It’s easy to scroll past a photo of a productive garden and think, “Must be nice… I don’t have time for that.”
Here’s what I did today. But before you say “that’s fine for you, you are retired. I work full time, and my kids are out of school for the summer, read on.
Today I got a LOT done, but I chose to put in an hour in the garden because I needed to be out in the sunshine after all the rain we have had. Normally, I spend 15 minutes or less in my garden checking for fallen fruit, leaves, pests, watering. As you can see some of these tasks like fertilizing won’t even need to be done again for several weeks. As of now, I don’t have much space left for succession planting beans, cucumbers or squash so it will be a couple of weeks before I plant more seeds.
Here’s what I accomplished today:
✅ Watered and fertilized the beds
✅ Pulled up the last of the spent pansies from fall (they had a good run!) replanted bush beans and a couple of cucumber seeds
✅ Hilled up around all the tomato plants and peppers and mulched with decomposing leaves to hold in moisture.
✅ Checked for pests—none found, thankfully!
✅ Snipped off yellow leaves from the strawberry plants. These were old leaves and it’s normal to lose leaves.
✅ Planted more bush beans and bunching onions.
✅ Tucked in some cucumber and butternut squash seeds
✅ And yes—I took a break. Because breaks are part of the plan 😌
None of those tasks took more than 15 minutes on their own. Breaking your garden tasks into easy daily (or every-other-day) activities will save your weekends—and your sanity. Spending hours catching up on a neglected garden is a fast track to burnout and discouragement.
Ask yourself:
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What could be done in 15 minutes today?
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What could you delegate to your kids or your partner? Maybe it’s watering, checking for pests, or helping harvest.
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What tasks can wait until tomorrow without becoming overwhelming?
You don’t need a perfect system. You just need a rhythm that works for your life. Step outside, pick one thing, and get started. Little by little, it adds up 💚
Happy Gardening,
Karen
Thank you, I needed this little push. And thank for the herbal tea ideas also.
You are welcome!