What a heartening post! This is essentially how I have gardened forever - I admit it came from a place of wanting to save time, but also I couldn't understand the point of many of the things we were being told to do. I realised that my soil was better for not digging it, and that the bluebells come back through the autumn leaves on the forest floor, so why do I need to clear the leaves at home? I've encouraged hundreds of clients to embrace the relaxed planting style which my projects show - in no order: firstly, because it leads to less stress about the garden not looking manicured, secondly, that's because the way Nature grows, and she does a very good job of creating beauty, and thirdly because the wildlife likes it. And if the pollinators come, the fruit gets pollinated. If the hedgehogs come, they eat the slugs and the seedlings survive. If the caterpillars come, I leave them for the baby bluetits.
Thank you , Jo. Means so much coming from you! I'm just at the beginning of my gardening life (and writing about gardening after 20+ years of writing about home). I'm glad to hear that many gardeners intuit that the "lazy" way might be best.
I actually keep a dearly beloved “weed garden.” There is a triangular patch of bare dirt between my backdoor and driveway that gets nothing but weeded all year, and a bit of cleanup after spring is fully sprung. I use the PlantNet app to identify species (it can take a few observations over time to get a reliable ID), keep the natives and yank the introduced species. I let nature handle planting it. Last year it was thick with evening primrose that grew nearly as tall as the house and kept the goldfinches fed through winter. This year it has filled itself mainly with goldenrod and is constantly buzzing with pollinators. I highly recommend the practice.
My mother has a beautiful traditional garden which she tends daily at 79–weeding, mulching, etc. it’s lovely and reflects her so well—everything in its place, tidy. I live in a neighborhood with big lawns. We mow the front, higher than most, every 10 days or so, but the back, off our deck is where I let my desire for a meadow run free. I have some raised beds for vegetables and a tiny pond with duckweed for the frogs. I’ve planted a lot of meadow flowers and grasses. When I visit my mother’s garden I love it—the tidiness—it looks like a park. As I’m driving home from my visits with her I always think that I have a lot of work to do and then I take my book out back, watch the finches picking at old seed heads, and I think that this is the kind of garden for me. I am drawn to gardens of tall grasses and daisies and things pushing up through the ground that I can’t always identify right away. It’s probably laziness and a childhood reaction to constant order, but it’s lovely too, and it survives without a sprinkler system!
This is my 79-year-old mother too: Out in the garden every day, but she too has heard the call for more native plants, she just mixes them in with her peonies, hydrangeas, roses, and annuals. And I think that's what "sustainable" gardening looks like for most gardeners--just adding more of the things that wildlife needs along with the other things we choose for beauty.
I am loving this SO much. Thank you, Laura for continuing to write about less lawn (less STRESS is more like it! :) and more native plants and their benefits. Even in rural places the increase in species of bugs and birds is astonishing when you adopt this method. The joy in observation I have experienced is a side effect that has likely added years back onto my life. I'm not kidding! Thank you!
Thank you for encouraging me to keep going with this series. Becoming a person who observes nature closely has certainly enriched my life, if not extended it. Everywhere I go now, I see friends--plants and animals I know by name--life changing.
Ok I wish I could share a photo! We just took over our downstairs' neighbors fabulous garden after they moved. I neglected all the flower boxes because, life. New flowers are growing there! Birds must have dropped seeds in and these flowers are flourishing with almost no maintenance. I even like how they look better! Lazy gardening!
I do most if not all of the things you write about here, though I do still keep a significant portion of traditional lawn. It just gets mowed pretty infrequently. And last time I mowed I kept having to slow down for all the critters to get out of the way - not just moths and grasshoppers but frogs and a snake too! Makes me wish we could all embrace even just another inch or two of grass as normal and support all these creatures. That feels like it wouldn't be very radical. And I mean I haven't even started on how beautiful all my planted and volunteer natives are, and how covered with all sorts of flying insects! Thanks for spreading the word!
Thank you for sharing, Emily. Breaking out of the old norms is always hard, but little by little I think we can shift the public's perception of what a "beautiful" landscape is.
We lived in Florence for a few months when my kids were small, and I was fascinated by the lack of official lawns at the parks where I took them to play. The city parks were green and shady, but under the trees they just let alone whatever flowers and grass and weeds popped up, and occasionally mowed it shorter when it got out of hand. I’m sure it took a lot less water in arid Tuscany, and the kids enjoyed playing there just as much.
They do this in Queens where I run, but I'm pretty sure it's just that they don't have the manpower/budget to get someone in with the string trimmer ; ) In both cases, that un-mown area created a "soft landing" which provides shelter and habitat for moths, butterflies, and beneficial insects like bumble bees, fireflies, lacewings, and beetles.
This is FAB! After struggling against my California climate, regular gopher and deer interference and a dormant summer grass season, I have decided only to plant things that can handle our yard with little or no water but still look pretty. It's TOUGH. I would love to see more gardens like this and get more inspo
The book Under Western Skies by Jennifer Jewell has a bunch of western gardens that might inspire you. Terremoto's site is definitely a resource for CA inspiration, and you might also look at Christy Ten Eyck's work: https://www.teneyckla.com/ and Waterwise Landscapes https://waterwiselandscapesnm.com/ who both work in the southwest in a lot of tough, dry spots.
Wonderful read. I do guerilla gardening of wildflowers and milkweed for the monarchs. I guess that's kind of a lazy gardening approach too, as I only return to the original sites once and a while. Thank you for your piece. Look forward to more!
I love this concept. My grandparents had a large garden. Vegetables and flowers. They would plant things, and the things that stayed they cultivated, the things that died they gave up on. They didn't have the time or energy to fight for things that didn't want to be in the garden. My grandma would say, "let's stick it in the ground and see how it does."
Thanks for this post. As I am thinking about it, I realize that my Dad's gardens were done in the relaxed manner you describe. He was born in 1901, so the era was a simpler one. I don't remember him ever planting annuals. There were multiple areas of flower gardens in the upper and lower areas of garden around the patches of lawn. I don't ever remember bags of mulch being purchased. The gardens were thick flora that were a little chaotic in their placement with no manicured spaces. He was a naturalist, environmentalist, before such a things were named and in vogue. I am experiencing nostalgia as I reflect on what you have written.
Your father’s garden sounds wonderful: I’m so happy I made you think of it. My great grandparents were about that same age: much of their garden was devoted to fruit, but they also grew roses out front in the sunniest spot. I wish I could be back there for just an afternoon and observe it all with my adult eyes.
I just recalled that while I don't remember Dad buying mulch, we did have a large compost heap in the corner of the lower area at the back of the yard. All vegetable, garden, and lawn waste was added throughout the year. I remember catching night crawlers by crawling through the fence of a nearby golf course when they were watering late in the evening, and putting them in one area of the compost heap to be retrieved when going fishing. I remember that compost heap fondly!
Love this approach to gardening. Have you read Masanobu Fukuoka’s book ‘The One Straw Revolution’? He’s the OG no garden gardener with brilliant observations on gardening and life… would recommend!
I’m really enjoying this new gardening series! Living right outside San Antonio, TX, I’m embracing the lazy gardening principles you mention to conserve water as we have been in a drought for a couple years now. I have one bed of plants that don’t need a lot of water and I’m planning to add more.
My front yard would certainly be classified as a lazy garden so this take is extremely validating. ☺️ Also, I feel everyone needs your gardening content!
What a heartening post! This is essentially how I have gardened forever - I admit it came from a place of wanting to save time, but also I couldn't understand the point of many of the things we were being told to do. I realised that my soil was better for not digging it, and that the bluebells come back through the autumn leaves on the forest floor, so why do I need to clear the leaves at home? I've encouraged hundreds of clients to embrace the relaxed planting style which my projects show - in no order: firstly, because it leads to less stress about the garden not looking manicured, secondly, that's because the way Nature grows, and she does a very good job of creating beauty, and thirdly because the wildlife likes it. And if the pollinators come, the fruit gets pollinated. If the hedgehogs come, they eat the slugs and the seedlings survive. If the caterpillars come, I leave them for the baby bluetits.
Thank you , Jo. Means so much coming from you! I'm just at the beginning of my gardening life (and writing about gardening after 20+ years of writing about home). I'm glad to hear that many gardeners intuit that the "lazy" way might be best.
I actually keep a dearly beloved “weed garden.” There is a triangular patch of bare dirt between my backdoor and driveway that gets nothing but weeded all year, and a bit of cleanup after spring is fully sprung. I use the PlantNet app to identify species (it can take a few observations over time to get a reliable ID), keep the natives and yank the introduced species. I let nature handle planting it. Last year it was thick with evening primrose that grew nearly as tall as the house and kept the goldfinches fed through winter. This year it has filled itself mainly with goldenrod and is constantly buzzing with pollinators. I highly recommend the practice.
Yes, yes, yes! I love this idea and the vision of goldfinches by your backdoor.
My mother has a beautiful traditional garden which she tends daily at 79–weeding, mulching, etc. it’s lovely and reflects her so well—everything in its place, tidy. I live in a neighborhood with big lawns. We mow the front, higher than most, every 10 days or so, but the back, off our deck is where I let my desire for a meadow run free. I have some raised beds for vegetables and a tiny pond with duckweed for the frogs. I’ve planted a lot of meadow flowers and grasses. When I visit my mother’s garden I love it—the tidiness—it looks like a park. As I’m driving home from my visits with her I always think that I have a lot of work to do and then I take my book out back, watch the finches picking at old seed heads, and I think that this is the kind of garden for me. I am drawn to gardens of tall grasses and daisies and things pushing up through the ground that I can’t always identify right away. It’s probably laziness and a childhood reaction to constant order, but it’s lovely too, and it survives without a sprinkler system!
This is my 79-year-old mother too: Out in the garden every day, but she too has heard the call for more native plants, she just mixes them in with her peonies, hydrangeas, roses, and annuals. And I think that's what "sustainable" gardening looks like for most gardeners--just adding more of the things that wildlife needs along with the other things we choose for beauty.
I am loving this SO much. Thank you, Laura for continuing to write about less lawn (less STRESS is more like it! :) and more native plants and their benefits. Even in rural places the increase in species of bugs and birds is astonishing when you adopt this method. The joy in observation I have experienced is a side effect that has likely added years back onto my life. I'm not kidding! Thank you!
Thank you for encouraging me to keep going with this series. Becoming a person who observes nature closely has certainly enriched my life, if not extended it. Everywhere I go now, I see friends--plants and animals I know by name--life changing.
In total agreement with you, Neko - the joy of observation is priceless
Ok I wish I could share a photo! We just took over our downstairs' neighbors fabulous garden after they moved. I neglected all the flower boxes because, life. New flowers are growing there! Birds must have dropped seeds in and these flowers are flourishing with almost no maintenance. I even like how they look better! Lazy gardening!
Love lazy gardening - real beauty can arise from it for sure
I do most if not all of the things you write about here, though I do still keep a significant portion of traditional lawn. It just gets mowed pretty infrequently. And last time I mowed I kept having to slow down for all the critters to get out of the way - not just moths and grasshoppers but frogs and a snake too! Makes me wish we could all embrace even just another inch or two of grass as normal and support all these creatures. That feels like it wouldn't be very radical. And I mean I haven't even started on how beautiful all my planted and volunteer natives are, and how covered with all sorts of flying insects! Thanks for spreading the word!
Thank you for sharing, Emily. Breaking out of the old norms is always hard, but little by little I think we can shift the public's perception of what a "beautiful" landscape is.
Hear hear!
We lived in Florence for a few months when my kids were small, and I was fascinated by the lack of official lawns at the parks where I took them to play. The city parks were green and shady, but under the trees they just let alone whatever flowers and grass and weeds popped up, and occasionally mowed it shorter when it got out of hand. I’m sure it took a lot less water in arid Tuscany, and the kids enjoyed playing there just as much.
They do this in Queens where I run, but I'm pretty sure it's just that they don't have the manpower/budget to get someone in with the string trimmer ; ) In both cases, that un-mown area created a "soft landing" which provides shelter and habitat for moths, butterflies, and beneficial insects like bumble bees, fireflies, lacewings, and beetles.
This is the way!
Onward!
This is FAB! After struggling against my California climate, regular gopher and deer interference and a dormant summer grass season, I have decided only to plant things that can handle our yard with little or no water but still look pretty. It's TOUGH. I would love to see more gardens like this and get more inspo
The book Under Western Skies by Jennifer Jewell has a bunch of western gardens that might inspire you. Terremoto's site is definitely a resource for CA inspiration, and you might also look at Christy Ten Eyck's work: https://www.teneyckla.com/ and Waterwise Landscapes https://waterwiselandscapesnm.com/ who both work in the southwest in a lot of tough, dry spots.
Wonderful read. I do guerilla gardening of wildflowers and milkweed for the monarchs. I guess that's kind of a lazy gardening approach too, as I only return to the original sites once and a while. Thank you for your piece. Look forward to more!
I love this concept. My grandparents had a large garden. Vegetables and flowers. They would plant things, and the things that stayed they cultivated, the things that died they gave up on. They didn't have the time or energy to fight for things that didn't want to be in the garden. My grandma would say, "let's stick it in the ground and see how it does."
Thanks for this post. As I am thinking about it, I realize that my Dad's gardens were done in the relaxed manner you describe. He was born in 1901, so the era was a simpler one. I don't remember him ever planting annuals. There were multiple areas of flower gardens in the upper and lower areas of garden around the patches of lawn. I don't ever remember bags of mulch being purchased. The gardens were thick flora that were a little chaotic in their placement with no manicured spaces. He was a naturalist, environmentalist, before such a things were named and in vogue. I am experiencing nostalgia as I reflect on what you have written.
Your father’s garden sounds wonderful: I’m so happy I made you think of it. My great grandparents were about that same age: much of their garden was devoted to fruit, but they also grew roses out front in the sunniest spot. I wish I could be back there for just an afternoon and observe it all with my adult eyes.
I just recalled that while I don't remember Dad buying mulch, we did have a large compost heap in the corner of the lower area at the back of the yard. All vegetable, garden, and lawn waste was added throughout the year. I remember catching night crawlers by crawling through the fence of a nearby golf course when they were watering late in the evening, and putting them in one area of the compost heap to be retrieved when going fishing. I remember that compost heap fondly!
Love this approach to gardening. Have you read Masanobu Fukuoka’s book ‘The One Straw Revolution’? He’s the OG no garden gardener with brilliant observations on gardening and life… would recommend!
Yes, I've read it! Still a fascinating read 45+ years after it was published.
It still feels so fresh!
I’m really enjoying this new gardening series! Living right outside San Antonio, TX, I’m embracing the lazy gardening principles you mention to conserve water as we have been in a drought for a couple years now. I have one bed of plants that don’t need a lot of water and I’m planning to add more.
Thank you for the encouragement. I am wishing your garden strength: It's been such a hot summer in Texas.
Me telling my BF I’m leaving the dandelions there for the bumblebees 👀
You could also pick the leaves and add them to your salad!
And the goldfinches! I have CLOUDS of them now!
Clouds of goldfinches--now there's a pretty image.
Heaven! Sadly, our garden attracts all of the neighbourhood cats. Must be the bumblebees.
My front yard would certainly be classified as a lazy garden so this take is extremely validating. ☺️ Also, I feel everyone needs your gardening content!
Haha: Thank you Teresa!