6 Tips for Easier Gardening This Season

1. Repurpose an old cushion for a garden seat –Winning Tip

Garden kneeler are a requisite as you age , not a luxury . One day when I was getting ready to throw out some perfectly effectual but washed-out chair cushions , I imagine , “ Why not use these for gardening ? ” So I slipped one into a heavy - tariff garbage pocketbook , tied the drawstring , and had a “ cushier ” cushion than conventional kneelers provide . It also gave me a bigger target to baby-sit on . Gardeners are often on a pixilated lawn or a red-hot surface reaching into a seam , and sitting is a squeamish alternative to kneel . And when the cover gets too gross , I simply exchange it with a new refuse bag .

— Tony Fulmer , Deerfield , Illinois

2. Garden pests may be doing you a favor

I used to be very pissed off with a brace of nesting bozo that come each spring to my 1000 , until I notice that the protective parents keep the woodchuck away from my garden . Now I jubilantly clean up their muck , which I throw in my garden as fertiliser , and I say “ Welcome ” to my feather friends .

— Mary Crum , Holland , Pennsylvania

3. Easily pick up trash when you come across it in the garden

When doing unmated jobs around the garden , I invariably find fleck of folderol , such as shredded charge plate in the commercial-grade compost , wrappers dropped by crows , and cigarette butts pitch by driver . Such trash does n’t belong in the compost bucket I conduct . I do n’t want it in my pockets , and the little pieces are hardly worth a special slip to the garbage can , so I keep an old credit card slide fastener pocketbook clipped to the bucketful I carry around the garden . The bag is always handy , and even if I dump the pail , the handbag stays shut .

— Julie Scandora , Seattle

4. Don’t break your back, repurpose a wagon for your garden tools

When I was walking yesterday , I remark that my neighbor was using a child ’s plastic wagon as a garden - tool tea caddy . This struck me as a heavy way to repurpose an item that many parent no longer need after their tiddler have grown up .

— Dave Barrett , Waterbury , Connecticut

5. A serrated knife can save time and effort

I keep a large serrate knife at my potting mesa for dividing plants and opening bags of grease , but I have receive other marvellous USA for it as well . For example , I just finished cutting down five huge outdoorAspidistrawith the knife , and it was so much quicker and easier than using pruning hook . Even better , I have a orotund and varied collection ofLiriopethat need to be tailor back every year , and I have also been doing that with pruners . That task took lots of time and energy and was hard on the back . This year I used the serrated knife and take care of a clump in almost one swipe ! My serrated knife is now one of my top five tools .

— Kathy Cuming , Batesburg , South Carolina

6. Painted chicken wire keeps critters away without creating unseen obstacles

I garden in the country and have many hungry critters to deal with . To protect the plants they wish , I put up low poulet - telegram cages , but they are hard to see when things are arise up , and I have stumble over them a number of times . To keep this , I now spray - paint several inches of the chicken wire at the top with a promising color that stands out . I no longer have trouble visualise the cage , and when the foliage gets large enough it covers the sprayed portion . By then , it also seems that the critters are n’t as eager to eat the plants , and I can take the fences down and reuse them next year .

— Elaine Burma , Tea , South Dakota

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