If you underplant it with radicchio, you will get a second crop free.

Put in adequate mulch if your garden is in a high-weed area. That extra inch or so of mulch you think you can do without...you probably shouldn't.

Feed the soil, put in drip irrigation, and then lots of mulch. Those are the three things that cut down on maintenance the most. I bring in tons of manure in the fall and let it compost in the beds, and rarely fertilize during the season. Having drip irrigation set up either on a timer, or where you can just turn the spigot on for a few hours and have everything watered is a huge time saver, and saves water too. Same goes for mulch. Keeps the soil from drying out between waterings, suppresses weeds, and reduces the total amount of water needed.

Agree with nc-crn - MULCH! and more mulch. And not decorative wood chip mulch either. Use good soil-improving and plant feeding organic mulches like straw, leaf mold, hay, or grass clippings or compost.

Drip irrigation lines or soaker hose under the mulch is another good one especially if you add an auto feeding fertigation system to it.

Dave

If you don't want to spend time in your garden, pulling up weeds, watering the plants, trimming dead leaves to help the plants to grow better - sow grass and go to the supermarket or a Farmer's Market to get your produce.

There's nothing wrong with adding mulch, sticking in an automatic watering system, hiring someone to pick the ripe fruits - I think that's how most commercial growers do it. Personally, I like pulling up weeds, no matter how many there are and adding them to the compost pile, when necessary using a hose to water the plants and deciding whether a fruit is worth saving or chucking. YMMV!

Mike

Well, I pull weeds...just not many since I have 2-3" of straw mulch covering everything.

I don't battle my garden. I give it a good environment to do well on it's own and it pretty much does. I'm happy enough not giving weeds enough time to get a start on life so I don't have to deal with them. It's not like straw is $20 a bale and has to be shipped in from far away lands.

While I do water by hand currently, I'm a fan of automatic drip irrigation and that's something I wouldn't mind investing in as a luxury to my hobby in a different garden at a future time.

Healthy plants in a healthy environment leads to big harvests and that's what I'm shooting for.

My garden is permanent beds, not raised. I never till. The paths are wood mulch, the beds hay (not straw). I have very few weeds and water only newly sown areas. Very little work for quite a large garden.

Can't say it enough times -- MULCH, MULCH, MULCH

The only tip I can think of is an old gardeners saying--
1 weed in seed means 100 the next year.

Everyone, great tips (except maybe Wordwiz...although he does make a good point LOL) but does anyone have any pictures of their garden? I'd love to see what they look like...drip irrigation, mulch and all!

Can't say it enough times -- MULCH, MULCH, MULCH

Mulching in certain areas including the majority of the PNW this year would have been a disaster. Everything would have rotted.

For the best and cheapest weed protection lay down cardboard and then cover with a couple inches of soil and water in. I've never had a weed grow through the cardboard and new ones on top are easy to pull.

There's nothing better than drip or soaker hose irrigation on an automatic timer as far as making watering easy except for the atmospheric pressure system I'll be using next year.
I totally agree with Mike, if you want the fruit but don't want to do the work then buy it.

It's not like straw is $20 a bale and has to be shipped in from far away lands.

Unless you're me ; )

I have thought of using cardboard (lasagna gardening) but I have no idea what kind of chemicals will leach into the soil from all the glue in the cardboard.

I have thought of using cardboard (lasagna gardening) but I have no idea what kind of chemicals will leach into the soil from all the glue in the cardboard.

Are you saying you don't sleep on, eat, live around or drive in anything that's contents was packaged in CARDBOARD?

Is that a question?
How well do they hold up in rain?
Do you know what paste is and what it's made from?

The paste used to hold cardboard together is an organic starch that has been consumed by children in homes and classrooms for decades. Specialty boxes not included of course but most of them are coated with a wax that is also nontoxic and(possibly)edible if you have enough greens with those browns. LOL!

Oh and WELCOME techiegardener!

Drip, Drip, Drip!!

I learned in 25 years of gardening that if I have to stand and water everything by hand, it's not going to happen with any regularity. Thus, last year we went through painstaking efforts to run a drip line to each of our garden beds (by converting the existing sprinkler system).

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Here's the garden one year later.

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Now, when the weather man says it's going to be 90 and I've got to get to work, I can flip the switch and water everything while I'm making my lunch. I think if I had to choose one time-saver that was most important to me, it would be my drip system.

Loribee- Great idea and your garden is beautiful!