Slow gardening?

Well, that’s simple – it’s gardening by growing more items through the seasons while expending less energy and resources to accomplish the task of growing your plants.

The theory behind slow gardening is to find plants that don’t require a lot of care and maintenance to grow. Also to grow plants that bloom or produce edible food for the better part of the year.

For example, when seeding your lawn don’t pick a species of lawn seed that grows quickly and requires a lot of water and two or three time weekly mowings to look lovely. Perhaps shows low growing green plants that can be walked on instead of putting in a lawn. You’ll save your own time by doing something like this, and you’ll have much less maintenance work to keep it looking lovely.

Growing veggies – squash and tomatoes, while they taste good only grow during the summer months. Grow veggies that have longer seasons.

If you hate hot weather, work harder in spring, fall and winter so you spend the summer admiring the garden from the air-conditioned house.

If flowers are your thing, plant so that something is in bloom every month. I can’t quite do that here, but as I said in an earlier post this week my garden is planted with a variety of flowers that bloom from late March to early November. I planned that part well.

If you don’t like doing a lot of work in your garden or you have droughts and water restrictions for a portion of the year be sure to pick plant species that require little fertilizer, or pesticides and that are drought tolerant. Native species often satisfy these requirements.