Vegetable garden for lazy advice. A garden for the lazy and smart: how to make comfortable and productive beds

29.08.2019

My husband's and my garden is an hour's drive from the city, so we only go there on weekends, and then not always. Naturally, almost all the beds and passages were weedy, the plants often suffered from underwatering. Thus, on weekends, we only worked and worked without straightening our backs. But you want to relax, sunbathe, sleep during the day.

This year we decided to redo the entire property to require less work, giving us the opportunity to lounge on a hammock in the sun and barbecue. We managed to create a smart garden, but bringing a good harvest! In this article, I will tell you how to make the garden lazy so that it gives the maximum yield with minimal labor.

Of course, you want to decorate your garden plot as in beautiful pictures in glossy magazines, but you should remember that not all plants can take root in your climate.

For example, far from all heat-loving shrubs withstand the Russian frost, some of them have to be additionally insulated and fed. And this is very problematic for lazy gardeners.

Therefore, it will be much easier to plant analogues of southern plants that will easily take root in this region. For example, instead of a beautiful, but difficult to care for boxwood, you can plant an unpretentious and attractive brilliant cotoneaster.

The rose will completely replace the rhododendron, and in some ways even surpass it. Plants should have high resistance to diseases and pests. To do this, they acquire seeds and seedlings created specifically for this climate.

Usually lazy gardeners choose: lilac, irgu, mountain ash, honeysuckle, hops, lavender, coniferous trees. These perennial plants are not only maintenance-free, but also beautifully decorate the garden.

Before you start planting them, you need to study the composition of the earth, since even the most resistant plants will get sick, will not be able to take root in soil poor in minerals, or even completely infected with bacteria. And then all your landing work will be in vain.

If you find an anthill, aphids, spider mites, then they must be destroyed immediately, so that later you do not have to treat almost all the greenery on the site. It will not be superfluous to visually inspect neighboring areas, otherwise some insects may move to you.

To fence off your garden from them, you can plant some insect-repelling plants around the entire perimeter, such as calendula.

beds

This is the second headache lazy gardeners after weeds. How long does it take in the spring to dig up the entire site, re-form the beds! In addition, traditional beds are very low, wide, and after working on them, the back often aches.

To avoid all of the above, from the very beginning, you should make high beds of a convenient width.

Its most ideal width is a meter, and the height should depend on your height, you can make any length, depending on your desire and free space. It is pleasant to work on such a bed, the hands do not fall off to reach for the middle, and the back does not get tired after a long weeding.

Before direct work, they decide which vegetables and flowers will grow, calculate the number of beds, and distribute them in the summer cottage. Only after that they begin to work on the manufacture of boxes.

The first part of the work is very important, as these beds are usually made for years, because this is the laborious part of the work.

The beds themselves can be of any shape: round, square, rectangular, triangular. It all depends on your desires and fantasies. It will also be good to lean a large metal mesh against the house on the sunny side, on which climbing plants will grow beautifully wriggling.

Some gardeners, in order not to tie up the tomatoes every time, plant them near the net, which is placed at a certain slope, so that the tomatoes do not break under their weight as they grow and bear fruit.

First, boxes are made of boards of sufficient thickness so that they do not bend under the weight of the earth. The ideal thickness of a piece of wood is from 3 cm. If the site is full of weeds, nettles and other evil spirits that could not be got rid of even with the help of chemicals, then a black non-woven fabric is laid on the bottom and sides of the box in two layers.

This material will not allow any weed to break through to the top. Then the entire bottom of the box is covered with drainage, then it is filled to the top with black soil, which is better to purchase in advance, since it is very rich in minerals.

If your composition of the earth is fertile, then for the best effect it can be mixed with peat. Then you will have a beautiful fertile land that is easy to care for. And the nightmare of weeds will be a thing of the past.

Of course, every spring the soil will need to be dug up, periodically fertilized, but at high altitudes this is much easier and faster to do. If the land is fine, then ordinary loosening will be enough.

For the winter it is desirable to cover all this plastic wrap so that in April they are ready for planting early greens.

Mulching

This is a real salvation for lazy gardeners. Thanks to them, the culture grows better, weeds cannot break through, the fruits grow healthy and tasty. Mulch can be any material from straw to covering material.

For example, for strawberries, strawberries, black covering material is ideal, which rids the berry of all weeds, protects against insects, and unwanted mustaches do not have time to take root. And the berries grow beautiful and clean, do not rot.

In addition, this material passes the necessary fertilizers, water well, protects the soil from drying out. Very convenient for those gardeners who can only go to the country once a week. Covering material is best placed in two layers at once, as there are stubborn weeds that break through one layer.

Shrubs and trees can also be mulched with the same covering material, but cardboard is also added there. First, a black covering material is laid out around the trunk, thick cardboard is placed on top in two layers. After that, it's all watered so that the paper softens.

Then straw or sawdust is poured on top. Then weeds under shrubs and trees will not bother you, and the soil will always be moist and loose. You need to water directly under the bush. In any case, the plant will receive liquid.

Passages and paths are sprinkled with a thick layer of sawdust so that ubiquitous weeds do not grow through them. Sawdust can be replaced with a thick layer of straw. True, in this case there is a risk of a new weed. If finances allow, then all the passages are covered with paving slabs.

You just need to remember that all covering material must be removed for the winter, since mice and other pests can winter under it. Straw and sawdust can be left, as they, when rotting, turn into a good fertilizer.

Water supply

This is also an important part of the lazy garden. Without a well-thought-out water supply in the hot season, all the greenery will dry out very quickly. If there is finance, then you can stretch hoses through the entire garden and organize automatic drip irrigation. This pleasure will cost a pretty penny.

For those who want to save money, there is another way. At the corner, preferably in the shade, a huge barrel of 200 liters is placed on a small pedestal. Hoses are drawn from it throughout the site, finely perforated in the right places, which will work on the principle of drip irrigation.

It will only be necessary to replenish the barrel in time and at first monitor whether the plants receive enough moisture, after which it is possible to adjust the release of the required amount of water.

There are summer cottages where water is supplied through pipes around the clock, and not on certain days of the week. In this case, you can do without a barrel by connecting the hoses directly to the tap, which is then left on. In this case, it is better to make a faucet with pressure regulation. For the winter, this tap is completely turned off, and a hose is pulled out of the barrel.

Gardening Tools

The saying “the miser pays twice” applies here, so you should not save on garden tools so as not to get injured and not throw out broken tools after the first job. Before buying, they are held in their hands for some time, wondering if it’s comfortable, doesn’t press, and doesn’t rub where.

The more convenient and better tool the more pleasant they are to work with. It’s better not to take frankly flimsy plastic at all - there is a high risk of injury with them or getting sprained limbs. The same applies to insufficiently sharp tools like secateurs, spades.

The number of tools is thought out in advance so that unnecessary ones do not interfere, taking up space in a house or barn. It would be ideal if there is a corner in the house specially created for storing tools. Then you will not stumble about the lying tools, this is especially true about the rake.

Experienced gardeners choose tools of bright colors so that it is immediately found in dense greenery. Of course, the tool should not be green, otherwise it will take a long time to look for it and almost to the touch.

Rest

In a lazy garden, there must be a rest area that can be planted lawn grass. To create shade, you can plant tall trees, and between them stretch a hammock for relaxation. Place a barbecue grill in the corner. Above it should be a good canopy so that even in the rain you can enjoy delicious kebabs.

It would be ideal if there is a small gazebo in this corner for a pleasant pastime with family and friends. To create this cozy corner, show all your imagination and dreams, because for the sake of relaxing in it you will come to the garden.

Folk wisdom says: Never be afraid to do what you can't do"- it's about me, or: " Life is study, while I study, I live"- it's also about me.
I, a girl of the “third” age (far over 70), “a simple Russian woman” (according to Vera Maretskaya).

Behind a difficult life path

55 years of work experience, including 20 years as the head and organizer of the audit business in the market;
For 40 years I have been seriously engaged in herbal medicine, for 40 years I have been pouring ice water, 40 years do not take a single pill, ignoring pharmacies and hospitals;
40 years of "charming in every way" loneliness;
For 40 years I myself have been insisting on balms on herbs and roots and taking them daily at 30-35 mg (according to the installation of the respected Evgeny Chazov, a cardiologist of all times and peoples). I don’t drink, but I “treat” only not with a pill, but with a glass of wine;
For a number of years I have been engaged in healthy and proper nutrition;
I raised 2 “golden” children alone and I think: (to give birth, feed and teach them is a monkey’s work), but to give a profession, a home and a home is a human work, which I did with honor.

And what's ahead?

Yes, the most “interesting in quotation marks” is ahead life path- I want and do not work, I want - I lie down, I want - I drink (and only balms), I want - I eat (and only healthy food). I want solid, but I want more and I can.

As the great Mikhail Tanich said:

At the age of 50, I WANT a lot, CAN do a lot, and everything IS SUCCESSFUL;
At the age of 60 - I WANT a lot, while I CAN, but I DO it a little;
At the age of 70, you still WISH, you CAN a little, and for now you DO IT a little;
At the age of 80, you DON'T WANT anything, you CANNOT do anything, and you DON'T GET ANYTHING.

The last line is mine, but I refute it every day with my attitude to life (and I would like it to be longer).

In Siberia, thousands of hectares of land were ruined after the invasion of Chinese vegetable growers: their products are toxic - they do not eat their own products, but poison us.

When checking purchased products (both in shops and on the market) with an ecotester - the result in 90 cases out of 100 is “life-threatening”.

And you have to be in your own country and Agafya Lykova, and Asya Byakina, and Vasya Bukin, and grandmother Ezhka: i.e. fight this evil on your own, looking for eco-products and sprouts in health food stores.

For this reason, I have been involved in “live food” for seven years now. I don’t buy or eat vegetables or fruits, and now the time has come to take up the “living land” - I want to eat only my (environmentally friendly) crop products, but I don’t want to work as a slave-isaura on my Land.

Having studied the materials on the “living earth” on the Internet, namely the authoritative sources of information on Natural Farming, I seriously engaged in, or rather made friends with, Earthwork on a natural principle.

Scientific works of authoritative sources - scientists organists: K.A. Timiryazev, I.E. Ovsinsky, N.I. Kurdyumov, Yu.I. Slashchinin, Z. Holzer, B.A. M. Zhirmunskaya, D.V. Ivantsov, A.M. Iskimzhi, D. Mittlider, T.Yu. Ugarova, A. Kuznetsov, V.V. .

And video films of scientists-biologists - L.N. Klimtseva (north-western region), N. Petrova and I. Khannanov (Ufa, club of organic farming), Yu.I. Slashchinin (community "people's experience") I.P. .Zamiatkina (Shushenskoye village, Krasnoyarsk Territory), and others armed my little head with EarthMaking.

Not guided by the principle “One grandmother said” and chatter in various forums (and even with a lot of spelling and stylistic errors), I adhere to the words of the great K.A. Timiryazev:

“Science, theory cannot, must not provide ready-made recipes. The ability to choose the proper technique for your case always remains a matter of personal resourcefulness, personal art.

And by applying natural Agriculture, I increased the Fertility of the soil (if earlier the harvest was calculated in buckets and with slave labor, now it is calculated in bags).

And if "Love yourself in the garden and he will love you - this is the method of" doing nothing "(according to B.A. Bublik), then I called my method "Fool-Felting".

As a result of 4-5 hours of DAILY tedious work, I replaced it with 4-5 hours of WEEKLY "Fool-Felting" and this is not beautiful words, but really walked yourself "beloved" to the site for a period of scrolling one music disc of your favorite performers (1.5-2 hours a day).

Of course, there are also emergency tasks (urgent matters - somehow: a sowing company; planting seedlings; once every three weeks when the boys mow the lawns - know, turn around with unfolding up to 40 grass cutting carts), in this case my body rebels and the next day I honestly at myself - I take a day off.

I go out to the land only in the morning after an icy shower and the first breakfast (a cup of coffee and oatmeal), but only before the second breakfast (and at 11 o’clock after taking “on the chest”, I mean daily 30 mg of Chazovsky, and a cup of hot chocolate) - thank you, not a "foot" in the garden.

I also have a lot of other things to do: reading books, and movies on TV; and classes in macrame, and beading, and soap making, and in the manufacture of phyto-creams; and online classes on natural farming, and of course photo shoots of my plant friends; and of course, the agrarian office: keeping journals, folders, files, diaries, reports on natural agriculture, and drawing up immediate plans for agricultural work; and email correspondence. mail, and diving into a font with ice water (several times a day), and bath procedures, and harvesting herbs, ah, ah, ah ...

My slogans!

"To live to ... years, but to die healthy."(this is my personal)

"Hard, long work on fresh air brutes and beasts a man.(M. Uspensky)

"If your hands itch— smear them with cream and the garden will thank you for harmful work.(B.A. Bublik)

"Nature is ruled by those who follow its rules."(R. Bacon)

My creed!

I don’t want to work hard and tear myself up with Earth-Making, like all the villagers; I don’t want to and I won’t; and I want and will receive environmentally friendly products, but with small labor costs. That is, my physical efforts in the summer on the ground should be adequate to the efforts on home fitness equipment in the city in winter.

1. My smart beds
(according to Mittlider, Kurdyumov and Bublik)

I have too much land, the site is under the light of the sun throughout the day with a slight slope to the south - this is what is needed for the beds.

The beds are stationary 60 cm wide, the paths are also 60 cm and 9 m long. The beds are planned once and for all. Part of it is fenced with boards, and the rest with a curb tape 20 cm wide, 2 mm thick.

“No human foot should ever set foot on the beds, only hands.(N.I. Kurdyumov).

The first time, of course, they were processed by a walk-behind tractor. I laid the tracks with cardboard or paper in many layers (the decommissioned tax legislation for the period of twenty years of auditing business came in handy), on top of the sawdust (one call to the sawmill is enough and a full openwork in the amount of 80-100 bags). This is a considerable, but not hard work (I managed it alone within one month): this work is designed only once and for more than a dozen years - it pays off with labor costs in the first year. There are no weeds in the aisles, moisture is retained, it is pleasant to the eye and no less pleasant to walk or roll a cart along them.

In the first year of my Zemdeliya, I prepared compost in boxes - this is a very laborious task, now I have compost beds (according to N.I. Kurdyumov). The beds are not dug: the structure created by the roots and numerous worms is preserved.

"Both tops and roots should remain where they grew."(B.A. Bublik).

After harvesting, I leave all the tops (carrots, beets, cabbage) on the beds, and the rest, where there is no tops (for example, onions), I sow green manure on the same day, which I leave before winter.

"Don't uproot anything - don't disturb the soil."(N.I. Kurdyumov)

This applies, for example, to cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, i.e. where there are fibrous roots - I just cut them in the fall just above ground level. And in the spring, I rake up the half-decayed remains of the roots and large non-decayed stems and plant remains from the beds and throw them into the aisles of raspberries - let them be finalized.

After sowing, when the plants rise, (namely, the carrot reaches the size of a child's finger, and the beetroot walnut) I fill up the beds repeatedly with fresh chopped mulch 3-5 cm high.

I don't follow crop rotation.

I have a change of green manure in the beds (bed rotation) (according to N.I. Kurdyumov and I.P. Zamyatkin) and the use of mixed plantings (according to N.M. Zhirmunskaya). This eliminates the possibility of soil fatigue, the accumulation of diseases and the plants are healthy. It is possible to grow the same vegetables in a permanent place without fear of "fatigue" of the earth, since the soil updated annually due to the large presence of mulch.

I don't follow the lunar calendar either.

“There is no need to listen to the lunar calendar - it turns out that the sowing dates do not coincide with the harvesting dates, i.e. it confuses a person” (B.A. Bublik), which is also confirmed by Z. Holzer: “He allegedly looks at him, but does not adhere to it.”

I also do not worry about the acid-base balance of the soil, sideraty regulate it themselves. At first the soil was acidic, but now the acidity is normal.

After rereading their scientific papers, watching a lot of video materials, I believed in this logic and tested these postulates for a number of years: non-use of crop rotation and lunar calendar, the lack of control over the acidity of the soil did not let me down.

My smart beds: on foreground winter garlic- I “teared” the phacelia out of it for tomatoes, while there is not enough organic matter; further onion sets, perennial onions, carrots and beets (until they have risen in time), various cabbages ...

I have a number of such 9-meter beds - 22 pieces (over the entire width of the plot of 40 meters from fence to fence: I liked having a full row of even beds - and it's nice for the eye). Yes, 2 more containers with biofuel for pumpkins and zucchini; and even a warm bed for corn, melons and watermelons; Yes, even medicinal beds. It seems to be a lot, but I'm a “fake” gardener and play it safe, and I have to take into account the anomalous conditions of Siberia (especially the last two years), and I also grow four houses.

And there are not enough beds: for spring garlic, for summer crops of green crops, adoring root celery and leeks - I would like to have more of them.

Before organic farming, my daughter and I could barely manage our vegetable plot, although it was smaller; and the boys were digging. And now I do not allow anyone to the vegetable allotment - I can easily handle it myself.

2. My "walking and lazy" warm beds
(almost according to Kurdyumov)

I can’t do them in the fall, as many people advise on the Internet: harvesting a large crop (I don’t let anyone in), sorting and processing substandard products through an electric dryer (although children are involved in conservation). And sowing green manure in beds and greenhouses before winter, and sowing winter crops, and preparing strawberries and garlic for winter, and washing and processing greenhouses.

It turns out only in the spring, because. there is nothing to do on the beds in our zone in the spring, for April-May, anyway, planting green manure and vegetables in open ground no - cold. The sacred thing is cleaning the garden and lawns, pruning raspberries and other shrubs - these plant residues must be distributed somewhere wisely. And so I annually determine them in a strict order of priority, but I sorely lack them - at least go with an "outstretched hand."

Annual lawn cleaning of the garden area is inevitable, I do it only myself - and this makes me sincerely happy, because when cleaning the garden I get four-in-one: organic matter for the next warm bed for melons (watermelons and melons), a clean garden area plot, the annual future humus from last year's similar bed, and, finally, the greatest satisfaction.

The bed is really lazy: without knocking down the box and not even digging.

Namely:

- (I have plenty of free space, I do it on a 3-meter roadside near the fence, again “facing” to the south, I take out another plant debris (I don’t know about anyone, but I have it in the garden and on lawns annually up to 30-40 carts);

- to the bottom missed h / o branch chopper from pruning; food waste for the winter, and on them the cart to the organic cart. It turns out a sort of bed of delicious plant debris up to 150 cm wide, 50-70 cm high, and the length is regulated by the presence of organic matter - 5-7 meters; from above, the boys are a little powdered with earth. I shed abundantly with an EM lobe and cover it with a black film for a month and a half, i.e. before planting seedlings of melons and watermelons. My seedlings are waiting in the wings flower pots with a capacity of 1 l.

- in early June, I remove the black film, select the holes of already half-rotted organic matter, put a bucket of humus into them from a similar last year's bed, cover the district and the bed with cardboard, and cover it with film and black Agrotex-60.

- in this beauty, I feel the holes with the earth and make cross-shaped incisions, pour abundantly and transfer the seedlings from flower pots she didn't even feel the move;

- I put 5-liter mini-bottles; after a couple of weeks I take off the bottles, fall asleep up to my very “ears” (while bending the corners of Agorotex) with dried and dried mulch with an EM-point, and you won’t believe it - I almost forget them before harvesting: only shaping.

I learned how to form these delicacies from "wonderful organists" (from N. Petrova and I. Khannanov, Organic Farming Club, Ufa and watching their wonderful videos).

It turns out easy and great: all the organic matter laid in such a bed is processed by microorganisms over the summer, gives the plants the necessary heat and carbon dioxide, which forms the basis of plant nutrition. When everything is fermented, the earth will become more fertile and healthy, and the next year the humus bed is ready, and again in the spring I lay a new warm bed in another place.

In autumn I take off the film and Agrotex, rinse and dry, enough for several years. No weeds for you, no watering for you, no heating for you - it turns out indescribable beauty, melon spreads over the clean surface of Agrotex.

3. My Walking Compost Heaps
(almost according to Kurdyumov)

"Without organic good garden will not work"(N.I. Kurdyumov)

Previously, I composted weeds, grass clippings, leaf litter and other organic matter, for which men knocked down boxes on the roadsides, but this is too laborious and I refused them.

Now I have compost beds (according to N.I. Kurdyumov), which I constantly cover with chopped organic mulch and “walk” compost heaps(which are replenished annually due to weeds, accumulated food waste).

Choosing a free place near the fence, I put there weeded weeds all summer long, tops from vegetables pulled out to the table, non-marketable zucchini or cucumbers, food waste (alternating nitrogenous and carbonaceous layers, 50-70 cm high), when adding, I periodically spill it with an EM lobe, and black film on top. For a year this organic "works", and in next year I use this compost and start a new pile.

4. My watering, that is, the lack of it

“Rejection of wasted labor in the garden: watering is not needed and harmful to the garden. Watering is only needed:

for example, when planting garlic it is necessary in the mud;
when sowing seeds of green manure and vegetables for their rapid germination;
when planting seedlings for its rapid survival;
when pouring tomatoes;
when pouring heads of cabbage.

Those. watering is needed during the formation of ovaries and the filling of fruits ”(B.A. Bublik).

And this is true - I have been convinced of this for a number of years: the presence of mulch provides constant "dry" watering (put your hand under the mulch - there are sheer miracles: wet, loose, warm). Yes, I spend one watering per month, or rather, top dressing with bioinfusions.

Emma Romanovna Zorina, Krasnoyarsk

Continuation - .

In our modern fast-paced world, not everyone can find enough time to carefully care for the garden and garden in the country.But everyone wants to spend the weekend at their dacha, in the circle of seven and friends, to take a break from city worries, to be, perhaps, alone. In such a situation, you need to make your summer cottage unusual and at the same time attractive without spending a lot of time on it - let's do it. The advantage of such a garden for the lazy is that it does not take much time and effort to arrange and maintain it.

lazy garden layout

Before planning a garden for the lazy, let's choose a style that doesn't take long to decorate.A garden and a kitchen garden in the Italian and Dutch styles require a lot of effort and time.

Garden-modern and also require quite a lot of effort. We need to get as close to nature as possible, so we will arrange a garden and a vegetable garden for the lazy in a majestic landscape style or country style. Such styles suggest the presence in the garden and vegetable garden of plants that are as close as possible and characteristic of the local flora, growing independently and not requiring special care. It should not grow here, which need to be cut periodically, carpet flower beds, and flower beds that need to be watered often.

Lazy combined garden (video):

Plants such as rhododendron, mock orange, hydrangeas, which do not require a haircut and grow on their own, are suitable as living natural hedges.

Rules for a lazy garden

O give preference to large forms and perennials. , lilac, mountain ash, shadberry - these are examples of plants that require little to no care. This also includes coniferous trees. From the flowers, choose those that can grow in one place for years without requiring transplantation and seating.
AT Select local crops for planting. In order not to dig up or cover heat-loving sissies for the winter, so as not to be afraid of frost and winds, it is best to use those plants that are familiar to your area - endemic. And even if you get something exotic, it is not a fact that the same thing will grow in your climate zone as in its homeland. All this extra costs forces and means, and in beautiful and amazing plants exists in any area.
G Amazon is not for the lazy. Therefore, instead of lawn grass, which needs to be cut regularly, use low or creeping plants. Sedum, saxifrage, purslane, various types of stonecrops are real finds for this purpose. Interesting lawn from.
P roar the pots! Plants in boxes, containers, pots require careful care - in a small amount of soil, you need to constantly maintain the required level of moisture and nutrients. Do you need it?
With ornyaks fight! In order not to weed over and over again, free spaces (covered with straw, sawdust) can be sprinkled with gravel, pebbles, crumbs. In no case do not remove the weeded grass from the garden: spread out in an even layer, it will not allow new weeds to rise, and when it dries and completely decomposes, it will fertilize the earth.
P pour it right! In general, you need to water abundantly and not often - depending on the needs of various plants, of course. Today there are many various systems watering (drainage, drip), alternative running around with a watering can or pulling a hose. If all this is well thought out and prepared, you can save a lot of time.
P take care of the instrument! Gardening and created to facilitate human labor. May you have the whole complex necessary tools plus useful units for plowing, mowing and other work. Watering cans, buckets, small inventory, choose bright colors so that in case of loss it is easy to find on the site. And of course, equip a place for convenient storage all this.
P involve your loved ones, children in the work on the site - joint work brings together, and shared duties allow you to turn the most difficult things into a common joyful event!

lazy lawn

For lawns, you can use meadow clover, which does not require any care at all and looks beautiful, and among it are yarrow, flaxseed, field carnation, adonis, peonies and other field perennials. Such a lawn will look very attractive and decorative, and unlike a traditional garden lawn, it never needs to be mowed.

In the garden for the lazy, shrubs and trees are more suitable, which tolerate frosty winters well and do not require shelter.

In addition, you need to choose varieties that do not grow and do not require regular pruning. In order for shrubs and trees to look attractive both in summer and in winter, you need to choose those that retain foliage for the winter quite well. long time. These are rowan, euonymus, heather, cotoneaster, barberry and some other species. You can also plant evergreens and conifers, such as pine, spruce, fir, thuja, juniper, cypress.

If you decide to equip a garden for the lazy, then the gazebos should be located, taking into account the terrain and the areas around them should be paved with large cobblestones, gravel, pebbles or sand. Such a site will greatly decorate vertical gardening. Once and for a long time, build and plant around perennial climbing plants that do not require care, such as honeysuckle, hops, wild grapes, lemongrass.

Beds with minimal labor

Often a garden and a garden for the lazy are presented as a single whole. Therefore, the beds should be located in such places that they are not obscured by trees and shrubs. The layout will depend on the terrain. So in the lowlands you can plant vegetables that do not require a lot of sun - cabbage, beets, radishes. And in elevated areas, closer to the light - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers.

You can plant vegetables on bordered beds various shapes and scatter them in islands across the meadow lawn.

The width of such beds is not more than a meter, but you can choose a round shape, oval. It will be beautiful and convenient to handle. In the center of such beds, you can plant weaving vegetables such as cucumber, pumpkins in a pyramid. To do this, put a support in the center, preferably metal in the form of an arc or lattice.

Lazy watering system

Pretty tedious work, so the garden for the lazy should include and. The wick system can serve as such an example. A bucket is buried in the center of the round bed and filled with water. Wicks from cloth strips are lowered into the bucket, you can weave them into pigtails. One end is lowered into a bucket, and the other into a bed and sprinkled with earth. The bucket is covered with a lid, and the plants receive the necessary moisture through the wicks. For especially lazy summer residents, such wick watering also a burden, because, from time to time, buckets must be filled with water.

Can be done. Such irrigation systems are sold in stores, but you can get by with an ordinary hose, piercing it in the right places with an awl. The hose must be dug into the ground by 10 cm, branched into tees in different directions to the beds and connected to the water supply system. Open the faucet quite a bit, and while the water comes to the right place, it will have time to warm up. Such watering will not bother you at all, and, having arrived at the dacha, you just need to slightly open the tap and forget about its existence for the rest. True, such an irrigation system requires the presence of a permanent water supply system.

Video tutorial: How to get a big harvest with a minimum of effort

Many of their novice summer residents are sure that they will rest on the garden plot, and the work of planting and caring for vegetables, trees and strawberries will not be burdensome and will only bring pleasure. Only after a while it becomes clear how much effort is required to invest in the development process suburban area, into learning the secrets of planting vegetables and gardening. Meanwhile, there is good way make your work easier. This method is called the "lazy garden", having mastered which you can think about rest.

Lazy garden - a smart garden, it allows you to make work easier and increase yields

What does "lazy garden" mean?

It has long been noticed that lazy people are often the engines of progress. smart garden also invented by lazy people. As planned, lazy beds do not need to be dug up, then weeded, watered and fed too often. Over time, the plants will be even more "independent", there will be less work with them, and the yield will increase. How to achieve such incredible results, we will tell below.

Differences from traditional beds

In order for the beds to "smart" and begin to bring a good harvest without much difficulty, they should be properly organized. We need to understand what methods of processing and feeding plants do not suit us. One of the methods to facilitate the care of plantings will serve. We also want to drop:

digging the earth;
loosening the soil after rain;
weeding;
too frequent watering;
use of poisons.

So maybe? It is quite possible if you fulfill some requirements. The lazy garden suggests:

mulching;
re-sowing in one area;
complex landings;
the use of green manure;
reduction in the amount of land under cultivation.

Joint plantings horticultural crops for everyone's benefit

Choice of crops to grow

First of all, you need to decide what you will grow on your site. We offer a sober assessment of their own strengths. A large number of vegetables often remain in the ground, or are thrown out of the cellar in the spring. It's best to focus on the few crops that you most enjoy, get the right amount, and grow them as efficiently as possible.

In a lazy garden, it is easiest to grow plants that give quick shoots: beans, zucchini, potatoes, pumpkins, corn, cucumbers. Immediately after the first weeding between the rows of vegetables, you need to fill up a solid layer of mulch. In this quality, hay, autumn foliage, grass, needles, bark, wood chips are suitable. Mulch retains maximum moisture under a thick layer, does not allow weeds to multiply, and prevents the formation of a dried crust on the soil.

In the same way, vegetables planted in the form of seedlings grow well. These are peppers, tomatoes, cabbage - all those that are usually planted in early spring. Greens and plants with small seeds also feel good on prepared beds. Before planting them, green manure should be planted - plants designed to prepare the ground for useful crops. We suggest using oats for this purpose. This crop loosens the soil, in addition, it will provide greenery for mulching. Vegetables planted after oats take root well and grow quickly. Due to the layer of mulch, planted crops do not require frequent watering, they do not need weeding and loosening.

Mulching prevents the soil from drying out and protects against weeds

Garden organization rules

The beds for the lazy from the side bear little resemblance to traditional planting - you can see the differences in the photo. On ordinary beds, vegetables are planted in rows, and the aisles are densely trampled down over time. Look closely and you will see that in a traditional garden, only a third of the area is used for plants. It is necessary to stop the practice of wasting energy and switch to the use of beds that are constantly placed in one place. Our landing should be of such a size that it is possible to reach the center of the site, being from its edge. That is, you do not need to walk between the rows. In addition, the following conditions must be adhered to:

Raised beds are the key to success

It is better to grow salads, as well as vegetables, using a raised bed. Crops that require frequent attention are much more convenient to serve on such beds. High beds heat up faster, which means that planting can be done early perpetual, in addition, the presence of a grid at the base will protect plants from the invasion of moles.

You should not build a large bed, its frame can be no more than 1.5 meters wide. In this case, you can cultivate the land, standing on the side of the landing. Besides:

A high bed can be turned into a greenhouse. To do this, it is desirable to divide it in half lengthwise and fix the film over each part.
The height of the beds on the compost can reach up to 100 cm. Of course, it will have to be protected. To do this, you can use boards, logs, bricks, stone. An added bonus: this fence will give the beds a neat look.
It is highly desirable to equip the high beds of a smart garden with a built-in irrigation system. It can be root or drip method. Read about the organization of watering:,

Raised beds make it easier to care for and decorate the site.

Basic principles of "lazy" farming

One of the features of a lazy garden is the joint planting of plants. It has long been noticed that vegetables can not only coexist in the same garden, but help each other, contributing to better harvest. For example, planting dill between crops with potatoes will help to avoid the invasion of the Colorado potato beetle. There are other examples of the beneficial community of certain plants:

tomatoes go well with corn, carrots, onions;
carrots can be planted together with cabbage, onions, strawberries;
beans will bear fruit with cabbage, cucumbers and also with potatoes;
beans also go well with eggplant and peppers, helping to avoid the invasion of the Colorado potato beetle;
zucchini and pumpkin are best combined with corn, which will hide these vegetables from the scorching rays.

The next principle of organizing a lazy garden is to ensure that the soil is not empty. It turns out that not only plants are fed from the earth, but they themselves feed it during growth. In this regard, we recommend that you do not leave the site empty after harvesting, but plant chard, dill, radish, lettuce on it. All this will be on your table, more vitamins will appear in the diet. At the same time, the soil will receive a portion of organic matter, which will have a beneficial effect on the quality of future plantings.

Note that it is possible to dig up beds only during planting to a depth of 5 cm. In fact, this is loosening with a flat cutter or hoe. After that, they need to be mulched and not disturbed at all.

The structured soil is indented by "catacombs" after earthworms. There is no point in disturbing the humus layer in such conditions. Further, it is only necessary to water the plantings as needed. Read about a homemade tool to make gardening easier:.

Fokine flat cutter preserves soil structure - and it is easy to work with it

In order for the soil to remain fertile, it must be well covered for the winter. For this purpose, you can use tops, autumn leaves, grass (if it does not contain seeds), straw or sawdust. You can also wrap the garden bed if you plant buckwheat, mustard or peas after harvesting. These crops will have time to germinate before the first snowfalls, and the new growth will cover the ground with itself, and then become a good source of organic matter.
Another valuable tip for those who do not want to spend a lot of time caring for the beds. It is important that the tool is convenient and of high quality. This will greatly facilitate the work and allow you to use the hoe and hoe for many years without making an annual replacement.
Be sure to install a convenient irrigation system, this will save a lot of time and make the beds fertile. If the budget is limited, you can build a similar system with your own hands - the drip method is suitable, as well as sprinkling.
If watering the plants daily does not work, you can do this once or twice a week. It is only important to try to watering was plentiful. Mulched soil can retain moisture for a long time.

As you can see, a lazy vegetable garden is not a very difficult task if you approach it with some preparation. Collect a solid harvest and do not bend your back from morning to evening on own site- under the power of any summer resident. It is only important to rethink your attitude to such things as weeding, plant nutrition, so as not to make mistakes and learn to enjoy relaxing in your own garden.

A dacha and a garden, instead of a place of rest, often become a place of exhausting work. Water, weed, loosen, water again, weed, loosen and so on in a circle. At the same time, the harvest is not always happy. The situation can be changed. There is a special technology - a smart garden. The cultivated area decreases several times, the amount of water required for irrigation decreases, and the yield increases. This is not a fairy tale. Many have already switched to smart beds and they are all satisfied with the result.

What is a smart garden or smart beds

The smart garden allows minimal cost labor to maximize the yield. How? There are several basic rules and techniques: proper planting planning, rotation of planted plants, special growing technologies (in high beds, trenches), drip irrigation, mulching or covering material. All this has been known for a long time and, for sure, is already used by many. But it is in the complex that all these measures give what is called a “smart garden”. Because on the site everything is done according to the mind.

A smart garden is formed, often raised or high beds, in which the necessary conditions for plant growth

The main task of this technology is to do everything so that working in the country is not a heavy duty. This is possible if you approach the organization of the process wisely. And it’s completely in vain that this technology is called a “garden for the lazy”. At the stage of arrangement, you will have to work hard, but then everything will grow almost by itself, but the first stage requires shock efforts.

It's worth starting with site planning. It is necessary to choose the location of the beds, taking into account the illumination. Then develop a scheme for laying a section of water pipes and lay them. At the same time, you can engage in the device beds. Roughly in that order. All this takes time, considerable effort and money. Material costs may not be too big.

We are planning a garden

If you already have a dacha or a plot of land near the house, you have probably already encountered a situation of an overabundance of fruits, vegetables and berries. When the harvest has to be distributed to relatives, neighbors, colleagues. But in order to grow it, it took a lot of effort. To avoid such a situation, it is necessary to plan the harvest. Of course, you will not get great accuracy, but results close to the planned ones are possible.

A smart garden is also a decoration of the site

We consider the area of \u200b\u200bthe beds

The first thing to do is to sit down and think about what and how much you want to grow. The specific quantity is in kilograms. How much do you need to "eat" and "close". Write a list of plants (in a column) and the desired crop.

Having decided on the list of plants that you want to grow at home, we sit down and look at the average yield that can be achieved when growing on smart beds. It is given in the table. Since you are still an inexperienced "lazy gardener", reduce it by half. Next to each of the plants put down the numbers. It must be recorded in kilograms per square meter of area.

Now it is easy to calculate how much area you need to allocate for each type of plant: we divide the desired yield in kilograms by the average yield for each type of plant. We get the footage of the area for vegetables, berries, herbs, etc. If you add up all these areas, we will find out how many beds you need in total. These are the beds that should be placed on your site.

You're probably surprised at how little space you need for your garden beds. And really little. Much less than what we are used to! In processing, you will have very little land. The vacated place can be taken under, rockeries, and other decorations.

Where to locate

When planning smart beds, you need to take into account the degree of illumination. Almost all the plants you need prefer sunny places. In partial shade, you can grow rhubarb, sorrel, onions (including feathers). Perhaps everything. There are no garden plants that would grow well in shady places. Rather, they will grow, but the yield will decrease by 3-4 times. Shady areas should be taken under a recreation area or a flower bed with shade-loving plants should be placed there.

Another principle for placing beds: the more care (read watering) a culture requires, the closer to the entrance to the house it should be located:

Why arrange the plants this way? Because at the beginning of the watering / weeding work, gardeners are full of enthusiasm and the plants receive more water, weeds are more carefully removed. Gradually, the ardor subsides, less and less water gets to the square of the area, the processing becomes less thorough. And with the approach proposed above, the amount of water will be “just right” and everything will be in order with the cultivation of the soil.

Orientation to the cardinal points and precise positioning

If you want to get a crop from the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe lazy garden, the location is north-south. Strictly. Only in this way will the entire area bear fruit. Also arrange trellises for climbing vegetables. Although, they can be planted along the southern and eastern walls of buildings.

In order for a smart garden to be also beautiful, you need to think about where to put the beds. To do this, we take a plan of the site on a scale indicating the direction to the north / south. On it we draw all the buildings and capital paths, water supply (we pay special attention to the position of the taps), trees and shrubs. On the plan, we immediately outline the shadow zones - we will not place vegetables here, this is a place for flowers, fountains.

We cut out beds from paper (on the same scale as the site plan). Moreover, we make them of the shape that we plan: a rectangle, a square, a circle, a triangle, etc. The form is selected based on the area planned for the culture. And it doesn't have to be a boring rectangle. Since there will be enough free space (you remember that you need much less beds), then rationalism fades into the background, and we focus on aesthetics. After all, few people work in the country "so that there is something to eat", basically it is also a pleasure. And what could be more pleasant than the beauty of a cultivated area?

So, we sign each piece of paper denoting a smart garden bed - we put the name of the culture or crops (you can grow two or three or more on one bed). Now we are looking for a place for each, taking into account the rules described above. Along the way, you can change the shape of smart beds: for the sake of beauty or convenience. When you have found places, outline the contours, transfer the inscriptions. It remains only to implement the plan.

Irrigation system

A significant part of the work in the garden is watering the plants. If you use lazy beds, you will need to water much less often. But even in this case, it is better to do the piping in the area correctly. You already have a plan for the location of beds in your garden. Now add flower beds, bushes and trees there. Get a planting plan for the plants to be watered. Now you should think about how, so that there is no more than 2-3 meters to any "irrigation object". If you do this, then you will have to pull a small hose to each bed, which is much easier.

Homemade drip irrigation system polymer pipes, water source - barrel

Even better, if a hose for drip irrigation is laid in the smart garden. This will reduce water consumption and increase yields. Yes, at the same time. A drip irrigation hose is a polyethylene tube with small holes through which water oozes drop by drop. When planting, plants are planted next to the holes. As a result, water is supplied under the root, the plant receives a sufficient amount of moisture, and the gaps between plants remain only slightly moistened (due to the redistribution of moisture in the soil).

When using drip irrigation, you will have very little work. Open the faucet, wait a certain period of time, close the faucet. All. Hoses for drip irrigation are available for connection to the water supply (sold per meter), there are kits with a small pump that will pump water from the tank. The range of prices for hoses for drip irrigation is solid - prices differ significantly. No matter how limited your finances are, do not take the cheapest hoses - they will last no more than one season. It is better to pay a little more for a quality product and use it for several years. When choosing kits for drip irrigation, you also need to look at the irrigated area. But, most likely, it will suit you, since lazy beds are rarely large. Read more about drip irrigation kits and manufacturers.

How to make smart/lazy beds

The principle of construction of smart / lazy beds in that you want to create ideal conditions for the development of plants and ease of processing for yourself. What do plants need? Nutrients, enough light, air, moisture and lack of a large number weeds.

oxygen and nutrients

We provided them with a sufficient amount of sun by arranging the beds from north to south. The next task is nutrients and air to the roots. All this is laid when forming the beds. Depending on the type of soil, we select the components, which in " source material" lacks. AT middle lane In Russia, the main soils are clay and loam, so humus of varying degrees of “maturity” (a year, two and three) is usually added. This is for fertilizing, and for lightening the soil - for better oxygen access to the roots. Together with humus, bacteria and worms enter, which continue to process, enriching the soil and loosening it instead of you.

Yield from square meter it will be wow...

If necessary, you can make other fertilizers - in the wells when planting or when watering. Depends on crops or richness/poority of source soils. The most common natural fertilizers are chicken manure and cow manure, ashes. When entering only cow dung bears will annoy you. If you add a little chicken manure, there will be no bear, and the composition of the soil will become richer.

Moisture retention and weed control

Moisture will be partially delivered by rain and dew, and partially will have to be added by irrigation. And so that less water is required, the entire space of the garden bed is not filled with plants, we fill it with mulch. Mulch, by the way, also reduces the number of weeds - there is not enough light for them under it.

Straw, cut grass, sawdust, fallen needles, special mulch made from wood chips can be used as mulch. All this can be used to mulch lazy beds. But all materials are imperfect. Here are their advantages and disadvantages:

There is another good way out: cover smart / lazy beds with a special black covering material. They completely cover the surface of the beds, sometimes in two layers. Small holes are made under the plants. Watering is carried out directly on the material - it does not retain water and air, does not allow weeds to grow, and protects the soil from overheating. In general, everything is good, except that you have to buy it.

How to make them

With general principles the creation of a smart garden figured out, now let's specifically figure out how to make beds. You can’t walk on them, so they definitely need to be fenced - with stones, slate, iron, logs sawn in half, boards ... It doesn’t matter what, but the beds must be separated from the paths. And since you can’t step on the beds, their width should be such that you can freely cultivate the soil.

Now about the width of smart beds. It depends on the type: they will be of normal height or raised. If the beds are made at ground level, their width is 80-100 cm. Squatting or bending over, you can process this width. If the beds are raised at least half a meter, it will be even more convenient to work. They do not only high beds. All possible growing technologies can be used:

Now about whether the usual height of the beds is better or raised. For a really lazy garden, raised ones are better: when cultivating the soil, you will have to strain less. But it's hard work and slow. So for starters, you can get high beds only for the most difficult crops to care for. And you can also use various containers / containers - for greens, salads, spicy plants. Suitable sawn along large barrels, boxes. On sale there are plastic containers that are produced specifically for the smart garden. They can generally be placed on the paths, near the entrance to the house.

The only crop under which you should not make raised beds is potatoes. It grows well in trenches, and making them is much easier and faster.

Between beds

The beds in the smart garden are separated, the distance between them is not less than 60 cm (90-100 cm or more is better). A solid distance that needs to be filled with something. Weeding between the beds is not the best best idea. Why then bother with separate beds in order to fight the weeds between them ... Therefore, you can either lay out / pave or sow with lawn grass. best grass for our lawn - shoot-bearing bluegrass and shoot-bearing bent grass. They grow quickly, form dense greenery that is not trampled down and even tolerates work with a cart.

The grass will need to be cut, so you will need a lawn mower or trimmer. And the cut grass can be used for mulch. Then, by the way, weeds will come out - they do not withstand frequent haircuts.

Some tricks

The technology is called the smart garden for a reason. You can test different approaches, novelties, experience of "colleagues". There are a few tricks that come along with the operation. We have already talked about one - about the covering material. It really simplifies care and mulch is not needed. There are other interesting ideas: