5 best gardening hacks for you - A New Year in the garden

Gardens and plants don’t really care about our special days on a calendar but, the New Year offers new hopes, plans and of course, resolutions. As much as we can learn about soils, plants, and all things botanical, a garden is a landscape we create as people and communities. To excel in your gardening knowledge and skills, sometimes it’s a good idea to look at the human element and how we can use gardening to help with some of those New Year’s resolutions.  

Like most, as we venture into the New Year, we look at our life goals as well as our lawns and gardens, especially if you’re a mad-keen gardener such as myself! What I find successful, is working your life goals into the lawn and gardening schedule. Read on for a few tips on how to help yourself while also helping the garden.

Hack 1. If you’re moving, you’re improving - Get active in the garden!

The top New Year’s resolutions generally involve getting active, losing weight, exercising and eating better. Getting into the garden can go a long way in helping take a few steps in the right direction.  

Start small! Walk around your lawns and gardens often, observe the plants, take photos and look for issues. Not only will you get to know your garden better, but as you wander around you won’t be able to help but pull out a weed or two.

Have the secateurs handy and trim a few bits as you go around and take a few notes of spots that need more care later. It’s super simple and you will clock up a little extra movement. Alternate your route and look at the garden from different angles, you might just see a flower or plant you could have missed. Taking some photos also provides you with a

great reminder of how far your gardens have come along. 

Hack 2. Don’t always look for the easy option. 

With the large variety of tools and power tools available, as well as the option of hiring contractors, we are spoilt with choices that make gardening a breeze! This is great when necessary, but sometimes it’s good to put in the extra hard yards yourself.

Digging holes, shovelling soils or mulches, carrying or moving bagged mixes or bales of mulch is challenging, but it’s fantastic exercise! Generally, there’s a lot of work to be done in the garden, but I like to look for the longer or harder way that also provides an extra workout.

Hack 3. Eating better and healthier. 

After indulging during the festive season, most of us are looking for the stretchy pants and thinking of salad greens. So why not grow some vegetables, herbs and fruits? This is one of my favourite garden hacks, because if we add a few extra steps into the process, we can grow our own superfoods while getting active in the garden. 

We’re all familiar with the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables, but when we do this ourselves, we can aim to grow them in great soil and conditions. You can also pick your fruit and veggies when they are deliciously ripe and offer maximum flavour and nutrient density. 

There’s a lot of energy that goes into harvesting our own greens, whether it’s from a container garden or a big plot, it’s takes time and effort to get seedlings to the table! Preparing the soil, planting, caring, fertilising, watering, harvesting, these things all require more effort than simply reaching into the fridge. 

Along with growing greens, this also fosters a sense of appreciation, we tend to want to savour our home grown produce a lot more, because we know how much hard work went into it. Understanding this also helps us appreciate the food we buy, as we know how hard our farmers work!

Hack 4. Don’t hide your veggie patch – we don’t want it, out of sight, out of mind.

Keep your patch somewhere you will see it every day! If it’s hidden, you might not make the most of it. But if it’s accessible, you are more likely to run out and pick handfuls of herbs to add to weekly meals. The simple act of using fresh herbs daily can keep you on track to eating healthy and continuing to grow your own produce.  

Pick only what you need, this way it’s fresh and you get to venture out into the garden each day. Digging fresh ginger, picking a lime, a few cayenne chillies and a handful of basil is a simple but delicious pleasure!

Hack 5. Lawn and gardening mental health benefits  

There’s plenty of research around gardening and plants being beneficial for mental health. The psychological effects of plants, greenery, nature and the experience of taking care of something to watch it grow are well reported. Keeping plants and gardens healthy can help keep us healthy as well. 

I personally love being outdoors and try to really appreciate my time in the garden. Try adopting the mindset that the difficult tasks are benefiting you physically and take the time to step back and appreciate the hard work you’ve put into your lawn and gardens. Afterall, it’s a green space you’ve created and should enjoy!

Track your progress by taking photos, so you can look back over them and experience a little mental boost at your success. We don’t notice the gradual day to day changes, but photos taken a few months or years apart really allow us to reflect and take pride in our hard work!

Kevin Burness. 

@simplegardening  

I'm just an experienced and awesome gardener sharing my own personal opinions. These are all my personal approaches and processes I use in my gardens. I’d like to help guide others to better gardening practices through my experience and encourage more successful gardening in our communities.