Working Smarter not Harder in the Garden
Preparing Bed Seven
Okay so this is the theory, but even though I’m working smarter, its still hard work! Last year I saw this video on Instagram of a guy using a weed burner and a tin can on a stick to burn individual planting holes in the weed barrier for planting veggies in the garden. The idea was that it helped keep the weeds down. The concept was solid but the labor it involved required two people to complete the job which slowed down the overall planting process. And… we still had weeds!
This year I decided two things. One not to do the above and instead cut out a row in the weed barrier and either plant my seedlings or sow the seeds directly in the ground. The latter being the second thing I decided to do. Last year I started most of the vegetable/flower section via seedlings. I had a ton and no real room to store them, hence I set them out too early and had to restart three times! Learning from this experience, I decided this year I would direct sow most of the plants, except for the tomatoes, snap dragons and for kicks and giggles I also started the lemon cucumbers. I still might direct sow some cucumbers if I need more.
To address the weed issue, I’m going to cover the rows after I finish planting with straw. I did this for the spring garlic I planted last fall, and it seemed to help. I still had weeds coming up but not as many and they were easy to pull.
Given Andy’s unexpected stroke, the direct sowing idea has turned out to be a God send! The few seedlings I did start, I was able to keep them in the house and thus remember to water them and monitor their progress. I’ve started the direct sowing process this week. This is where the realization of “working smarter not harder” is not quite so true. In preparation for my new planting strategy, I replaced all the weed barrier from last year. This makes for cleaner looking rows and should help manage the weeds. That said, I still have to cut the rows out of the weed barrier. Silly me thought I could do all that, prep the soil and plant the seeds in a single day. I could but it made for a long day, the work was still hard, and by then end the joy of gardening was all but gone! The lesson I learned, divide the process up into multiple days! The other lesson I learned was to buy more seeds than you think you need if you are going to direct sow! That should have been a no brainer for me but with everything going on with Andy, I under ordered!
Of course as I was planting, I started second guessing myself, remembering that when sowed the Poppy flower seeds last year, nothing came up! I ended up planting sunflowers in their place. So, pending the success of this experiment and my limited seed purchase, I might have to take that same replanting strategy this year.
Another thing I learned as I was planting the tiny little flower seeds, is to not attempt it on a windy day! I still did it because I’m stubborn and determined but here too, based on that experience I’ve opted to revise my planting plans for today and only focus on prepping the beds, it is even more windy today!
My overall take-away about working “Smarter not Harder” is to be flexible. Growing a Market Garden is hard work, there is no getting around that. Really the smarter not harder thing is about time management and thinking ahead for the next year’s crop. By reconfiguring my planting strategy and cutting rows in the weed barrier verses the single holes, I won’t have to do that task next year, so perhaps I won’t have to work quite as hard at that task.
Another thing I did when cutting out the rows was to leave a two-foot pathway between the different flower varieties. This provides a path through the long beds and should make the blocks of flowers or veggies easier to manage. Originally, I designed each section of the garden so that guests could stroll through the beds of flowers, veggies, and fruits. Great idea, but a pain in the butt for the gardener who must walk all the way around each long row of produce, here too another lesson!
The two-foot pathways within each row, help to organize each bed and allow for more time efficient movability throughout the garden. Based on last year’s plantings, I also cut back on the number of rows of veggies or flowers I plant within each bed and have left a one-foot border along the outside. This will help with the mowing and keeping the edges along the beds cleaner. In theory, this should make for a more visually pleasing garden. This will also give me room to stake the plants that are tall, so they don’t fall over in the wind.
So there you have it, the “Work Smarter not Harder” might be a flawed concept, but I am indeed responding to all that I learned last year as well as what I’m learning on the fly this year. Just think, by year five I should be a pro!
Postscript: After prepping another bed yesterday, I realized what I did wrong above and why I was short on seeds. Originally my game plan for planting this year was to limit the rows in each bed to two… I cut three! Once I finish planting out the rest of the vegetables, I might go back and redo bed seven so that it consists of two rows. It will be more work this year, but it will set me up for better success next year. It will also look better visually, and the sprinkler line will work more efficiently as I cut it back to water two not three rows of flowers.
