For those of us who adore gardening, putzing around with rakes, wheelbarrows and hand trowels is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon — even better if you work up a good sweat. But for those less enamored with these kinds of chores, one nagging question persists: How can I have a nice-looking landscape without going broke or driving myself crazy? Fortunately, there are tried-and-true strategies for lowering your stress level in the garden. If this sounds like something you’d like to achieve, I suggest you approach it as if you were staging a theatrical production — with you as the director and producer.
Here’s how to put on a garden show that maintains your sanity and receives a standing ovation from your neighbors. Start by gathering your backstage crew. Lights, scenery, props and costumes are critical theatrical components.
In the garden, this is infrastructure — your garden’s layout, irrigation system and soil. I realize this sounds about as exciting as a snail race, but I assure you that if you don’t invest time and energy in to these foundational aspects of your garden, it’s going to eventually cost you more time, energy and money. Believe it or not, walking in your garden beds can affect the quality of your soil.
Why? Because soil — especially damp soil — that’s repeatedly tromped upon becomes compacted, which means the tiny pockets of underground air get smooshed. When this happens, the plants trying to survive in this soil suffer. To avoid this, .