- Tilling - High maintenance plants - Watering by hand - Relying on annuals - Using store bought mulch - Neglecting soil health - Garden perfectionism - starting without planning - ignoring plant tag directions - letting weeds get out of control - quit planting in every possible spot Thanks so much 😊
Hi Pamela, just came across your channel. Love your quit doing things ideas. Even though we are zones apart, I feel I still learn things. One thing I have quit doing is raking off my beds in the fall. I leave all the fallen leaves and in the summer they decompose slowly. With that being said, I do cut back more perennials in the fall since the leaves are there for shelter for insects.
I’ve been doing that for a while now too - less raking and more leaving it for them to do their thing. I use them in paths I don't want weeds coming up in too or I toss in my chicken pen for them to turn into garden gold. Zones are only a small fraction of what we need to think about in the garden, so many plants thrive across a high number of zones so there is so much more than that and we could very well have similar gardening situations. Most folks have earlier warm spring weather than I, we usually get snow and freezing temps right through May though I am a zone 8b. Many zones 5, 6,7 etc have Spring much sooner. (which I envy)
The title really caught my eye, lol. There is always so much to do in the garden! It's all fun, but you are right that there are things you can eliminate in order to regain a little more time.
I love to garden too, even weeding is therapeutic but there are times that things can get out of control and leave me feeling frustrated and I figure I am not the only one. But when I eliminate chores that use up too much time I can put in more garden areas and have time for it all. Especially the 'let go of perfection' part.
Things I let go: all or nothing mentality. I reserve the right to change my mind or mix methods as much as I choose. I soil block when my hands can manage it, I use pots when they can’t, wood chips some places, soft mulch elsewhere. There is no one perfect way.
#2 I’m in Houston, Texas, in Zone 9. During the summer, our roses sometimes end up looking like popcorn from the heat! Now it’s November, just after Thanksgiving, and I’m happy to have some lovely blooms. #3 I really need to set up a drip irrigation system. #4 I’ve started focusing more on what works in my zone instead of getting tempted by everything I see online-lesson learned! I love your personality and the way you share your knowledge. Even though it snows in your area (it never snows here), I’ve learned so much from you. Thank you!
I hear you, I used to live near Stockton, CA, zone 9 with high heat summers and yes the roses can get scorched. Some are more susceptible than others. Do try the SunBlaze roses, they are small but seem to come through the heat seamlessly. I would love to hear how they do in your neck of the woods. And don't just think of what works in your Zone but in your local conditions, as I said zones can vary dramatically in conditions and only tell you what will love through the winter. It doesn't tell you what will thrive in your seasonal conditions.
Yes, so you know the vast difference in growing conditions despite being in the same zone! When we were in Victorica BC, which is a zone 9, they had shade flowers in full sun. Here they would be cooked in no time, but they are often overcast so they make it there just fine.
great video, i am going to do a lot of the things you mentioned. we all need to do things that are going to make life a little better for us. these days i really get worked up about my garden. and the weeds oh my i am going to leave a lot of them. thanks for all your tips and i'm going to try them all.
I am heading out today to seed some ground cover between the pavers in my Secret Cottage Garden to see if I can at least lessen the weeds that get going there. Can't hurt to try!
I had cardinal flowers (red) and killed them during transplant but will start more because the hummingbirds just loved them and I love the red color❤. Good list!
@@lilycardoso4679 I will do a video very soon, stay tuned. Thanks for asking! The panels begin to frost with age. The newer ones I have are more transparent.
I began taking over the flower beds about the time I start to retire. My husband's ideal of gardening was one tone of srubs and they had to be trimmed in the same shape. Every other year he would spread new bark. He also sprayed for weeds which I don't allow anymore. Needless to say the soil was in bad shape. I finally talked him into spending composed instead of bark this spring. It's taken me three years but now I have beautiful garden beds around the house. They are filled with a combination of annuals and perennials. I start a lot of my annuals from seed and divide my perennials to expand my gardens. Every spring and fall I add organic mulch. Now I'm working on getting him to stop blowing every leaf that falls out if the trees into a pile and throwing them in the yard debris. It's been a process. So it's not me stopping things. It's getting my husband to stop doing things that aren't beneficial to healthy soil. ❤
Yes, stopping others from falling back on bad habits is hard. My hubby hates yard or garden work so I am on my own. Everytime he has helped me in the garden has resulted in disaster, like yanking up a precious small Japanese Maple in winter because to him it looked dead, or when he was helping with weeds he yanked out a clematis because....yep, once again, it looked dead. So I allow him to blow leaves into a pile then direct him on which beds I want them placed in, but he is not allowed in the garden alone. Love him dearly but he is an inadvertant walking plant killer in the garden.
You are so right Pam…. Gardening should be fun and joyful! Things do t always go as planned that is for sure. And it all works out in the end. I just learned about tilling as well. The fact that I will no longer be doing it is actually wonderful, one less thing to do. Haha 💙💚💛🧡💜 Liz
Tilling is not needed in our smaller spaces and as you say, one less thing to do, especially as there are easier ways to do it. I am headed out to gather up leaves to cover a new bed I want to plant in spring, still frosty out but I will warm up from the exercise for sure.
Thank you. Edit, I’ve been waiting to see where my pathways develop, then will be doing brick for the pathways around the house. I’m discovering patience to see what grows well here and being freer to explore. I’m learning about growing in the South.
I had to adjust when I moved here, I used to live in the San Joaquin valley and it was a gardeners dream. Adapting to mountain growing has been a journey but very doable. Patience is key as we can get snow up through May. You are going about it in a great way, enjoying the journey instead of forcing results!
@ Thank you. I grew up in Oregon. North Carolina is a whole different world, but I’m getting some pleasant surprises. Did container cut and come again lettuce and it did very well. (No weeding !!)
Congratulations! That is so exciting, a greenhouse is a wonderful thing to have. I know that mine gets me through the depths of winter when everything is covered in snow.
I figured these were common things among us veteran gardeners, but I am trying to be more mindful of beginners too. Glad to know we are on the same page! Thank you. This was the remake of this video, I had the biggest smudge of dirt on my face through the original and it was just too distracting. My husband said I should just go ahead and use it as it looks like me in real life, I usually have dirt on my face when I am outside.
I agree with everything. In order to enjoy, we need also room to wiggle and do other stuff we enjoy. If it is too much endless work, it stops being enjoyable!
Hi Pam! Just found you yesterday and love your content! I can relate to nearly all your tips, but mostly ... the zones are a bunch of bunk! I moved 6 years ago from the Detroit area, zone 6b, to the most north west corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (at the time zone 5a, now 5b ... depending on who you listen to). But zones say nothing about the sheltered, suburban, flat area I came from ... to the hilly, rural, windy lakefront area I ended up in. Extreme difference in gardening? No, not that much! And I love your naming of your garden spaces ... what a great idea! I've subscribed ... and I'll be following you! Thanks!
I despise weeding so I keep trying different methods to help avoid weeds and that ended up being more work then weeding. So I amended my soil with clean manure (so it's not growing it's own weeds) and planted ground cover around plants that are hard to keep weed free, -like anywhere snakes can hide, and then just went with yanking what pops up here or there. Sweet freedom lol
I am finding the ground covers to be fabulous at helping control weeds too. I have had very warm weather so far and am transplanting more ground covers to areas I had yet to place them. They should really take off once Spring returns.
Excellent video! Unfortunately in my planning, I did not plan for gophers. My artichoke garden was decimated. The gopher(s) took out 21 of 24 plants and avoided every. single. trap.
How devastating! I hear you. It has been a gopher nightmare here as well, seems the population has gotten out of control despite the many gopher predators we have. The only thing I have not seen around is a gopher snake and oh how I want one to move in. That would take care of all them little rascals as well as the ones invading my neighbors properties too.
I have been putting in a lot of native perennial flowering plant/bushes in a newly expanded pollinator garden. Will continue putting in pansies because pansies mean Christmas to me in SE TX, one of the extreme zone 9's. 😊 Putting in more perennial vegetables as well. Going to finally put a watering system in the veg garden this year. I have been using oyas. I leave for a while every summer and hate relying on my husband or the dog sitter to water things.
You will love the watering system and for me, the plants did so much better since they were getting more consistent water. Plus it freed me up so much for other things in the garden.
These are all good suggestions. Anything to simplify is always good. But I take exception to your suggesting a groundcover like Lamium. Lamium species are non-native and the time you might have saved will be consumed with containment. There are so many wonderful native alternatives that also support and host many species of solitary and specialist bees, butterflies and moths. Try some good 'ol violets (e.g. host for at least 2 dozen moths and butterflies including the beautiful fritillary butterflies), Dwarf Cinquefoil (host to several specialist bees and 14 native caterpillars), Pennsylvania sedge (host to various leafhoppers, satyr larvae etc.), or wild ginger (Asarum canadense) which is host for pipevine swallowtail butterfly... Non-native plants have at most a marginal usefulness for the critically needed native insects that support, well, everything.
For some laminium is more work but I have it in areas that are easy to contain and I do recommend each finding what works for them. I have the violets and they are much harder to contain than the lamium here and I keep those in a big container so they don't take over the flower beds. And the suggestion is good for natives but natives in your area may not be native to mine and then the point is moot. The Dwarf Chiquefoil is only native to the eastern coast and not here in the West. As I said, natives in one area are not to another and we will not have the insects it is supposed to support. I live in the forest and the native plants are all throughout it, my not having them in my small plot will not make a difference for those insects, now in an urban environment where they don't have food sources it might be a different story. Thank you for the recommendations.
Hey dear flower patch lady, pam,wonderful to see you, hearing the chickens also..pam so much really useful information, im very pleased, oh I was thinking have you had a little hair trim ect,its looking very lovely as usual pam,,always looks so healthy. 😊.your plants, the greenhouse is looking stunning with all the delightful plants. Xxso grateful 🙏 for you xx
Thank you. I needed that trim desperately. My greenhouse is coming along, still not done clearing it out but I can move about now. All in good time. My ladies got to roam the garden today, they were in bug eatin' heaven.
We have the spring weather where you never know when it will be spring. The temps seem to be even worse now with extremes and whiplash changes. I try many new varieties to see what thrives and usually find at least one winner and more duds that don’t thrive, take too long or just not worth the bloom. I do till and cultivate the veg areas to control sheep and wood sorrels. No till didn’t work well here. The flower areas and around fruit I can’t till and sorrels take over. I don’t see any harm to the soil as I have mushrooms and worms. I have a couple of wonderful arborist that keep piles of wood-chips well stocked here and will use that for potting soil probably next year as it looks ready. Going into near future the less I have to buy the better. And fertilizer will be free from our latest crank composter. We catch the leachate with a tub underneath it. And correct that the Manthis tiller is a 🤬 to start-the carburetors are junk! And if they get started pulverize the soil into oblivion. Had one many years ago. We have a gas tiller and now a battery cultivator that is small to fit long rows to aerate and mix in leaves, ect. Love both and they aren’t super high speed. If I could find or ever get rid of sorrel and voles maybe I could do no till, but I didn’t till a small area this year and the carrots and tomatoes didn’t like it. Nematodes attacked some carrots and tilling helps get rid of them. Eventually I’m sure there will be a time I can’t till 😅. Love verbascum and will be replacing hollyhocks because they rust. Irrigation a Big Yes! Still use pump and hose on water tanks. Love to plant close to help retain moisture and weed control-the sorrel doesn’t care🙄 and the roses want elbow room. In WI it’s very humid and yes, air flow is important. Right now we are a frozen tundra. I told you about the bulb sale and was so lucky they arrived Wednesday and planted out Thursday just before the single digits with negative windchill arrived. There was a frozen crust already. Now I need to mulch and throw some burlap on a few things. Now to get that greenhouse floor done. We have it dug down just need supplies to finish. Lol, I struggle with liking formal and cottage flower gardening. Because we have 7’ fencing restricting where I plant I’ve opted for cottage with a few plantings set formally to get the best of both worlds. As long as it grows and looks full I’m not fussing over it. I would love to have some hardscaping done, but the cost is crazy and probably would shoot our property taxes. So I’m happy to just have the flowers.
Hi Pam I really enjoy your videos even though I live in zone 5A in western NE. I feel like we could be sisters because we have so much in common. I have a greenhouse that looks and contains the same things as yours, we both have ADHD and the same planters and plants and I think we are on the same timeliness with our gardening journeys. I have stopped doing what you have stopped and started doing what you have started completely by being experienced, i guess, or by chance, not being aware of each other. You live in the mountains, and I live in a valley or prairie, but we're doing pretty much the same thing at the same time with the same plants. This is my first winter with a greenhouse so I would love to learn more from you on that. The night temperatures are freezing but I have managed to keep the greenhouse in the high 30's and above at night and yesterday during the day it got over 100. Poor plants are having to cope with both extremes. Currently I have it so packed full of plants I can hardly get around. Our cold and snow hasn't showed up yet but it's coming. I might end up losing everything but it's an experiment. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
The USDA zones are so relative and don't carry a lot of weight for me. It only gives me one factor and that is will this plant live through winter (if perennial) in my garden. Most annuals etc the zone does not matter and many perennials will do just fine across the majority of the zones in the US. But as you said your garden conditions do vary quite a bit and are a larger factor. If I got more sunshine here (the tall evergreens block it this time of year) my greenhouse would heat up dramatically too during the day. Mine is usually well packed by May and I am looking to off load plants to make more room inside, thus the Bespoke Greenhouse my husband built me. I move plants to there once bigger. Keep EXPERIMENTING! That is how you will learn what works the best for you. 😀
Pam I have some creeping Jenny in a fairly small area, do you think this ground cover would choke out perennials? Also, could I pull it back and plant new plants in middle of it.
I have found creeping jenny easy to pull out of areas that I don't want it. So far it hasn't choked out the perennial plants but it does prevent seeds from germinating or a lot of weeds. If you live in an area that gets a lot of rain it can really become agressive but for me it has been easy enough to contain with a quick skimming across the soil with a shovel or pulling out by hand. Yes, you can pull it back or out in areas you wish to plant.
Most of the plants you are talking about require full sun. I have oak trees in my yard and very little full sun. I do grow low roses in the area that has the most sun, but it is not full sun. I would appreciate suggestions for partial sun plants and propagation. I'm in Texas 8a with very hot summers.
Howdy I’m Mike zone 7b8a north Alabama outside Huntsville in the mountains I have a temper tantrum winter here sometimes you get all 4 seasons in a week lol but it hit 16 this morning Sunday will be 63 yay December but I enjoy your bodies very upfront and just do what u like and works for u I’m the same way I have chickens and turkeys and my yards fertal so things do well here I push limits trying to grow lilacs and more northern plants but push it with somewhat tropical things some work some don’t but I like to experiment ❤
Sounds like you have an interesting climate! I'm glad you enjoy the videos, it means a lot! Challenging conditions for sure, but having the chicken and turkey manure is the ticket, but then I am partial to that.
I appreciate you pointing out some 9 b never get hot. Over here in Arcata, CA it is frosty now at night but almost 60 in mid day and will be most of the winter. We have June-uary. And when it rarely hits 80 we complain about the heat....
Sounds like a lovely place to garden! When I lived by Linden, it was a gardening paradise and though we got hot summers, out in the orchards the delta breeze was a lifesaver. At night it would blow over the ground being irrigated and bring such cooling. Do you get much fog?
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse They trained pilots here during WWII to teach flying in fog. Humboldt Bay is shallow and it moderates the temperature with extensive mud flats. We also have Tule fog which is only a few feet high over pastures. We also have a week of almost 60 ahead to garden in the warmth.
My vegetable garden took too much of my time, so I’m not growing vegetables this year. Too much watering, fertilizing and the trouble with pests and heat.
I only do a few veggies but I hear you! I have so many friends that grow huge veggie gardens each year and give me so much produce I have no need to grow much. Lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers are the main ones I grow and that is because we eat so much salad. So far they haven't been too time consuming to grow.
Yes, it is on top of a small propane tank and is called a tank top outdoor space heater. I only use it when working in my greenhouse and it is not on all the time. For the most part, my little greenhouse is unheated.
The blooper. 😂😂. I even thought the "I Quit using chemicals......... in the garden" was funny. I don't have a new category but I Quit planting high maintenance plants. Being oldER I already began with perennials but with perennials it seems that they're short blooming and you get that "few weeks burst then nothing" thing so I cast cosmos/wildflower seeds. I guess a new category would be "I Quit mowing so often". And mowing less often with the grass shading itself better, I don't have to water it as often. Just a small say 25'x30' area that's surrounded by my shrubs and roses, no one really sees it anyway.
Yes, I didn't put in anything about mowing as I don't have any lawn but the microclover is filling in beautifully and last summer I only mowed it twice. I didn't really need to but the instructions say if you mow it a few times the leaves get smaller and more compact choking out any weeds that may try to come up in it. So far, I am loving it and will definitely be adding it to more paths.
@FlowerPatchFarmhouse I also got to wondering if not mowing was the reason why my clover path against the fence (to access the irrigation trenches) got to 18". The other path wasn't AS bad but it wasn't micro either for probably not mowing often enough. Just keeping it mown seems to be the key.
Thanks for the pointers. It is too easy to buy a few of these or those and then struggle to find an appropriate place. I want to enjoy looking, not snipping, weeding, mulching, and worrying. I do have a question. I have seen lots of advice about pairing lavender with roses. I think the water and soil needs are too different. What do you pair with roses?
If you have well draining soil the lavender do pair well with roses, lavender won't mind the water if it drains away well. Plus once roses are well established they don't need as much water as most people think.
Hi Pam I notice you have very healthy plants in your greenhouse curious do you keep it heated? I have an art studio turning it into a garden shed here in NW Oregon and place a lot of my potted tenders tucked in there, but unheated. Everything always returns but pretty much sleep through the winters. We are in the low 30’s for about a week. I enjoy your garden talks, thank you!
No I don't heat it the majority of the time. I only warm it up if I am going to be working in there. The rest of the time it only gets heated by the sun and that is very limited in the depth of winter because of the tall evergreen we have surrounding our home.
I did a lot of things right in my gardening journey because I didn’t have money or time. I did not use chemical fertilizers cause I couldn’t afford them. I let leaves gather in my beds and did not clean out. Who knew that was the very best thing I could do? I planted all my bushes close together in my front bed even though people said I shouldn’t and guess what? No weeds. No Bermuda grass. I put off creating new beds because I did not know what to do about removing the existing soil. Then five years ago I learned about no dig garden beds and that was a revelation. I have created four big beds with great success and will be doing more. I never sprayed for pests cause I could not afford and guess what? That was the right thing to do. I had white clover appear in my backyard grass area and I have let it spread. It takes about a fourth of the yard now and I am going to let it keep spreading. I planted ground covers in my new beds to cover the earth while I add bigger plants. I cannot afford to buy much but the ground cover keeps the weeds out as I add in bushes and perennials as I find them usually on sale. Love your channel. My next thing is I must set up an irrigation system. Got to do this year. I like hand watering but it’s taking me two hours a day in summer and I need to be doing other things. ❤🌱❤️🌱❤️🌱❤️
I'm so glad you discovered the power of letting nature do its thing in your garden. You are a natural! Sometimes being cash strapped can be an advantage. We don't need to be pouring garden center products on our gardens, or when transplanting flowers or veggies in our garden. All the marketing is drowning out the age-old wisdom we gained over the years learning how our grandparents gardened with little or no money. The irrigation system will be a huge help. You can still hand water, I do many of my containers when it is super hot as needed and that gives me time to really look at certain areas and see if anything needs attention, it can be very therapeutic.
Planning?? 😆 I plan but because I have to buy online, by the time the plants get here (say buying in Spring but they won't arrive til Fall), I look at my "plan" and say "What was I thinking?". Or like you say, when they arrive the tag will say something I didn't know that says where I wanted it isn't a good place for it. 🤪
😂😂I ordered bulbs and planted, then opened email to find they marked them down again and was lucky they arrived a day before we hit single digits. The top crust was already frozen. Nothing was planned ahead and I was tucking them in everywhere. 😂we will see what it looks like next spring. Lol, not planning can be a surprise also.
I hear you! When I order bareroot roses, unless it is a site that lets me choose shipping dates, I end up getting them in January as they will ship by zone. My zone 8 is buried in snow at that time or year but so many thing the USDA zones are all the same. So then I have to pot them up and keep them in my greenhouse for a bit.
Yes, that is an excellent one. Though I treat my roses like any other shrub and just whack them as needed. I don't know if you had roses in mind but that is what popped up in my head when you said that, in fact, I did a video of how to prune a rose in 5 minutes or less. But sometimes I just go in with hedge trimmers and chop back.
I've given up on dandelions, meaning I gave in and had the lawn sprayed for the masses of dandelions, my large acreage lawn was a pure carpet of yellow, some might think this is wonderful, but it required constant mowing to keep those dandelions from seeding out and seed out they did getting into the crowns of all perennials and shrubs, the strawberry patch was a nightmare, same with the raspberries, yes I use mulch, but dandelion seeds get into every nook and cranny and any bare ground literally had hundreds of dandelions per square yard! Now, after the spraying, I might have a few dozen dandelions to dig the entire year, sure has massively cut down my weeding chores! As well I do use more mulching, I have some dirt walkways that always become weedy, I apply dry grass clippings twice a season and this not only eliminates weeds, but as well stops erosion as some walkways are on a slope. I now have more time and energy to enjoy the gardens! Ohh, I'm only in zone 3, though can grow hybrid tea and floribunda roses, these are planted deeply and mulched heavily prior to winter, when spring finally arrives and they begin to grow, we then tend not to have many frosts.
I tend to harvest my dandelions for my chickens, they love to eat them but I do not have a lawn so I haven't had a big problem with them, thankfully. I am always happy to see them and let them get big and juicy. You would hate me as a neighbor! Glad you have gotten them manageable. Yes, the late freezes is what zaps the Hybrid Tea roses here, and how cold the nights stay through early summer. I grew them when I lived in the valley and they did fantastic. Yes, making our gardens more carefree is key to enjoying them.
So sorry, I do what I have time for, like you, my time is precious. I also did a blog post about it and you can skim that here: www.flowerpatchfarmhouse.com/10-things-i-quit-to-make-gardening-easier/
Your advise is more of do this, do that and less of what you QUIT DOING! I got very bored with your side talks. So sorry. I guess i am presse😅d for time.
No worries, when I do shorter videos I get so many complaints they are not long enough but I know I can't please everyone and stopped trying a long time ago. I am too old to worry about stuff like that. I make what I enjoy making and don't worry too much about anything else. I figure those that want to watch will and those that get bored will click away when they have had enough. So we are all good.
Personally I appreciate the detail and if I didn’t have time to watch I’d listen to part and go back. Bullet points, skimming the top don’t have the same value to me. I’m a gardener and am truly interested in the details.
- Tilling
- High maintenance plants
- Watering by hand
- Relying on annuals
- Using store bought mulch
- Neglecting soil health
- Garden perfectionism
- starting without planning
- ignoring plant tag directions
- letting weeds get out of control
- quit planting in every possible spot
Thanks so much 😊
Thank you.
You are welcome. Nice list.
Thanks!
Thank you so much! I am glad you found it helpful.
Hi Pamela, just came across your channel. Love your quit doing things ideas. Even though we are zones apart, I feel I still learn things. One thing I have quit doing is raking off my beds in the fall. I leave all the fallen leaves and in the summer they decompose slowly. With that being said, I do cut back more perennials in the fall since the leaves are there for shelter for insects.
I’ve been doing that for a while now too - less raking and more leaving it for them to do their thing. I use them in paths I don't want weeds coming up in too or I toss in my chicken pen for them to turn into garden gold. Zones are only a small fraction of what we need to think about in the garden, so many plants thrive across a high number of zones so there is so much more than that and we could very well have similar gardening situations. Most folks have earlier warm spring weather than I, we usually get snow and freezing temps right through May though I am a zone 8b. Many zones 5, 6,7 etc have Spring much sooner. (which I envy)
The title really caught my eye, lol. There is always so much to do in the garden! It's all fun, but you are right that there are things you can eliminate in order to regain a little more time.
I love to garden too, even weeding is therapeutic but there are times that things can get out of control and leave me feeling frustrated and I figure I am not the only one. But when I eliminate chores that use up too much time I can put in more garden areas and have time for it all. Especially the 'let go of perfection' part.
Things I let go: all or nothing mentality. I reserve the right to change my mind or mix methods as much as I choose. I soil block when my hands can manage it, I use pots when they can’t, wood chips some places, soft mulch elsewhere. There is no one perfect way.
Agreed, we all need to find what is ‘easy’ for us and that can change with our own seasons in life.
#2 I’m in Houston, Texas, in Zone 9. During the summer, our roses sometimes end up looking like popcorn from the heat! Now it’s November, just after Thanksgiving, and I’m happy to have some lovely blooms.
#3 I really need to set up a drip irrigation system.
#4 I’ve started focusing more on what works in my zone instead of getting tempted by everything I see online-lesson learned!
I love your personality and the way you share your knowledge. Even though it snows in your area (it never snows here), I’ve learned so much from you. Thank you!
I hear you, I used to live near Stockton, CA, zone 9 with high heat summers and yes the roses can get scorched. Some are more susceptible than others. Do try the SunBlaze roses, they are small but seem to come through the heat seamlessly. I would love to hear how they do in your neck of the woods.
And don't just think of what works in your Zone but in your local conditions, as I said zones can vary dramatically in conditions and only tell you what will love through the winter. It doesn't tell you what will thrive in your seasonal conditions.
I just found your channel. I will definitely be subscribing! Thanks for the info!
I hope you enjoy the videos, and I am glad you like the information!
I agree, hardiness zone is only 1 part of the story! I live in North Texas, zone 8. My sister lives in Seattle zone 8!
Yes, so you know the vast difference in growing conditions despite being in the same zone! When we were in Victorica BC, which is a zone 9, they had shade flowers in full sun. Here they would be cooked in no time, but they are often overcast so they make it there just fine.
great video, i am going to do a lot of the things you mentioned. we all need to do things that are going to make life a little better for us. these days i really get worked up about my garden. and the weeds oh my i am going to leave a lot of them. thanks for all your tips and i'm going to try them all.
I am heading out today to seed some ground cover between the pavers in my Secret Cottage Garden to see if I can at least lessen the weeds that get going there. Can't hurt to try!
I had cardinal flowers (red) and killed them during transplant but will start more because the hummingbirds just loved them and I love the red color❤. Good list!
That greenhouse is my DREAM!!
I love my little Sunshine Garden House, I have had it since 2003 and it is what helps get me through the long winters here.
First time here. Do you have a video on your greenhouse? Are your panels frosted or is it just foggy outside?
@@lilycardoso4679 I will do a video very soon, stay tuned. Thanks for asking! The panels begin to frost with age. The newer ones I have are more transparent.
I began taking over the flower beds about the time I start to retire. My husband's ideal of gardening was one tone of srubs and they had to be trimmed in the same shape. Every other year he would spread new bark. He also sprayed for weeds which I don't allow anymore. Needless to say the soil was in bad shape. I finally talked him into spending composed instead of bark this spring. It's taken me three years but now I have beautiful garden beds around the house. They are filled with a combination of annuals and perennials. I start a lot of my annuals from seed and divide my perennials to expand my gardens. Every spring and fall I add organic mulch. Now I'm working on getting him to stop blowing every leaf that falls out if the trees into a pile and throwing them in the yard debris. It's been a process. So it's not me stopping things. It's getting my husband to stop doing things that aren't beneficial to healthy soil. ❤
Yes, stopping others from falling back on bad habits is hard. My hubby hates yard or garden work so I am on my own. Everytime he has helped me in the garden has resulted in disaster, like yanking up a precious small Japanese Maple in winter because to him it looked dead, or when he was helping with weeds he yanked out a clematis because....yep, once again, it looked dead. So I allow him to blow leaves into a pile then direct him on which beds I want them placed in, but he is not allowed in the garden alone. Love him dearly but he is an inadvertant walking plant killer in the garden.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse 😂
You are so right Pam…. Gardening should be fun and joyful! Things do t always go as planned that is for sure. And it all works out in the end. I just learned about tilling as well. The fact that I will no longer be doing it is actually wonderful, one less thing to do. Haha 💙💚💛🧡💜 Liz
Tilling is not needed in our smaller spaces and as you say, one less thing to do, especially as there are easier ways to do it. I am headed out to gather up leaves to cover a new bed I want to plant in spring, still frosty out but I will warm up from the exercise for sure.
Thank you. Edit, I’ve been waiting to see where my pathways develop, then will be doing brick for the pathways around the house. I’m discovering patience to see what grows well here and being freer to explore. I’m learning about growing in the South.
I had to adjust when I moved here, I used to live in the San Joaquin valley and it was a gardeners dream. Adapting to mountain growing has been a journey but very doable. Patience is key as we can get snow up through May. You are going about it in a great way, enjoying the journey instead of forcing results!
@ Thank you. I grew up in Oregon. North Carolina is a whole different world, but I’m getting some pleasant surprises. Did container cut and come again lettuce and it did very well. (No weeding !!)
I love your tips. I just got a greenhouse in October and I am building my own secret garden.
Congratulations! That is so exciting, a greenhouse is a wonderful thing to have. I know that mine gets me through the depths of winter when everything is covered in snow.
Love your list of things you stopped doing. Sounds like mine. Also chuckled at your blooper 😅 you look GORGEOUS 😊
I figured these were common things among us veteran gardeners, but I am trying to be more mindful of beginners too. Glad to know we are on the same page! Thank you. This was the remake of this video, I had the biggest smudge of dirt on my face through the original and it was just too distracting. My husband said I should just go ahead and use it as it looks like me in real life, I usually have dirt on my face when I am outside.
I agree with everything. In order to enjoy, we need also room to wiggle and do other stuff we enjoy. If it is too much endless work, it stops being enjoyable!
Yes, like taking time to visit other gardens for more inspiration and ideas while not worrying about our gardens at home.
Glad I caught this vedio. Great reminder s.
You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi from New Zealand. Just found your channel and it looks great. Thanks for sharing your tips. Very helpful 😊💚
Welcome, I am so happy to have you here!
Would love to see some pics of some of these flowers your talking about during the videos! Great tips, thank you!!
Duly noted. Then you will love my latest video on Flowers that Reseed as it is full of the flower photos.
Hi Pam! Just found you yesterday and love your content! I can relate to nearly all your tips, but mostly ... the zones are a bunch of bunk! I moved 6 years ago from the Detroit area, zone 6b, to the most north west corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (at the time zone 5a, now 5b ... depending on who you listen to). But zones say nothing about the sheltered, suburban, flat area I came from ... to the hilly, rural, windy lakefront area I ended up in. Extreme difference in gardening? No, not that much! And I love your naming of your garden spaces ... what a great idea! I've subscribed ... and I'll be following you! Thanks!
I am so glad you joined us and that you enjoyed my video. Yes, too many place too much emphasis on zones which can be misleading to many.
I despise weeding so I keep trying different methods to help avoid weeds and that ended up being more work then weeding. So I amended my soil with clean manure (so it's not growing it's own weeds) and planted ground cover around plants that are hard to keep weed free, -like anywhere snakes can hide, and then just went with yanking what pops up here or there. Sweet freedom lol
I am finding the ground covers to be fabulous at helping control weeds too. I have had very warm weather so far and am transplanting more ground covers to areas I had yet to place them. They should really take off once Spring returns.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse So, it will return, right?? I have a foot of snow hopefully keeping my plants cozy til it gets here 😅
Excellent video! Unfortunately in my planning, I did not plan for gophers. My artichoke garden was decimated. The gopher(s) took out 21 of 24 plants and avoided every. single. trap.
How devastating! I hear you. It has been a gopher nightmare here as well, seems the population has gotten out of control despite the many gopher predators we have. The only thing I have not seen around is a gopher snake and oh how I want one to move in. That would take care of all them little rascals as well as the ones invading my neighbors properties too.
Gopherhawk brand spear traps?
@@lyndelgado6138 They avoided it. I had two of those.
@@lyndelgado6138 I have two of them and have had only limited results. They seem to figure them out and avoid them. At least in my garden.
I have been putting in a lot of native perennial flowering plant/bushes in a newly expanded pollinator garden. Will continue putting in pansies because pansies mean Christmas to me in SE TX, one of the extreme zone 9's. 😊 Putting in more perennial vegetables as well. Going to finally put a watering system in the veg garden this year. I have been using oyas. I leave for a while every summer and hate relying on my husband or the dog sitter to water things.
You will love the watering system and for me, the plants did so much better since they were getting more consistent water. Plus it freed me up so much for other things in the garden.
These are all good suggestions. Anything to simplify is always good. But I take exception to your suggesting a groundcover like Lamium. Lamium species are non-native and the time you might have saved will be consumed with containment. There are so many wonderful native alternatives that also support and host many species of solitary and specialist bees, butterflies and moths. Try some good 'ol violets (e.g. host for at least 2 dozen moths and butterflies including the beautiful fritillary butterflies), Dwarf Cinquefoil (host to several specialist bees and 14 native caterpillars), Pennsylvania sedge (host to various leafhoppers, satyr larvae etc.), or wild ginger (Asarum canadense) which is host for pipevine swallowtail butterfly... Non-native plants have at most a marginal usefulness for the critically needed native insects that support, well, everything.
For some laminium is more work but I have it in areas that are easy to contain and I do recommend each finding what works for them. I have the violets and they are much harder to contain than the lamium here and I keep those in a big container so they don't take over the flower beds. And the suggestion is good for natives but natives in your area may not be native to mine and then the point is moot. The Dwarf Chiquefoil is only native to the eastern coast and not here in the West. As I said, natives in one area are not to another and we will not have the insects it is supposed to support. I live in the forest and the native plants are all throughout it, my not having them in my small plot will not make a difference for those insects, now in an urban environment where they don't have food sources it might be a different story. Thank you for the recommendations.
Hey dear flower patch lady, pam,wonderful to see you, hearing the chickens also..pam so much really useful information, im very pleased, oh I was thinking have you had a little hair trim ect,its looking very lovely as usual pam,,always looks so healthy. 😊.your plants, the greenhouse is looking stunning with all the delightful plants. Xxso grateful 🙏 for you xx
Thank you. I needed that trim desperately. My greenhouse is coming along, still not done clearing it out but I can move about now. All in good time. My ladies got to roam the garden today, they were in bug eatin' heaven.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse😂
We have the spring weather where you never know when it will be spring. The temps seem to be even worse now with extremes and whiplash changes. I try many new varieties to see what thrives and usually find at least one winner and more duds that don’t thrive, take too long or just not worth the bloom.
I do till and cultivate the veg areas to control sheep and wood sorrels. No till didn’t work well here. The flower areas and around fruit I can’t till and sorrels take over. I don’t see any harm to the soil as I have mushrooms and worms. I have a couple of wonderful arborist that keep piles of wood-chips well stocked here and will use that for potting soil probably next year as it looks ready. Going into near future the less I have to buy the better. And fertilizer will be free from our latest crank composter. We catch the leachate with a tub underneath it. And correct that the Manthis tiller is a 🤬 to start-the carburetors are junk! And if they get started pulverize the soil into oblivion. Had one many years ago. We have a gas tiller and now a battery cultivator that is small to fit long rows to aerate and mix in leaves, ect. Love both and they aren’t super high speed. If I could find or ever get rid of sorrel and voles maybe I could do no till, but I didn’t till a small area this year and the carrots and tomatoes didn’t like it. Nematodes attacked some carrots and tilling helps get rid of them. Eventually I’m sure there will be a time I can’t till 😅.
Love verbascum and will be replacing hollyhocks because they rust. Irrigation a Big Yes! Still use pump and hose on water tanks. Love to plant close to help retain moisture and weed control-the sorrel doesn’t care🙄 and the roses want elbow room. In WI it’s very humid and yes, air flow is important.
Right now we are a frozen tundra. I told you about the bulb sale and was so lucky they arrived Wednesday and planted out Thursday just before the single digits with negative windchill arrived. There was a frozen crust already. Now I need to mulch and throw some burlap on a few things. Now to get that greenhouse floor done. We have it dug down just need supplies to finish.
Lol, I struggle with liking formal and cottage flower gardening. Because we have 7’ fencing restricting where I plant I’ve opted for cottage with a few plantings set formally to get the best of both worlds. As long as it grows and looks full I’m not fussing over it. I would love to have some hardscaping done, but the cost is crazy and probably would shoot our property taxes. So I’m happy to just have the flowers.
Yes, we need to do what works best for our circumstances. Trial and error will tell us that. Glad you were able to get those bulbs in in time.
Thank you I need to do this too
Sometimes we all have things to work on. I have a few more but didn't want this video to get too too long.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse well I enjoyed this video. I think most of my videos are too short
Hi Pam
I really enjoy your videos even though I live in zone 5A in western NE. I feel like we could be sisters because we have so much in common. I have a greenhouse that looks and contains the same things as yours, we both have ADHD and the same planters and plants and I think we are on the same timeliness with our gardening journeys. I have stopped doing what you have stopped and started doing what you have started completely by being experienced, i guess, or by chance, not being aware of each other. You live in the mountains, and I live in a valley or prairie, but we're doing pretty much the same thing at the same time with the same plants. This is my first winter with a greenhouse so I would love to learn more from you on that. The night temperatures are freezing but I have managed to keep the greenhouse in the high 30's and above at night and yesterday during the day it got over 100. Poor plants are having to cope with both extremes. Currently I have it so packed full of plants I can hardly get around. Our cold and snow hasn't showed up yet but it's coming. I might end up losing everything but it's an experiment. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
The USDA zones are so relative and don't carry a lot of weight for me. It only gives me one factor and that is will this plant live through winter (if perennial) in my garden. Most annuals etc the zone does not matter and many perennials will do just fine across the majority of the zones in the US. But as you said your garden conditions do vary quite a bit and are a larger factor. If I got more sunshine here (the tall evergreens block it this time of year) my greenhouse would heat up dramatically too during the day. Mine is usually well packed by May and I am looking to off load plants to make more room inside, thus the Bespoke Greenhouse my husband built me. I move plants to there once bigger. Keep EXPERIMENTING! That is how you will learn what works the best for you. 😀
Pam I have some creeping Jenny in a fairly small area, do you think this ground cover would choke out perennials? Also, could I pull it back and plant new plants in middle of it.
I have found creeping jenny easy to pull out of areas that I don't want it. So far it hasn't choked out the perennial plants but it does prevent seeds from germinating or a lot of weeds. If you live in an area that gets a lot of rain it can really become agressive but for me it has been easy enough to contain with a quick skimming across the soil with a shovel or pulling out by hand. Yes, you can pull it back or out in areas you wish to plant.
@ thanks so much. Love your channel
Most of the plants you are talking about require full sun. I have oak trees in my yard and very little full sun. I do grow low roses in the area that has the most sun, but it is not full sun. I would appreciate suggestions for partial sun plants and propagation. I'm in Texas 8a with very hot summers.
Working on it now.
Howdy I’m Mike zone 7b8a north Alabama outside Huntsville in the mountains I have a temper tantrum winter here sometimes you get all 4 seasons in a week lol but it hit 16 this morning Sunday will be 63 yay December but I enjoy your bodies very upfront and just do what u like and works for u I’m the same way I have chickens and turkeys and my yards fertal so things do well here I push limits trying to grow lilacs and more northern plants but push it with somewhat tropical things some work some don’t but I like to experiment ❤
Sounds like you have an interesting climate! I'm glad you enjoy the videos, it means a lot! Challenging conditions for sure, but having the chicken and turkey manure is the ticket, but then I am partial to that.
I appreciate you pointing out some 9 b never get hot. Over here in Arcata, CA it is frosty now at night but almost 60 in mid day and will be most of the winter. We have June-uary. And when it rarely hits 80 we complain about the heat....
Sounds like a lovely place to garden! When I lived by Linden, it was a gardening paradise and though we got hot summers, out in the orchards the delta breeze was a lifesaver. At night it would blow over the ground being irrigated and bring such cooling. Do you get much fog?
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse They trained pilots here during WWII to teach flying in fog. Humboldt Bay is shallow and it moderates the temperature with extensive mud flats. We also have Tule fog which is only a few feet high over pastures. We also have a week of almost 60 ahead to garden in the warmth.
My vegetable garden took too much of my time, so I’m not growing vegetables this year. Too much watering, fertilizing and the trouble with pests and heat.
I only do a few veggies but I hear you! I have so many friends that grow huge veggie gardens each year and give me so much produce I have no need to grow much. Lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers are the main ones I grow and that is because we eat so much salad. So far they haven't been too time consuming to grow.
🌸🌸🌸 so cute… the ending blooper
Thank you! I thought folks would get a kick out of that. Just keepin' it real.
What type of heater do you use in your green house? It looks to be attached to a propane bottle.
Yes, it is on top of a small propane tank and is called a tank top outdoor space heater. I only use it when working in my greenhouse and it is not on all the time. For the most part, my little greenhouse is unheated.
The blooper. 😂😂. I even thought the "I Quit using chemicals.........
in the garden" was funny. I don't have a new category but I Quit planting high maintenance plants. Being oldER I already began with perennials but with perennials it seems that they're short blooming and you get that "few weeks burst then nothing" thing so I cast cosmos/wildflower seeds. I guess a new category would be "I Quit mowing so often". And mowing less often with the grass shading itself better, I don't have to water it as often. Just a small say 25'x30' area that's surrounded by my shrubs and roses, no one really sees it anyway.
Yes, I didn't put in anything about mowing as I don't have any lawn but the microclover is filling in beautifully and last summer I only mowed it twice. I didn't really need to but the instructions say if you mow it a few times the leaves get smaller and more compact choking out any weeds that may try to come up in it. So far, I am loving it and will definitely be adding it to more paths.
@FlowerPatchFarmhouse
I also got to wondering if not mowing was the reason why my clover path against the fence (to access the irrigation trenches) got to 18". The other path wasn't AS bad but it wasn't micro either for probably not mowing often enough. Just keeping it mown seems to be the key.
AMEN!!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for the pointers. It is too easy to buy a few of these or those and then struggle to find an appropriate place. I want to enjoy looking, not snipping, weeding, mulching, and worrying.
I do have a question. I have seen lots of advice about pairing lavender with roses. I think the water and soil needs are too different. What do you pair with roses?
If you have well draining soil the lavender do pair well with roses, lavender won't mind the water if it drains away well. Plus once roses are well established they don't need as much water as most people think.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse Thanks for the tips.
1. Stop tilling! ✅
Glad you liked that one.
Hi Pam I notice you have very healthy plants in your greenhouse curious do you keep it heated? I have an art studio turning it into a garden shed here in NW Oregon and place a lot of my potted tenders tucked in there, but unheated. Everything always returns but pretty much sleep through the winters. We are in the low 30’s for about a week. I enjoy your garden talks, thank you!
No I don't heat it the majority of the time. I only warm it up if I am going to be working in there. The rest of the time it only gets heated by the sun and that is very limited in the depth of winter because of the tall evergreen we have surrounding our home.
Is your greenhouse heater on a timer when you're not in it?
@@carolhartley5982 No, my greenhouse is unheated when I am not working in it.
I did a lot of things right in my gardening journey because I didn’t have money or time. I did not use chemical fertilizers cause I couldn’t afford them. I let leaves gather in my beds and did not clean out. Who knew that was the very best thing I could do? I planted all my bushes close together in my front bed even though people said I shouldn’t and guess what? No weeds. No Bermuda grass. I put off creating new beds because I did not know what to do about removing the existing soil. Then five years ago I learned about no dig garden beds and that was a revelation. I have created four big beds with great success and will be doing more. I never sprayed for pests cause I could not afford and guess what? That was the right thing to do. I had white clover appear in my backyard grass area and I have let it spread. It takes about a fourth of the yard now and I am going to let it keep spreading. I planted ground covers in my new beds to cover the earth while I add bigger plants. I cannot afford to buy much but the ground cover keeps the weeds out as I add in bushes and perennials as I find them usually on sale. Love your channel. My next thing is I must set up an irrigation system. Got to do this year. I like hand watering but it’s taking me two hours a day in summer and I need to be doing other things. ❤🌱❤️🌱❤️🌱❤️
I'm so glad you discovered the power of letting nature do its thing in your garden. You are a natural! Sometimes being cash strapped can be an advantage. We don't need to be pouring garden center products on our gardens, or when transplanting flowers or veggies in our garden. All the marketing is drowning out the age-old wisdom we gained over the years learning how our grandparents gardened with little or no money. The irrigation system will be a huge help. You can still hand water, I do many of my containers when it is super hot as needed and that gives me time to really look at certain areas and see if anything needs attention, it can be very therapeutic.
Planning?? 😆 I plan but because I have to buy online, by the time the plants get here (say buying in Spring but they won't arrive til Fall), I look at my "plan" and say "What was I thinking?". Or like you say, when they arrive the tag will say something I didn't know that says where I wanted it isn't a good place for it. 🤪
😂😂I ordered bulbs and planted, then opened email to find they marked them down again and was lucky they arrived a day before we hit single digits. The top crust was already frozen. Nothing was planned ahead and I was tucking them in everywhere. 😂we will see what it looks like next spring. Lol, not planning can be a surprise also.
I hear you! When I order bareroot roses, unless it is a site that lets me choose shipping dates, I end up getting them in January as they will ship by zone. My zone 8 is buried in snow at that time or year but so many thing the USDA zones are all the same. So then I have to pot them up and keep them in my greenhouse for a bit.
For future reference plz publish the list in the beginning for those of us who play at 1.75 speed.
I am sorry, I don't know what you mean.
Not planting veggies that we don't really enjoy.
Good one! 😄
I stopped buying plants with complicated pruning requirements. Love them but it becomes a chore when it need special treatment.
Yes, that is an excellent one. Though I treat my roses like any other shrub and just whack them as needed. I don't know if you had roses in mind but that is what popped up in my head when you said that, in fact, I did a video of how to prune a rose in 5 minutes or less. But sometimes I just go in with hedge trimmers and chop back.
I've given up on dandelions, meaning I gave in and had the lawn sprayed for the masses of dandelions, my large acreage lawn was a pure carpet of yellow, some might think this is wonderful, but it required constant mowing to keep those dandelions from seeding out and seed out they did getting into the crowns of all perennials and shrubs, the strawberry patch was a nightmare, same with the raspberries, yes I use mulch, but dandelion seeds get into every nook and cranny and any bare ground literally had hundreds of dandelions per square yard! Now, after the spraying, I might have a few dozen dandelions to dig the entire year, sure has massively cut down my weeding chores! As well I do use more mulching, I have some dirt walkways that always become weedy, I apply dry grass clippings twice a season and this not only eliminates weeds, but as well stops erosion as some walkways are on a slope. I now have more time and energy to enjoy the gardens! Ohh, I'm only in zone 3, though can grow hybrid tea and floribunda roses, these are planted deeply and mulched heavily prior to winter, when spring finally arrives and they begin to grow, we then tend not to have many frosts.
I tend to harvest my dandelions for my chickens, they love to eat them but I do not have a lawn so I haven't had a big problem with them, thankfully. I am always happy to see them and let them get big and juicy. You would hate me as a neighbor! Glad you have gotten them manageable. Yes, the late freezes is what zaps the Hybrid Tea roses here, and how cold the nights stay through early summer. I grew them when I lived in the valley and they did fantastic. Yes, making our gardens more carefree is key to enjoying them.
I was hoping there would be time stamps so I could get to the ten things and see what they are. I don’t want to hear all the fluff.
So sorry, I do what I have time for, like you, my time is precious. I also did a blog post about it and you can skim that here: www.flowerpatchfarmhouse.com/10-things-i-quit-to-make-gardening-easier/
ميبىة مزفقةحفظك الته ورعاك 💚💚💚💚💚🩷🩷🩷☕️☕️☕️☕️👍🏼👍🏼🌹🌹🌹
Thank you!
Your advise is more of do this, do that and less of what you QUIT DOING! I got very bored with your side talks. So sorry. I guess i am presse😅d for time.
No worries, when I do shorter videos I get so many complaints they are not long enough but I know I can't please everyone and stopped trying a long time ago. I am too old to worry about stuff like that. I make what I enjoy making and don't worry too much about anything else. I figure those that want to watch will and those that get bored will click away when they have had enough. So we are all good.
Pam, this video is way too lengthy.
Sorry you feel that way but noted. Some videos are longer than others.
You don't have to watch it, you know 🤦♀️
Personally I appreciate the detail and if I didn’t have time to watch I’d listen to part and go back. Bullet points, skimming the top don’t have the same value to me. I’m a gardener and am truly interested in the details.