8 Tips & Tricks For Hassle-Free Gardening
If you're lucky enough to have a back yard, then you know that keeping up with all of the weeding and gardening is a big responsibility. There's way more that goes into getting your garden into shape than just digging out weeds, and keeping your plants happy and healthy can turn into a full-time job. Luckily, we've come up with 8 tips & tricks to make gardening less of a pain, so you can get your hedges trimmed and flowers blooming without all of the hassle. Weed out those annoying chores and start enjoying the great outdoors again!
1. Remove Gardening Gloves Easily
Gardening gloves are supposed to keep your hands clean while you're working in the soil, but as soon as you're done with all of the weeding, planting, and upkeep, taking them off tends to end up in a big, dirty mess. To keep your hands nice and clean, try turning your gloves inside out when you pull them off. This easy technique will keep the soil on the ground and off of your hands!
2. DIY Bird Bath
Watching birds fly around and enjoy your yard is a great, relaxing pastime during the warmer months. Birds love to take a quick dip in some fresh water, but bird baths can end up costing a lot – plus they never end up looking quite the way you want them to. Rather than buying one at your local home improvement store, you can make one at home with items your probably already have! Glue a terra cotta saucer onto the base of a flower pot, fill it with colorful glass gems and some water, and you'll start hearing happy birds chirping in their gorgeous new bath!
3. Homemade Seed Starters
3.1 Getting yours seeds to start growing can be touch-and-go without the right supplies. The easiest technique is to buy seed starting trays to help your little seedlings germinate. Rather than adding yet another gardening supply to your shopping list, you can just use empty toilet paper rolls instead! Make 4 evenly-spaced cuts at one end of the toilet paper roll and fold the roll up so that it's sealed.
3.2 Fill your homemade seed starter with potting soil, sprinkle some seeds on top, and spray water on the starters to keep the soil moist for the next few weeks.
3.3 Once your plants have started to grow, keep them in the homemade seed starter and move them to a larger flower pot. The plants will be more stable in their new home with the added support of the toilet paper roll!
4. Gardening Tool Storage Rack
Rakes, hedge clippers, shovels, brooms – there are a lot of gardening tools to keep track of! More often than not, they end up all over the garage in a tangled, messy heap. Rather than leaving them lying around, you can make a super simple gardening tool storage rack yourself. Cut a PVC pipe into equally sized segments and spray paint them the color of your choice. Use a drill to attach the PVC pipes to 2 wooden boards and hang the boards up outside of the shed or on a wall in your backyard. Now all of your gardening equipment will be on hand and organized whenever you're working in the yard.
5. Sow Seeds Evenly
A flower bed looks its best when all of the plants and flowers are separated evenly in it. Plus, plants grow better when they're given enough space to grow! To get evenly distributed plants in your garden, use a hot glue gun to glue some leftover corks from old wine bottles to a board at even intervals. Once the glue had dried, press the board down into the soil, cork side down, so that you create small holes in the soil. Remove the board, sprinkle some seeds in the holes, and cover them up with a thin layer of soil. Your garden will be healthy and gorgeous once the plants start to grow!
6. DIY Rain Barrel
6.1 Rain barrels are great ways to distribute rain water around your lawn and garden when your plants need to be watered. They also save you some money on your water bill, and they're good for the environment. The only downside is that rain barrels and rain catchers can get pretty expensive. Luckily, we found a cheap & easy way for you to make one yourself! Start by drilling a series of holes in the lid of a large plastic trash can.
6.2 Drill 1 hole in the lower section of the body of the trash can and attach a spigot to it. Flip the lid of the trash can over so that it's resting upside down on the top, and you've got yourself a brand new, inexpensive rain barrel!
7. Dig Deep Holes
If you're planting several plants at the same time, constantly digging holes deep enough for each and every one can be exhausting. Instead of doing all of that work manually, attach a paint mixer to your drill and use it to dig holes for you! It's much faster and way more convenient than digging each hole separately.
8. Bird Feeder
8.1 Setting up a bird bath in your yard is a great way to get birds to come and visit, but to make your feathered friends stick around, you also need a bird feeder. Luckily, they're super easy to make! Drill a hole in the center of 2 small, equally sized terra cotta saucers leftover from old flower pots. Connect the 2 saucers to one another with a long, thick hanging wire. Secure 1 end of the wire so that the saucer will stay in place once the bird feeder is suspended.
8.2 Roll up some chicken wire between the 2 saucers. The chicken wire roll should surround the hanging wire, and its diameter should be slightly smaller than the 2 trays. Secure the chicken wire in place using zip ties and rest it on the saucer at the bottom of the hanging wire. Fill the bird feeder with bird seed, rest the second saucer on top of the chicken wire roll, and hang your brand new bird feeder up in a tree.
With these 8 easy tips & tricks, your gardening work will stop being a nuisance and start being the relaxing, fun experience it should be. Your back yard will be looking better than ever in no time!
Get the instructions for the Homemade Bird Feeders, Ways To Upcycle Old Jeans, DIY Garden Fairy House, Garden Decor Made From A Broken Pot, Upcycling Projects Using Old Tires, and Rock & Cement Crafts featured in the bonus video.