The Lazy Gardener's Tips For The Weedfree Yard
 (Read 100+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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So, let me see if I got this right. You want a beautiful garden without working for it. You want traffic-stopping landscaping without lifting a finger. You want flowers galore, neatly trimmed bushes, majestic trees and lovely, peaceful water features without getting your hands dirty, dislocating your back, breaking a nail nor hurting your knees. Goodness, you don’t ask for much, do you?
Such is the plight of the lazy gardener. But not to fret! I have the solution. Oh, yes, I do. Though it may seem impossible, though it appears unlikely, though you think this only for the rich and famous who can hire a garden crew, it can be done. I was witness to this as a young girl. My mother taught me well.
Oh, but what a marvel she is! She would step out of the house on a warm spring day and brightly say “This would be a good day to plant my Dahlias.” Then she would go back inside and make lunch. Now you may be asking how exactly is that gardening and I will answer you that the garden task was done without any effort on her part. My father would immediately go to the toolshed grab the box of Dahlia tubers, grab his machete, the only gardening tool I ever saw him use, and set to planting the flowers for my mother. What could be easier than that?
But perhaps you don’t have someone like my father to do your gardening for you. More’s the pity! Neither do I, so, I’ve had to improvise. Yes, I’m a lazy gardener, too, and do all I can to lessen the work load. I wish to impart my wisdom so you too can sit back and actually enjoy the garden.
First off, I believe you would agree that the most time consuming of garden tasks is ridding it of weeds. With this in mind I cannot emphasize enough the importance of prevention. Prevent things from getting out of hand and work is cut down to nothing. For instance, don’t let the weed seeds germinate and you won’t have to pull them out later. There are products sold in garden centers made from corn gluten to do just that. This all-natural, non-toxic product is sprinkled into the soil and literally stops seeds from germinating leaving you with a virtually weed-free garden. You would like that, wouldn’t you? I thought so.
Other ways of preventing weeds to crop up is blocking its access to the soil with barriers. There are fancy landscape fabrics but I do not recommend them. Tenacious as weeds are they will find these a pathetic attempt at denying them life. Their thin, sneaky little roots go right through the tiny spaces between the threads and then you have weeds growing into the fabric right through to the soil. What good is that?
It might not sound attractive but I find newspaper to be the better blocker for those wanting a natural approach. Newspaper is, after all, organic, readily available and does decompose. I use a thick layer of newspaper and at times cardboard around my vegetable plants just underneath the grass clippings I use as mulch. It keeps my veggies clean and dry, the soil moist and virtually weed-free.
At the end of the growing season when you are thoroughly tired of the garden you must remember to prevent next years weeds from getting a head start. Black plastic sheeting to the rescue! I cover my raised vegetable beds with this impenetrable weed block to protect my lovely soil from dandelion, crabgrass and other nasty weed seeds. The added benefit of the black plastic is that come spring time the beds are warmed by the sun quicker and can be planted earlier.
Mulch has always been said to suppress weeds. Actually it really all depends on the type of mulch. Some mulch, shredded bark especially, is so favorable a place for seed germination that it is wonderful for self-sowing annuals and perennials but also, unfortunately, for weed seeds. The good with the bad. How to stop this? Take to raking your mulch every once in a while plucking out the tiny weeds you might see. Get them small and it’s tons easier to do then when they are big and well established in the soil.
My favorite way of preventing weeds is to plant my flowers close together so there is not a chance for a weed to sneak in. This works astonishingly well on my daylily hill. This is a fifty foot long eight foot wide hill packed with daylilies and hardly a weed amongst them. At the end of Autumn they even mulch themselves with their own dying foliage. I barely have to do anything but admire them and if I ever need a daylily, say as a gift for a friend, I have a ready supply. What could be better than that?
This method of madness works with many quickly spreading perennials and self-sowing annuals. Wild flower patches are great like that. A drift of lazy Daisies, Black-eyed Susans, Japanese Irises, Cosmos, Cleome or hardy Hibiscus look wonderful and require little maintenance.
Of course attitude helps. What I mean is the lazy gardener has to chill. Things gotta roll off your back. If you don’t freak out when things aren’t prefect you’ll be happier. So what if there is a massive Queen Anne’s Lace in your perennial bad? One gardener’s weed is another’s wild flower. I happen to love Queen Anne’s Lace and so do my butterflies. I just make certain it does not go to seed so it doesn’t out live its welcome. The same goes for Joe Pye Weed, Dolls Eyes and Corydalis Vulgarus. Mixed in with perennials they look fine and since they tend to plant themselves you need not lift a finger. Again I ask what could be better than that?
Making permanently fixed plantings of shrubs or evergreens is a lazy gardener’s dream. I have two such plantings one of Blue Rug Junipers (Juniperus horizantalis procumben) and another of Colorado Blue Spruces. I put down black plastic sheeting first, the best weed block, by far and I cut an “X” where I wanted a plant. I then planted the Junipers and pulled the sheeting up to the plant again and covered this plastic with decorative stone from our local quarry. It is rather pretty, virtually weed free and requires hardly any maintenance nor will it for many years to come. Remember, rocks last longer than you. Around the spruces I mulched with pine needles and pine cones. It looked natural and after they drop their own needles and cones they practically mulch themselves.
When I’ve wanted a new flower bed I used to actually dig up the sod and boy, is that rough on your back! I don’t do that anymore. I simply lay out black plastic sheeting on the spot I’ve chosen holding it down with rocks, bricks or the neighbor’s kid (I put that in there to see if you were still paying attention) and I wait. Oh, but patience is very important to the lazy gardener. Wanting things done quickly requires a lot of work. The grass will be killed from lack of sun and water in two to three months time depending on the weather. You can cover this up with the mulch of your choice. You could cut tiny holes in the plastic or an “X” where you want a plant and you’ll have a great new garden without killing yourself.
Have I helped you along your way to lazy gardening? I sure hope so. I’ll be going out now to read a book by my soothing waterfall. I’m exhausted just writing this all out! Good gardening!
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For more garden talk, funny short stories and romantic novel excerpts visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782
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