The Creaky Gardener Simplifies the Yard
There are days, lately, when the sound of crackling in my joints drowns out the songs of the birds and the bees. I suppose I could buy them a pair of mufflers - although a pair of knee pads would be more practical in helping the underlying cause of all the ruckus. As long as I keep gardening, they'll keep crackling.
Perhaps you've noticed something similar?
If you have, then it may be time for you to join me in trying to simplify our gardens so that this new and fast approaching millennium doesn't mark the end of our gardening pleasure. There are several things it would be wise for all of us to start doing now so that we can garden until that creaking absolutely deafens us. And even if you can barely hear a creak - I'm sorry to tell you - you almost certainly will. So now is a good time to start rethinking the trouble spots in the garden, to make it easier on ourselves and our plants.
One thing we're doing in our yard is taking a good look at the lawn. I don't trouble myself with it and would have gladly eliminated it at any time in the past 15 years - but my husband likes it. However, he's noticed a bit of creaking of his own, and so has begun to designate parts of the lawn as "trouble spots" - spots that are either difficult to mow because of the slope of the land, or which he is constantly reseeding because the dirt there is really DIRT - not soil - and grass doesn't feel like calling it home.
The best thing to do with spots like these is to eliminate them - or at least to get rid of the lawn, replacing it with easy to care for groundcovers. Nice, easy to grow, low maintenance groundcovers.
Now, what constitutes low maintenance and easy to grow for you may not work for me. A lot depends on your soil and the amount of light and moisture available in your problem spots. We'll talk about low-maintenance plants next week. Right now, we'll concentrate on the big picture.
If the thought of having even more green stuff to care for makes you shudder, you might also consider paving some of these difficult areas. Pathways, little terraced areas - if they are level you could turn them into seating areas that will give you a place to rest between spurts of gardening.
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