Gardening is fun, but it can also be very exhausting. So it’s hardly surprising that clever gardeners have come up with tricks to make gardening easier. We have collected the best life hacks for the garden.
The good news first: a relaxed garden is a healthy garden! So the soil and lawn benefit from not mowing weekly, but letting the grass grow out. The animals will also thank you if you don’t remove the leaves and branches immediately in autumn, but leave them in a quiet corner.
But even in spring and summer there are numerous challenges that clever gardeners master with creative solutions. We have put together 9 life hacks for the garden for you.
Life Hack: Fertilizing
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With nettle manure, you can quickly produce an environmentally friendly, cheap and highly effective fertilizer that also drives away pests. Read here how to make nettle manure yourself and what other old fertilizers can give your garden a new look.
Tip: Cooled cooking water from pasta, potatoes or vegetables also works as a natural fertilizer!
Life Hack: Frost Protection
Night frosts can still occur until mid-May, which can damage delicate plants. To protect your seedlings, simply put a terracotta pot of the appropriate size over the plant at night. The earthenware protects the plant from frost during the night and gives off the stored heat over a long period of time. This is how your young plants survive the cold nights!
To protect potted plants from frost in winter, simply place the pots in the center of an old car tire – preferably on a piece of wood to protect the roots from below – and pad the space in between with newspaper, wood wool, straw or jute sacks.
Life Hack: Mini Greenhouse
An empty PET bottle quickly turns into a mini greenhouse if you cut off the soil with a utility knife and stick the bottle in the soil directly above the plant. You can provide air supply by simply opening the lid.
Tip: You can also plant bottles with a sufficiently wide neck directly. Poke additional holes in the neck of the bottle here so that gas exchange can take place. But keep in mind that it will be more difficult to repot the plant later!
Life Hack: Pour
If you are often unsure how much water a plant needs, or if you cannot water for a few days, build an irrigation system from an old plastic bottle.
- To do this, drill some holes in the lid and screw it tightly back onto the bottle.
- With a sharp knife, remove the bottom of the bottle with a craft knife.
- Put the bottle upside down in the soil close to the plant and fill the bottle with water.
- Through the holes in the lid, the plant now gets exactly as much water as it needs.
Life hacks for sowing
In order to create evenly spaced seed grooves, you need a trained eye – or a trick: Put two equally long pieces of an old garden hose at the desired distance over the prongs of a rake and use them to easily create even seed grooves.
Wine corks, evenly spaced on a wooden slat, are also a good seed aid: simply press the corks evenly into the soil and place the seeds in the hollows.
Life Hack: Planting
If you want a garden that will grow splendidly without care, it is important to choose the right plants. For example, zucchini are known to produce plenty of fruit even without fertilizer. Many raspberry, gooseberry and currant plants also bring rich harvests with little attention.
There is also a large selection of easy-care plants among the flowering plants. Many perennial perennials are very easy to care for and do not have to be dug up in winter and replanted in spring. Even among the roses you have a large selection of frugal varieties: Roses with the ADR seal are considered particularly robust and sometimes form new flowers well into autumn.
Life Hack: Weed
Tired of pulling weeds? Cover the soil with mulch or fleece to keep the weeds from growing. Ground cover is ideal for areas that are difficult to plant, for example in the shade. These can be evergreen plants, mosses or even wild strawberries.
Vinegar is also an excellent weed killer: Mix 100 ml of brandy vinegar with 300 ml of water and spray the mixture directly onto the weed plants in the bed.
Caution: The use of vinegar as a weed killer is prohibited on sealed surfaces!
Life Hack: Smart Garden
Whether mowing or watering: With smart helpers you can make gardening easier. An irrigation system supplies beds and lawns with water without you having to think about it or even be there. A suitably programmed robotic lawnmower can also do its laps on the lawn for you while you relax with a cool drink in the shade.
Life Hack: Environmentally friendly gardening
A near-natural garden with wildflower meadow, piles of leaves and piles of wood is not only easy to care for, but also offers animals such as hedgehogs, bees and birds valuable retreats. Choose native plants whose location requirements your garden can meet. This not only saves time, but also water and expensive fertilizers.
With the right know-how, gardening is more relaxed. This not only includes knowledge of plants and lawns, but also the creative mindset with which do-it-yourselfers always find new solutions.
