Successful Gardening With No Effort
Gardening is full of rewards and pitfalls. It takes some work to maintain a bountiful and productive garden. One day you can be basking in the summer sun with mountains of veggies abound, other days, you can be cursing yourself at the lack of thriving abundance you have created.
Gardening is all about trial and error. In order to guarantee a successful harvest you must learn to diversify your plants. But that doesn't mean that you need to do a lot of work to be successful. You just need to add certain perennials and herbs to your landscape to ensure future success and abundance.
I'm going to give you a short list of plants and practices that will help you diversify your garden and create an abundance of food with little or no input from you.
Imagine growing your own food without having to water, weed, or maintain the plants. I'm talking about planting some items and forgetting them until it's time to harvest. What could be easier?
There are several choices of plants that will fit this description, but I'm going to tell you about the ones I have had the most success with. I literally have just thrown the following plants into the dirt and let them be.
You would think with all of this neglect, I wouldn't have any harvest to speak of, but I have more produce than my family can consume. It just takes a nudge in the right direction.
Herbs:
Let's start with the simplest and easiest plants to maintain and grow. Most of the common herbs such as basil, bay, thyme, and oregano, are easily grown from seed and can save you tons of money. Whether you purchase fresh herbs or buy dried herbs, you are paying way to much! It cost pennies to grow your own, and they can make you a better cook.
Let me give you a quick example. I have a sweet bay leaf plant that I purchased at a garden center. I stuck it in a pot 3 years ago with the intention of planting it outside when it had later matured. In the last 3 years, I have harvested many bay leaves to use for cooking, but the only thing I have ever done to this plant is give it some water. I haven't fertilized it. I usually forget to water it, so it may get water once a month. I also have never re-potted it.
Now, I know this picture looks like a sad story, but my point is, that I literally planted this thing and forgot about it, yet it has produced many leaves year after year. Just think of all the abundance I could have if I simply remember to plant it outside during the right time.
The key here is to chose perennial herbs. Perennial herbs will re-seed themselves or continue to grow year after year and you can enjoy them almost year round with no effort.
You can also grow the annual herbs just as easily, but you will have to re-plant them every year. Either way, you can save some money and grow your own, even if you have never grown a single plant before. Herbs are that forgiving and easy.
Grapes:
Grapes have been by far the most cost-effective, abundance producing, low maintenence plant I have ever planted.
I have a total of 4 grapevines throughout my landscape. I don't water them, I don't fertilize them. I simply watch them grow and harvest them year after year.
You may not be aware that grape vines actually like poor soils. That means you can almost plant them anywhere with sun and you don't have to make special amendments to the soil or prepare a special bed. Just remember that wherever you plant it, it will be a permanent planting.
I always recommend buying your grape vines from a nursery or mail- order supplier. These plants are usually free from pests and diseases. Don't be tempted by the DIY stores who carry grape vines for under $5. They seem like a real bargain, but in the end, they usually are in poor shape and may not even grow.
Grape vines can be added to any landscape as an interesting trellis, a summer-time privacy fence, or living wall. I have mine strung up on clothesline wire between garden posts. I keep them low for easy harvest, and the chickens love to forage under the canopy they create.
Blueberries:
Blueberries are fun and simple to grow. You don't even have to plant them. I have several blueberry bushes throughout my garden and all of them are on similar pots. They are several years old now, but still growing strong.
I recommend buying these as bushes from local nurseries. They will do much better when planted in the ground, but if you don't want to dig a hole, you can always just re-pot these as they grow. If you do use a pot, you will have to make sure you water them on a semi-regular basis during the summer since they tend to dry out faster in the pots. You could always avoid this hassle by planting them directly into the ground.
As you can see from the picture above, I have plenty of blueberries despite the fact that they have been in pots for several years instead of being planted directly into the ground.
Strawberries:
Strawberries are so rewarding to grow, and again, these are one of the easiest plants to grow. Once established, they take care of themselves so all you have to do is harvest. They can last several years and provide plenty of abundance.
I do recommend having a separate bed for these plants as it is their nature to spread out. You can also use them as a low border edging in your front landscape.
I have purchased several bagged strawberry plants at DIY stores for $3 per bag, and those plants have always died a few days after planting. Please don't waste your money on those so-called bargains. Instead, go with your nursery selections. You can usually buy a bundle of 25 live plants for $5-$6.
I advise you to get both June-bearing and Ever-bearing plants so that you can have a whole season of fresh strawberries.
Onions:
Onions may take some time to grow, but once you plant them, you can literally forget about them until you are ready to harvest.
Onions sets can be bought anywhere you find them, even those DIY stores. I have never had an issue with being able to grow onions from sets. Usually you can buy sets of 50-100 for under $10.
I plant my onion sets into pallets filled with some dirt. Then, I leave them alone until the next fall or longer to harvest. Sometimes pallets can cause them to dry out, so occasionally if we haven't had any rain, I will water them during the hot summer, but other than that, It's all hands off. I just wait until they reach a good size, then easily pull them out of my pallet.
Carrots:
Carrots are great for a year long harvest. I plant a whole bed of carrots in the spring, and I can plan on having a steady supply all the way through to the next spring.
The secret to carrots is that you can leave them in the ground all season until you need want to eat them. I have often pulled carrots from my garden in February. They tasted fresh and sweet, and who couldn't use some fresh veggies in the winter.
I have raised beds and mild winters in zone 7B, so my carrots never freeze. If you live in an area where the ground freezes solid, then I would advise you to dig them up and store them.
All of the choices I have presented here will allow you to grow an abundant harvest with no fertilizers, little water, and little or no maintainece.
I realize that many people want to grow the more traditional staples of a garden like tomatoes, cukes, beans, etc. While those may seem easy and carefree, not everyone will be successful at growing them every year. Those plants all require a moderate amount of input for a successful harvest.
With the plants I have outlined above, you will be able to start a bullet-proof garden that can reward you for years to come. Try one of all of them and watch the produce pile up.
