THERE ARE those for whom gardening is a happily complicated and time-consuming hobby.
But today I’m focusing on those who believe in “minimum effort for maximum results”.
Great new products have entered the market – specifically targeting ‘less is more’ gardeners.
And I’m here to talk about them.
Roller garden It’s fantastic for beginners. It’s a ready-to-use biodegradable paper border template designed to fit the size and type you want – showing exactly where the plants provided need to go.
Additionally, it comes with fertilizer, gloves and a trowel. From £95 and always including at least seven plants, follow the instructions literally and you’re good to go.
O Fryd Garden Design app is a lazy way to steal everyone’s ideas! Download it for free to see planting plans from many well-known UK gardeners, then copy them for your own vegetable gardens.
Gardeners include hero who doesn’t dig Charles Dowdingurban gardener Alessandro Vitale , Amy Chapman , Tania Anderson It is Becky Searle .
Dobbies cost £14.99 ‘choice and joy’ variety of windowsill-ready tomato, pepper and eggplant plants that arrive loaded with produce – and the more you harvest, the more they return! Genius.
I know it’s plastic, but as long as you’re careful and don’t overdo it – if I’m feeling lazy, I resort to Poundland’s pack of 100 green cable ties of different sizes now on sale.
I find them invaluable for belaying climbers, securing posts, and various other small garden jobs. It saves all the time of measuring, cutting and re-rolling ropes or wires.
Mushroom £22.49 from Urban Farm The grow kit allows you to simply add spores, sit back and watch the fungi grow on a windowsill – just take out when the recipe calls for it.
Marijuana gang’The £24.99 monthly subscription service sends you absolutely everything you need to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs, including seasonal seeds, pots, compost and instructions needed to grow them from start to finish. And it has support via WhatsApp. No thinking necessary.
Elho’s The Greenville range of potted plants, from £5.89, have integrated reservoirs, reducing the time needed to water.
The Rose Press GardenThe £25 flower subscription box provides all bulbs, tubers, bare roots and seasonal plants – plus simple digital planting instructions, growing videos and how-to’s.
For the epitome of Lazy Gardening – Lagolândia have a £199 smart indoor garden – where you literally fill it with supplied herb plugs, place it by the stove – and sensational fresh herbs will grow under UV light for up to a year.
And to really lighten the load, henchman get a new £249 harness for heavy gardening tools and machinery so you don’t have to shoulder the load yourself – the epitome of minimal effort!!
HEDG YOUR BETS
It’s Hedgehog Awareness Week – time to celebrate our prickly friends who roam your gardens eating beetles, caterpillars and other invertebrates that like to feast on your plants.
Rachael McWilliam from Gardman gardening company recommends:
- Creating a gap at the bottom of the garden fence, allowing easy passage between neighboring gardens
- Create a cozy haven for hedgehogs with driftwood and dry leaves, or look for hedgehog houses in stores.
- Make sure there are plenty of clean, shallow water bowls available around the garden. Fill them regularly, especially during hot weather.
- Provide a good supply of quality food, such as Hedghog bites or dry or wet dog or cat food. . Milk will upset your stomach.
- Lakes should always have an escape route – a ramp or a series of semi-submerged ledges will allow for an easy exit.
SPRING IN SPRING
O Primavera RHS Malvern festival takes place next weekend at the Three Counties Showground in Worcester.
And it’s offering a new tasting ticket for just £15, with entry from 2pm on Saturday.
There is a new ‘Houseplant Festival’ – a large indoor space dedicated to houseplants with an impressive range of specimens, from the popular and easy to grow to the unusual and more exotic.
Experts will be on hand to offer advice and guidance on which plants might be best suited to each individual, and there will be some impressive displays to admire (including giant terrariums that provide botanical photos of plant landscapes from around the world).
There is also the opportunity to visit Jamie Langlands features garden with hidden dance floor and favorites like Alan Titchmarsh, Adam Frost, Frances Tophill, Mary Ellen and Si King from the Hairy Bikers.
Also in hand will be the Bearded Plantaholic talk to you about houseplants, Jason Williams aka Cloud Gardener who will talk about container gardening for small spaces and other social media stars including Leigh Johnstone, aka @thebeardygardener.
STRIP
It’s World Naked Gardening Day! You can participate by stripping down in your outdoor space, or if you’re on social media, just enjoy watching some of your horticultural heroes baring it all for fun.
THIS WEEK’S TIP
Pesky sycamore seeds are sprouting – be sure to pull them up, as the longer they remain in the ground, the harder they are to remove.
THIS WEEK’S WORK
It’s like Snailmaggedon out there at the moment – head out at night with a head torch to catch all the slugs and snails running absolutely rampant in your outdoor space. So do with them what you want.
TO WIN!
FIVE lucky winners can get their hands on one Roll garden Biodegradable 3m
For more details and to enter, visit www.thesun.co.uk/GARDENROLL or complete this FORM
Or write to the Sun Garden on a Roll competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP.
Include your name, age, email or phone number. UK residents aged 18+ only. Ends at 23:59 GMT on 18/05/24.
Full terms and conditions HERE
TO SAVE!
Get precise lawn edges with a pair of Wolf Garten Grass Shears for £22.99
Or make cuts with Spear and Jackson £9.49 Amazon version.
LEARN!
Q. I would like to know if you were able to identify this plant. It’s a perennial and I’m pretty sure its flowers are pink/purple. It’s spreading everywhere, not sure if it’s a weed. Jenny Woodfield, via email.
A. You’re not the first person to ask about this plant. Obviously, it’s the time of year when everything really goes crazy.
It’s almost certainly Green Alkanet – which is growing everywhere right now.
It’s a weed – but often confused with forget-me-not, borage and even comfrey!!
I have seen this in all my clients’ gardens.
It’s pretty enough to keep if you can contain it – if not, dig it up, getting the whole taproot, otherwise it will come back with a vengeance.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story