More Time-Saving Tips for Perennial Gardeners

February 19, 2019 Gardening Tips

woman gardening in an apron — Aprons are convenient to slip over gardener’s clothes for protection. The deep apron pockets also hold a gardener’s most needed items like a cell phone or favorite trowel.

1. Try a Gardening Apron

Wearing a gardening apron that holds favorite tools, gloves or cell phone is my best personal time saver. Cell phones stuffed in the back pocket of jeans increase the likelihood of “butt calls” when the gardener takes a break to sit down. You also run the risk of dropping your phone into the toilet during that rushed trip into the house to use the potty. A gardening apron, by contrast, will hold the phone, an energy bar or whatever the gardener will need, safe and secure. When the phone rings, it’s easy to answer so the gardener doesn’t have to “run-a-mile” to answer it. An apron also protects clothing from the mud of a messy job. A spring clothespin hooked to the apron’s edge will keep gardening gloves from disappearing.

2. Create a Storage Spot for Gardening Shoes

A tote or tray for muddy shoes at the back door saves tons of time. The gardener or kids know where to find their shoes unless the dog finds them first. A sturdy plastic laundry basket not only holds shoes but can also act as a strainer so the shoes can be squirted clean with the hose.

rubber gardening boots — Half of a westerner’s outside time is spent in imperfect weather. Early season mud and watering tasks require the investment of a good pair of rubber or waterproof boots.

3. Invest in an attractive gardening shelf

Use the shelf to hold common, much-used garden tools like gloves, a hat, scissors, a trowel and trimmer or watering sprayers. A hook on or by the shelf to hold a gardening apron is also very convenient. More gardening time is wasted searching for tools than any other gardening practice.

shelf full of gardening supplies — Frustration! Where is my trowel or weeding knife? A handy shelf attached right to the wall outside the back door for storing commonly used items is invaluable as a timesaver when a gardener wants to do a quick job.

4. Invest in time-saving tools

Invest in tools that are big time savers. My favorites include:

A long-handled pruning pole,
A watering wand
A lawn edger
Shovels with measurement markings
Battery-operated tools
A garden wagon

Long-handled Pruning Pole

Finding the ladder to cut an unreachable limb and setting it to balance level in a garden is a disaster about to happen. Keeping your feet planted firmly on the ground saves time and perhaps evades other problems.

Long-handled Watering Wand

A long-handled watering wand on the end of the new stretchy hose is a godsend for watering container pots. Lugging a full watering can or bucket to water containers is back-breaking.

Lawn-edging Tips and Tricks

Sharply trimmed lawn edges add the final classic touch to a yard. Two ways to keep edges trim are to install a mowing strip and keep it trimmed with a string trimmer before each mowing. If the string on your trimmer jams, spray with a vegetable oil like that used to keep cooking pans from sticking.

Add built-in bed protectors to prevent the hose from jumping into the border and damaging plants. Sections of clay drainage pipes can be buried on troublesome corners and look attractive.

Shovels with Measurement Markings

shovel and gardening hoe in a bucket — Shovels with painted handle measurements. These tools are kept sharp and rust-free in a trash bin filled with sand.

Colored one-foot increments on a hoe or shovel handle will give the gardener an instant measurement to use when planting. A garbage container filled with sand keeps long-handled tools like shovels and hoes organized and also sharp and rust-free. The garbarage can sits inside a roll-around metal frame on wheels so it can be moved to any location.

If the directions say, “plant one foot apart,” the gardener lays down the shovel, runs to the house, takes off her shoes and opens every drawer to find a ruler and then wouldn’t you know the phone rings and your bare-root plants are lying in the sun. A time-saving tip is to spraypaint one-foot measurements on your planting tools. Simply lay the measured and marked shovel or hoe down, and place the plant. No plant deserves to die root-exposed in the sun. Put that shovel or hoe away in a garbage can on wheels that is filled with sand. The sand will sharpen the tools and prevent rust. The gardener will always also know where to find them.

Rechargeable or battery-operated tools

Electric tools will require an extension cord for power and a three-pronged ground plug. The cord may not reach, so another cord will need to be found and the search goes on and on. Battery-operated trimmers, in contrast, are more efficient and can deadhead an entire perennial garden area in relatively little time. Buying an extra battery for rechargeable tools is an excellent time saver. When the battery is exhausted, switch batteries and get the job done.

5. Use a Wagon or Garden Cart for Hauling

Fall clean-up or harvest is a cinch with a wagon. Garden wagons are so easy to pull and save gardeners from back strains from over-lifting. Let a wagon do the heavy lifting. Wheelbarrows are “ok” if a gardener is pouring cement on a level surface, but for regular gardening, use a wagon. The size of the wagon fits a bale of mulch or peat moss that can be cut open with scissors rolled to the exact garden spot for spreading.

Shovel the amendments right from the bag and the mulch is spread without the gardener having to lift the entire cubit foot or two of dirt. Wagons can be pulled for convenient placing of heavy container pots–another back-breaking job the gardener should avoid (for the gardener must live to garden another day). Filled tubs of yard clean-up are easy to manage for a wagon can be pulled to the compost or green waste can rather than carrying a bundle at a time. Many wagons are equipped with side panels so the yard waste can be piled high. Wagons are also convenient in the gardening off-season. Groceries can be moved from the car to the door in one easy load. A gardening wagon will prove useful for many lifting jobs.

kids laughing — Wagons are so much more than a gardening tool. To these young kids, a wagon can be a train, a snowmobile or take-turns ride. My wagon is more fun to the kids than a swing set or sandbox and they never get tired of it.

6. Get Rid of Aggressive Field Bindweed!

The most disheartening job to a gardener in the west is an attempt to remove field bindweed (or morning glory) from flowerbeds. This obnoxious weed sends a tap-root as far as 20 or more feet down into the soil. The top of bind weed twists and winds around any other plant in its vicinity so spraying an herbicide will do more damage to the perennial plants around than the weed.

Solution; Wait until fall when all plants are taking in any nutrients to prepare for winter. To protect other flowers, wait until they have been cut back for winter so there will not be worries about spray kill. Using a paper plate sliced with one cut to the center, fit the plate around the bindweed base and pull any tendrils up and into the paper plate. Spray the vines with the strongest herbicide available. Many weed killers lose their potency when touching soil, so the paper plate prevents this and the weed killer will actually puddle in the plate. Spray several times as long as there are sixty-degree daytime temperatures. Next spring there will be less bindweed.

bine-weed on a paper plate — Use this tip to get rid of field bindweed or morning glory: In the fall when the hated weed is pulling all nutrition down to their roots, gather the vines and place them on a paper plate. Then spray with herbicide. Weed killers usually neutralize after touching the soil. Herbicides become a gas and will damage other plants

Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks:

Hoses and extension cords when thrown in a tool shed are not only irritating but can cause tripping. Keep different lengths of twist ties in a jar so these messy items can be wrapped and stored safely.

Has you hose ever snapped off flowers when you pulled it around a corner of the yard? Plant heavy clay pipes in the ground, leaving five-inches of pipe above ground on these critical spots. The hose will slip around the bed instead of being a hazard to plants.

Many gardeners swear that they prefer to plants their flowers bare-handed or without gloves. They maintain there is an energy transfer between the gardener and earth so the flowers grow better. Several studies are saying that soils are a natural energizer and have been shown to act as a natural antidepressant that activates brain cells improving a gardeners mood. So by all means, gardeners plant those flowers bare-handed but scrape your nails over a softened bar of soap so the dirt will wash out when you are through planting.

Tomato cages make excellent plant stands to keep top-heavy blooming plants from toppling. Tip the cage over and cut off the wire legs. Place the cage over the plant (this is great for delphiniums)! Use the leftover wire legs as pins to hold landscape fabric in place.

Hire help for jobs that are difficult or not what you choose to do. A lawn-mowing service or tree removal service will take care of jobs that may be physically exhausting or even dangerous for you. The right amount of professional help makes your gardening time more enjoyable.

Gardening tips are helpful but are all based on organizing plants, tools and the gardener. So the real time saving tip is to get organized!

Powerful Perennials