Gardening

Kate Russell

PLAN A SCHEDULE Creating routines for your garden can lighten your load.

Too many plants?

Crowded gardens can be burdensome A re there too many plants in your garden? There’s always room for that new variety of an old favorite, a gift plant from a fellow gardener, and all those vegetable seeds. Or is there? Is there such a thing as too many plants? Many enthusiasts collect plants until it gets difficult to find a spot with enough sunlight and soil. But it’s not just a matter of real estate.

Unless your garden is a xeriscape, planted with cacti and succulents, it will require regular care. If you have too many plants, that care can become burdensome. Vegetable seedlings need frequent By KATE RUSSELL watering to get a good start. Shrubs and hedges need pruning to stay attractive and healthy. Having too many plants, or the wrong sort of plants, can take its toll on gardeners of any skill level. Growing the wrong sort of plants means wasted time, money and water. Do you find yourself nursing along plants that never seem to thrive? And plants illsuited to where you live? When summer heat hits, how much time do you have to spend watering to keep everything alive and healthy?

The water may come out of your spigot easily enough, but we all know that it’s a valuable resource. There are limits to what we can responsibly use. This is especially true in drought-prone areas. Installing plants that use a lot of water means spending time watering those plants. Do you have an hour every morning in summer to water your garden? And is that water well spent?

Whether your garden consists of a strip of balcony or acres of farmland, there is a limit to the number of plants your space can handle. Cramming too many plants too closely together is an invitation to pests and diseases. Preventing those problems can save a lot of time. Yellow sticky sheets and sticky barriers go a long way toward reducing pest problems.

If you have too many plants, especially the wrong sort of plants, you may find yourself wondering why in the world you ever started gardening in the first place. There are only so many hours in a day and taking care of plants takes time. Do yourself and your garden a favor and aim for just the right number and type of plants for you, your soil and your garden with these actions: • Grow plants suited to your microclimate. • Provide plants with enough space for good airflow. • Group plants according to their water usage. • Remove plants that are not thriving or which require more effort than they are worth. • Create routines that lighten your load. • If specific pests arrive every year, make a plan of attack before they arrive.

Rather than feeling overwhelmed and exhausted because of too many plants, put your time, effort and water into plants worth having.