to find the right companions, but once the hard work has been done and planting has taken place, you won’t have to spend as much time out in the garden the rest of the year.
Related Post: Keyhole Garden Beds.
Hack 3: Ditch The Lawn
How much water does that lawn take to keep it looking nice for the neighborhood? How much time do you spend mowing grass in spring, summer and fall?
If you like in a dry area like I do in Utah, you should seriously consider reducing your lawn and replacing it with multiturf. Sure you won’t have grass to add to the compost heap or use as mulch but you will save money by not needing to water it and save all those hours of mowing to do something with friends and family that you would enjoy far more!
Hack 5: Plant Starts
The best spring time time saving garden hack is to get some plant starters. You take out all the time and additional work of starting from seeds, growing them on, pricking out, potting on, hardening off then transplanting into the garden.
Plant starters can be picked up from local nurseries , Facebook gardening groups, Craigslist, local classifieds which will tend to grow popular local varieties that will thrive. Finally big box stores will sell plant starts but heads up they may not be ideal for your climate or the right season to grow them in.
Plant starts will save you hours of work over several weeks as well as precious table space in your home!
Hack 6: Compost Smarter Not Harder
Start composting your kitchen waste in winter or before you even start your garden. Tumbling composters make compost quicker than a static pile and only need a few turns a day to aid decomposition. This saves you time needing to physically dig out the material in your compost heap and turn it over by hand.
Related Post: How To Start Composting.
Hack 7: Mulch
Save time on weeding by mulching instead. Mulch smothers weeds meaning far fewer of them come up in the ground which means less weeding! Mulch also retains water meaning that you can water a little less and save money too!
Hack 8: Prep The Soil In Fall
Autumn is great for prepping heavy clay soil. Add compost, manure, straw mulch and other soil amendments before the snow arrives and let Mother Nature do her thing until spring when you can start planting again.
If you have sandy soil like me, cover the soil with fallen leaves then add compost and well rotted manure in spring. You can also sow a green manure or cover crop that will build the fertility of your soil. while you wait! Green manures work for both sandy and clay soils.
Hack 9: No Dig Gardening
A lasagna garden or no-dig garden is a great way to build the fertility of your garden with very little effort. Layers of flattened cardboard and newspaper smother weeds and compost and mulch feed your plants. You add to this type of garden bed with mulch and compost throughout the growing season to keep your plants in tip top condition.
Hack 10: Water Efficiently
Overhead sprinklers are not really great when it comes to efficient and effective watering of your vegetable plants. Water needs to get to the roots rather than the leaves. You can make drip irrigation using PVC piping that puts water where your plants need it. Watering properly doesn’t sound like a time saver but it will reduce diseases like mildew spreading which will save you time in lost crops and having to take care of the diseased plant.
Want More?
Here’s even more garden hacks via Fix.com:
Source: Fix.com Blog
If you are really low on time, trying to juggle everything else that life is throwing at you these time saving gardening hacks of mulching, reducing lawns, using plant starters and wise watering will save you a lot of time in the garden giving you more time to enjoy the results with your friends and family. What’s your best time saving gardening hack? Let me know in the comments!
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Hi Emma,
These are some great tips. We practice several of these. Another thing to consider when creating an ecosystem would be to attract frogs/toads who are great insect eaters. Two years ago we had a beautiful strawberry crop and no slugs eating the berries. We then discovered there was a frog living in the strawberry patch. There is much information online about building frog ponds. Here is just one article
https://www.thespruce.com/frogs-and-ponds-1238750
Hi Ruth,
Great tip about the frogs and toads, I always forget about them and they take care of so many slugs!! Thanks for sharing the info about the ponds, I’m checking it out!
I appreciate the time you put into sharing all these tips. While my husband is the gardener in our family, I can share them with him. I especially like the rotating compost maker. It would prevent the intruders like skunks.
Hi Elizabeth,
It definitely keeps intruders and my pets out of the compost pile! I love the rotating composters. Thank you for sharing the tips with your husband, I hope you both find it useful.
An excellent list. I think a lot of it boils down to: take care of the soil and the soil will take care of you.
I think you’re right! Looking after the land will get you up and running for many seasons to come. Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week.
These are really awesome hacks for homesteading. And the point you raised about Lawn is absolutely perfect. A turf is better in the long run, And the energy spent on keeping the lawn neat can be channeled towards productive gardening. I love the infographics. Thanks for sharing this.
I’m glad you found it useful! Thank you for stopping by!