Save time in your vegetable garden

Looking for time-saving tips and tricks for your vegetable garden? Ironically, this approach starts with thinking ahead and a little preparation time. Achieving efficiency requires a thorough understanding of what you will need and how you will implement your garden layout and routine. Follow our recommendations below to have a streamlined garden routine soon enough.

Hone in on time-saving hacks

We’ve broken down ways to optimise your vegetable garden into three main steps. These steps include:

• Planning and preparation
• Choosing your plants
• Maintenance and care

Step 1: Plan and prep

Saving time requires planning. This starts with anticipating the bigger project at hand and ways you can prepare and prevent issues in the future.

Map and zone your garden

Consider your garden space and the plants you will be introducing to the space. Zoning plants is a great way to work with available ground, space, function, and convenience. You will enjoy quickly snipping your go-to herbs rather than having to walk a distance through a labyrinth.

Grow near a watering source

Forget the days of hauling a hose around a garden. How? Just plant near your water source. To make the watering sessions easier, install a secondary faucet at another strategic location in your garden. That way, you’ll be planning ahead and saving future effort (and frustratedly lugging hoses around).

Go higher with vertical gardening and avoid digging

Not only does a change in your garden’s position save back and knee strain, but you can also get a productive yield with efficient use of space. Great tips for this approach include using raised garden boxes, vertical planting walls or even straw-bales. Explore our square foot gardening article for innovative and compact growth.

Step 2: Choosing your plants

This next step of populating your garden is important as it will determine the type of work you will need to do and a better chance at time-saving success.

Choose low-maintenance vegetables

Easy edibles? Yes, please. To make your growing experience a little bit more streamlined, sometimes it comes down to simply picking your plants well.

Great picks include:

• Tomatoes (try ‘Tumbling Tome Red’ and ‘Rodade’)
• Bell peppers (explore our green, red and yellow peppers)
• Beans
• Lettuce (mixed lettuce and colourful mixed lettuce)

Vegetables that require a little more TLC and prime conditions include:

• Broccoli
• Brinjal

Pick perennial crops

We love perennials because they love you back a little longer than annuals. Not only do they develop deep roots to access water (cutting back watering needs) but also take up space that weeds would otherwise inhabit. We have a large array of perennial seedlings to choose from – like veggies, fruit, flowers, and more.

Plant similar plants together

This means considering sunlight, soil moisture and compatibility with other plants. Plants that need full sunshine need to be together. And the same goes for shade-loving plants. Moisture-dependent plants will wither in dry soil conditions and dry soil plants will drown in overly moist spaces.

Lean towards heat tolerant plants

Choose water-wise plants that can withstand a dry season (or more). Great options include indigenous plants from your region and ever-popular succulents. 

Step 3: Maintain your garden

This last step is an ongoing one. Put in the right amount of time and effort, and you’ll save yourself both in the long run.

Weed wisely

Weeding is frustrating but accomplishable with little shortcuts. Taking on weeds before they mature will reduce effort later on when they have completely invaded a garden. Turn the soil with a shovel or pitchfork to reach the roots manually – or use herbicides.

Apply mulch to edible plants and create a compost spot

Giving a healthy dose of mulch not only suppresses weeds but also controls evaporation from the soil. Keeping a compost pile in your garden will help create nutritional organic materials readily at hand.

Let spent plants overwinter (it’s okay, it’s natural)

This allows for birds to feed on the old seed heads and offers shelter for garden critters. Plus, it reduces the stress you’ll put on yourself to cut back on foliage.

Use self-watering containers

If you can’t plant your vegetable garden near a water source or set up a new tap, use innovative watering systems. In addition to watering tools, water collection tanks are a great way to be water-wise if not water and effort-savvy.

Garden smarter, not harder

For more insights into handy vegetable garden tips and other time-saving solutions, contact our team.