By the Features Desk

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Gardening is a great pastime. It adds value to your home while also allowing you to enjoy all of the benefits of spending time outdoors. However, it is something that we very rarely leave time for in our routines.

This can easily be remedied, however, by making the process of keeping your garden in great condition as straightforward as possible. This way, you don’t need to spend hours of your time on this task. Read on to find out more.

I’m really busy. Why should I make time for gardening?

As mentioned above, there are many benefits associated with making time in your routine for gardening activities. For example, it will make your home look much more presentable, which means that you’re always ready to impress, whether you’re hosting a party or selling your property.

In addition to this, gardening is a great way to deal with stressand anxiety. This is because it can provide you with a sense of inner peace and calm, while also reducing your body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol. As such, it is hardly surprising that those who garden on a regular basis report improved mental health.

How to make gardening easier and less time-consuming.

Fortunately, there are many steps that you can take to make gardening easier and less time-consuming. This way, you can reap all of the benefits listed above, without it being too much of a drain on your precious time.

Brush up on basic gardening skills. Brushing up on your gardening skills will naturally make any gardening tasks feel a lot easier and much more straightforward. This is because you’ll know exactly what you need to do in order to keep your garden looking its best, and you are also less likely to make mistakes. As such, you should always be on the lookout for ways in which you can develop new skills or hone your existing ones.

Find ways to speed up basic tasks. Finding ways to speed up basic maintenance tasks, such as removing leaves and debris, allows you to be as strategic as possible when spending time outdoors. For example, instead of having to rake leaves the traditional way, you may want to invest in a Worx leaf blower, so that you can get the job done in a matter of seconds.

Focus on regional plants and flowers. Growing regional plants and flowers in your garden will lower the amount of work you have to carry out to take care of them. This is because they’ll naturally thrive in this environment, as opposed to needing extra care and support in order to grow and flourish.

On a similar note, you’ll achieve similar results by focusing on low-maintenance greenery, such as succulents. This is because they require very little assistance aside from the occasional watering.

Share the work. When it comes to keeping your garden looking its best, you should not be the only person getting your hands dirty. Sharing the work equally between those in your household will promise the best results, without requiring you to spend countless hours in the garden each week.

If you’re facing a jam-packed few months, but still want to be able to enjoy your garden during your downtime, you may want to consider hiring a gardener who can take on the bulk of the work on your behalf. This way, you have less of a challenge ahead of you when it comes to keeping on top of your garden, as you can focus on basic maintenance such as watering your plants, while they do everything else on your behalf.

Set up a sprinkler system. Setting up a sprinkler system is another great way to minimise the time you need to spend gardening, without putting the health of your garden at risk. This is because you’d need to otherwise water your plants daily or every few days. The right sprinkler system can also help you conserve water, which can lower your bills and ensure you’re helping to take care of the planet.

Final thoughts. If you want to have access to a nice garden all year-round, then you need to stop telling yourself that you are too busy to garden. Otherwise, you’ll continue to look out of your window at an overgrown mess. Not only that, but there are also plenty of steps that you can take to simplify and speed up the gardening process, saving you valuable time and energy. This includes building the right tools and equipment and getting a helping hand from those around you.

Main picture: (c) Marrigt van der Valk