Illustration for article titled Do These Garden Chores Based On How Much Time You HavePhoto: Joshua Resnick (Shutterstock)

After the 2019 American Time Use SurveyPeople spend between an hour and a half and two and a half hours in their gardens. Unfortunately, regardless of your plans for the day, the weeds keep growing and the flowers still need watering. How do you regularly maintain your garden and take time for the rest of your life?

Plants don’t wait for you to add them to your schedule. Here are some gardening activities that you can stop in a time crisis.

If you only have five minutes to spare, do five-minute gardening projects

Five minutes will give you just enough time to complete the basics like watering, planting, pest control, or cleaning. Garden lover Laetitia Maklouf created a useful one Five minute gardening method This means you can get more done in your garden over time in just five minutes a day.

On Monday you can spice up your garden, e.g. B. Remove weeds, fix bugs and clean as much as possible in five minutes. then prune the next day. You gradually do what you would have in an hour and a half, but over a week or two.

If you only have ten minutes to spare, do ten minute gardening projects

When you have five minutes left, ten-minute projects can take your quick gardening to the next level.

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Mulching

Adding mulch to your garden is a practical way to make your garden more self-sustaining. Mulch helps plants retain moisture and prevent weeds from germinating and growing. Horticultural expert Joe Lamp’l Urges gardeners to use only mulch made from natural materials so that it can decompose with the soil and not get dirty. Good housekeeping suggests spreading a 5 cm layer of mulch and leaving space around the stem and trunk of the plants so that the water can easily get to the roots.

Stake out the garden

Some plants like it Loofahs live on grapevines, which means they need strong structure to climb as they grow. Good housekeeping It is recommended that you take ten minutes to bend and shape metal wire to peg your plants. Mark out provides plants with a stable base to withstand strong winds and other extreme weather conditions.

When you have 30 minutes to spare, do 30 minute gardening projects

Half an hour is just enough time to complete a major gardening project without feeling rushed. These projects can include:

Fertilize

Before planting, you’ll want to create an environment for your plants to thrive in. Broadcast fertilization is the best method for a 30 minute project and causes the fewest problems during the planting process. When broadcasting, the fertilizer is spread evenly over the desired area and mixed with the soil three to four inches deep. It doesn’t have to be done all at once, so you can set a timer to do as much as possible in half an hour and leave the rest for the next day.

Tillage

Soil tillage is best done after fertilizing the soil for planting. The best time to plant your land is the spring season, once the Soil becomes dry. Since there is a specific timing required for tillage, you will need to plan your 30 minute gardening session based on the weather.

Since you only have 30 minutes, plan a small area of ​​your garden and have it right tools ready. Start in one area and work that Earth in rows. Take your time so that you don’t overwork the floor. And if you’ve separated a small enough area, you can probably finish your garden in half an hour, no problem.