Spring Gardening Hacks: Some Quick Tips For Busy Moms

Gardening in the spring – ah, what joy!

Unfortunately, if you’re rushed off your feet, you don’t always have time to look after everything. You know you should be pruning bushes and planting bulbs, but taking care of the kids is getting in the way of everything.

Fortunately, this post is here to help. It explores some of the strategies and tactics you can use to take shortcuts in the garden but still get incredible results. 

Here’s everything you need to know: 

Start Recycling In The Garden

The first tip is to start recycling in the garden. The more green waste you can accumulate, the more you can provide fertile soil for your plants.

Start by grabbing a composter and then commit to putting garden waste into it. If you want, you can also add kitchen scraps and even feces. 

Then, all you need to do is wait for the mixture to rot down and into compost for the soil. Once you have this, you can lay it on your beds and provide fertile ground for plants to grow more easily (saving you the fuss of having to go to the garden center). 

Add Quick-Watering Options

Another hack is to add quick watering solutions. Instead of dragging a watering can around with you for 20 minutes every morning, you simply set up your irrigation system and get it to do the hard work for you. 

Modern systems are highly eco-friendly and often use solar panels to provide energy (getting rid of the need for a mains power connection). Furthermore, many work passively, meaning that all you need to do is provide them with some pressure and they will do the rest. 

The best systems are tank-based. These dispense water when soil conditions require it, preventing you from watering unnecessarily or doing it at the wrong time of day. 

Use Vertical Space

Another gardening hack for busy moms is to use more vertical space. Filling easy-to-access areas with plants on racks makes it simpler to develop a beautiful garden that offers everything you want. 

For example, you could start in year one with a wall-mounted herb garden. Then, over subsequent months, you could expand it further, adding more varieties to your cooking. 

You could also add hanging plants. These require minimal watering and will often grow, even in the most challenging conditions. 

You can also grow some crops in vertical areas (like narrow gullies beside the kitchen), including tomatoes and beans. They love climbing trellises to access sunlight. 

Invest In The Equipment You Need To Do Things Quickly

Another spring gardening hack is to invest in the equipment you need to do things quickly. Having everything to hand is essential. 

For example, if you have a lawn or a lot of borders, it makes sense to invest in an edger. These tools are handy when you want to clip away the stray blades that can make everything look unkempt. 

You could also invest in a robot mower. These clever devices work similarly to vacuums but chop instead of suck. You set these to mow automatically from their pods, and many don’t even require you to give them instructions. They can cut the grass and deposit clippings in the form of bales on your compost heap. 

Even something as simple as gardening gloves with claws can be helpful. These make digging less arduous, helping you maintain energy levels while getting more done. 

If you see fancy devices in the garden center, it’s worth exploring them. Innovative pieces of kit can save you a lot of time and help you keep your garden looking fantastic year-round. 

Optimize Your Soil

Another hack that can save you time over the course of a few seasons is optimizing your soil. You want to make it as attractive as possible to plants and other species that can complete the ecosystem. 

As mentioned, you can add compost. But you can also use things like coffee grounds and even premixed solutions. These are ideal if you want a quick and sustainable fix that gets the ball rolling. (You can always add homemade compost later if you want). 

Also, check the soil is being held in place adequately. You don’t want all your mineral-rich investment going to waste every time a rain shower comes along and washes it away. 

The best way to maintain the soil is to make it diverse and add roots. Larger shrubs can hold it in place, making it more hospitable to smaller, more delicate species, like tulips. 

Use Hacks To Control Weeds

Another method is to use clever hacks to control weeds. After all, you don’t want to be spending hours in the garden uprooting unwanted plants here, there, and everywhere. 

The best weed hack is to mulch early. Once the plants you want are in the ground and above the level of the mulch, you can apply it to prevent new shoots from coming through. You should find that this approach eliminates 90 to 95% of the unwanted growth. 

You can also try an additional tactic of laying a cardboard base under the mulch. This strategy denies weeds of sunlight and makes it more challenging for them to break through and gain momentum. 

Make Your Garden Kid-Friendly

You can also save time as a mom on gardening by making your yard a kid-friendly space. Instead of making everything complicated, you can keep things simple, allowing them to work on it when you’re not around to help them. This way, you can save on effort and get more done in the same amount of time. 

Plan Ahead

Finally, it can sometimes help to plan ahead. Starting your garden off indoors during the winter can get you to a flying start in the spring, giving you less work to do once the weather finally starts to change. 

For example, you could use perennials, plants that come back every year. With these, you don’t have to bother planting bulbs. 

You could also grow flowers and plants indoors under lights where it is warm and then transplant them when the season changes. It couldn’t be simpler!