Smart garden or beds for lazy gardeners

A dacha and a garden, instead of a place of rest, often become a place of exhausting work. Water, weed, loosen, water again, weed, loosen and so on in a circle. At the same time, the harvest is not always happy. The situation can be changed. There is a special technology – a smart garden. The cultivated area decreases several times, the amount of water required for irrigation decreases, and the yield increases. This is not a fairy tale. Many have already switched to smart beds and they are all satisfied with the result. 

What is a smart garden or smart beds

A smart garden allows you to get maximum yields with minimal labor costs. How? There are several basic rules and techniques: proper planting planning, rotation of planted plants, special growing technologies (in high beds, trenches), drip irrigation, mulching or covering material. All this has been known for a long time and, for sure, is already used by many. But it is in the complex that all these measures give what is called a “smart garden”. Because on the site everything is done according to the mind.

The main task of this technology is to do everything so that working in the country is not a heavy duty. This is possible if you approach the organization of the process wisely. And it’s completely in vain that this technology is called a “garden for the lazy”. At the stage of arrangement, you will have to work hard, but then everything will grow almost by itself, but the first stage requires shock efforts.

It’s worth starting with site planning. It is necessary to choose the location of the beds, taking into account the illumination. Then develop a scheme for laying a section of water pipes and lay them. At the same time, you can engage in the device beds. Roughly in that order. All this takes time, considerable effort and money. Material costs may not be too large.

We are planning a garden

If you already have a dacha or a plot of land near the house, you have probably already encountered a situation of an overabundance of fruits, vegetables and berries. When the harvest has to be distributed to relatives, neighbors, colleagues. But in order to grow it, it took a lot of effort. To avoid such a situation, it is necessary to plan the harvest. Of course, you will not get great accuracy, but results close to the planned ones are possible.

We consider the area of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe beds

The first thing to do is to sit down and think about what and how much you want to grow. The specific quantity is in kilograms. How much do you need to “eat” and “close”. Write a list of plants (in a column) and the desired crop.

Having decided on the list of plants that you want to grow at home, we sit down and look at the average yield that can be achieved when growing on smart beds. It is given in the table. Since you are still an inexperienced “lazy gardener”, reduce it by half. Next to each of the plants put down the numbers. It must be recorded in kilograms per square meter of area.

Now it is easy to calculate how much area you need to allocate for each type of plant: we divide the desired yield in kilograms by the average yield for each type of plant. We get the footage of the area for vegetables, berries, herbs, etc. If you add up all these areas, we will find out how many beds you need in total. These are the beds that should be placed on your site.

You’re probably surprised at how little space you need for your garden beds. And really little. Much less than what we are used to! In processing, you will have very little land. The vacated space can be taken for flower beds, rockeries, fountains and other decorations.

Where to locate

When planning smart beds, you need to take into account the degree of illumination. Almost all the plants you need prefer sunny places. In partial shade, you can grow rhubarb, sorrel, onions (including feathers). Perhaps everything. There are no garden plants that would grow well in shady places. Rather, they will grow, but the yield will decrease by 3-4 times. Shady areas should be taken under a recreation area or a flower bed with shade-loving plants should be placed there.

Another principle for placing beds: the more care (read watering) a culture requires, the closer to the entrance to the house it should be located:

• There should be a greenhouse with seedlings right next to the exit.
• Not far away – a bed for radishes, salad.
• Immediately or a little further – tomatoes, cucumbers, greens.
• Even further – peppers, eggplants, various types of cabbage, beans, root crops.
• On the backs are potatoes, pumpkins, zucchini, corn, sunflowers and perennials.
• Next is the garden.
  

Why arrange the plants this way? Because at the beginning of the watering / weeding work, gardeners are full of enthusiasm and the plants receive more water, weeds are more carefully removed. Gradually, the ardor subsides, less and less water gets to the square of the area, the processing becomes less thorough. And with the approach proposed above, the amount of water will be “just right” and everything will be in order with the cultivation of the soil.

Orientation to the cardinal points and precise positioning

If you want to get a crop from the entire area of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe lazy garden, the location is north-south. Strictly. Only in this way will the entire area bear fruit. Also arrange trellises for climbing vegetables. Although, they can be planted along the southern and eastern walls of buildings.

In order for a smart garden to be also beautiful, you need to think about where to put the beds. To do this, we take a plan of the site on a scale indicating the direction to the north / south. On it we draw all the buildings and capital paths, water supply (we pay special attention to the position of the taps), trees and shrubs. On the plan, we immediately outline the shadow zones – we will not place vegetables here, this is a place for flowers, arbors, fountains.

We cut out beds from paper (on the same scale as the site plan). Moreover, we make them of the shape that we plan: a rectangle, a square, a circle, a triangle, etc. The form is selected based on the area planned for the culture. And it doesn’t have to be a boring rectangle. Since there will be enough free space (you remember that you need much less beds), then rationalism fades into the background, and we focus on aesthetics. After all, few people work in the country “so that there is something to eat”, basically it is also a pleasure. And what could be more pleasant than the beauty of a cultivated area?

So, we sign each piece of paper denoting a smart garden bed – we put the name of the culture or crops (you can grow two or three or more on one bed). Now we are looking for a place for each, taking into account the rules described above. Along the way, you can change the shape of smart beds: for the sake of beauty or convenience. When you have found places, outline the contours, transfer the inscriptions. It remains only to implement the plan.

Irrigation system

A significant part of the work in the garden is watering the plants. If you use lazy beds, you will need to water much less frequently. But even in this case, it is better to do the piping in the area correctly. You already have a plan for the location of beds in your garden. Now add flower beds, bushes and trees there. Get a planting plan for the plants to be watered. Now you should think about how to lay water pipes in the garden so that there is no more than 2-3 meters to any “irrigation object”. If you do this, then you will have to pull a small hose to each bed, which is much easier.

Even better, if a hose for drip irrigation is laid in the smart garden. This will reduce water consumption and increase yields. Yes, at the same time. A drip irrigation hose is a polyethylene tube with small holes through which water oozes drop by drop. When planting, plants are planted next to the holes. As a result, water is supplied under the root, the plant receives a sufficient amount of moisture, and the gaps between plants remain only slightly moistened (due to the redistribution of moisture in the soil).

When using drip irrigation, you will have very little work. Open the faucet, wait a certain period of time, close the faucet. All. There are hoses for drip irrigation for connection to the water supply (sold per meter), there are kits with a small pump that will pump water from the tank. The range of prices for hoses for drip irrigation is solid – prices differ significantly. No matter how limited your finances are, do not take the cheapest hoses – they will last no more than one season. It is better to pay a little more for a quality product and use it for several years. When choosing kits for drip irrigation, you also need to look at the irrigated area. But, most likely, it will suit you, since lazy beds are rarely large. Read more about drip irrigation kits and manufacturers here.

How to make smart/lazy beds

The principle of building smart / lazy beds is that you need to create ideal conditions for the development of plants and ease of processing for yourself. What do plants need? Nutrients, enough light, air, moisture and the absence of a large number of weeds.

oxygen and nutrients

We provided them with a sufficient amount of sun by arranging the beds from north to south. The next task is nutrients and air to the roots. All this is laid when forming the beds. Depending on the type of soil, we select the components that are missing in the “source material”. In Central Russia, the main soils are clay and loam, so humus of varying degrees of “maturity” is usually added (a year, two and three). This is for fertilizing, and for lightening the soil – for better oxygen access to the roots. Together with humus, bacteria and worms enter, which continue to process, enriching the soil and loosening it instead of you.

If necessary, you can make other fertilizers – in the wells when planting or when watering. Depends on crops or richness/poority of source soils. The most common natural fertilizers are chicken manure and cow manure, ashes. When making only cow dung, you will be annoyed by bears. If you add a little chicken manure, there will be no bear, and the composition of the soil will become richer.

Moisture retention and weed control

Moisture will be partially delivered by rain and dew, and partially will have to be added by irrigation. And so that less water is required, the entire space of the garden bed is not filled with plants, we fill it with mulch. Mulch, by the way, also reduces the number of weeds – there is not enough light for them under it.

Straw, cut grass, sawdust, fallen needles, special mulch made from wood chips can be used as mulch. All this can be used to mulch lazy beds. But all materials are imperfect. Here are their advantages and disadvantages:

• Straw rots quickly. On the one hand, it’s good – enriching the soil, on the other hand, you have to update it about once a month.
• Mowed grass and plant residues. The disadvantage is the same – they quickly rot, but they still look “not very good”. In addition, only grass that does not have seeds and “sores” is suitable, otherwise you will have violent shoots of fresh grass and a bunch of disease problems.
  

• Sawdust. Large ones fit more – they look better. Fresh sawdust is not recommended for use, as they acidify the soil. It is necessary to mulch two or three years (put in a pile and store).
• Burning needles. Great mulch. It looks beautiful, does not rot for a long time, contains a lot of bacteria and fungi useful for the soil.
• Mulch from wood. It is obtained by processing branches and trunks of young trees. This is an excellent material for mulching the garden, but if you buy it, it turns out to be expensive. But you can do it yourself. You probably have trees, bushes, vines. After pruning, you have to come up with something with the cut branches. With a garden shredder for branches, you solve this problem, and even provide your lazy garden with first-class mulch.

There is another good way out: cover smart / lazy beds with a special black covering material. They completely cover the surface of the beds, sometimes in two layers. Small holes are made under the plants. Watering is carried out directly on the material – it does not retain water and air, does not allow weeds to grow, and protects the soil from overheating. In general, everything is good, except that you have to buy it.

How to make them

We figured out the general principles of creating a smart garden, now we will specifically understand how to make beds. You can’t walk on them, so they definitely need to be fenced off – with stones, slate, iron, logs sawn in half, boards … It doesn’t matter what, but the beds must be separated from the paths. And since you can’t step on the beds, their width should be such that you can freely cultivate the soil.

Now about the width of smart beds. It depends on the type: they will be of normal height or raised. If the beds are made at ground level, their width is 80-100 cm. Squatting or bending over, you can process this width. If the beds are raised at least half a meter, it will be even more convenient to work. They do not only high beds. All possible growing technologies can be used:

• Container beds. Their parameters: width up to 1 meter, height – 30-40 cm or 70-80 cm, length – any. Fenced can be any material.
• Bed-box. It is indispensable for the northern regions, since the soil warms up faster in the box-bed. It has a lower height – 15-20 cm, width 100-120 cm. Plants can be planted in any direction – along or across (but the rows must be located from north to south).
• Narrow beds. The width of the beds is up to 0,5 meters, the row spacing is -1 m. They can be at ground level, but the row spacings must be highlighted. Vegetables are planted in two rows in a checkerboard pattern.
  

• Beds in a barrel. These are especially good for climbing plants: cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins.
• Beds-pits and ditches.
• Vertical.

Now about whether the usual height of the beds is better or raised. For a really lazy garden, raised ones are better: when cultivating the soil, you will have to strain less. But the arrangement of high beds is troublesome and slow. So for starters, you can get high beds only for the most difficult crops to care for. And you can also use various containers / containers – for greens, salads, spicy plants. Suitable sawn along large barrels, boxes. On sale there are plastic containers that are produced specifically for the smart garden. They can generally be placed on the paths, near the entrance to the house.

The only crop under which you should not make raised beds is potatoes. It grows well in trenches, and making them is much easier and faster.

Between the beds

The beds in the smart garden are separated, the distance between them is not less than 60 cm (90-100 cm or more is better). A solid distance that needs to be filled with something. Weeding between beds is not the best idea. Why then bother with separate beds in order to fight the weeds between them … Therefore, you can either lay out / pave the paths or sow with lawn grass. The best grass for our lawn is bluegrass and bluegrass. They grow quickly, form dense greenery that is not trampled down and even tolerates work with a cart.

The grass will need to be cut, so you will need a lawn mower or trimmer. And the cut grass can be used for mulch. Then, by the way, weeds will come out – they do not withstand frequent haircuts.

 Some tricks

The technology is called the smart garden for a reason. You can test different approaches, novelties, experience of “colleagues”. There are a few tricks that come along with the operation. We have already talked about one – about the covering material. It really simplifies care and mulch is not needed. There are other interesting ideas:

• After “heavy” crops for the land, sow oats, peas, mustard, and rapeseed. After a couple of weeks, juicy greens grow. It can be left “under the snow”, dug up in the spring. Or dig just before the snow along with the greenery. The goal here is twofold – young greens rot, enriching the earth. This time. And two – weeds do not grow, as the shoots are friendly.
  

• Use white covering material to prolong the “cottage” season and get an early harvest. Arcs are made from a steel bar with a diameter of 8-1 mm. In medium or high density spunbond, drawstrings are sewn with a width of 2 cm or more. Arcs are inserted into them, a spunbond is assembled on the wire so that the ends of the wire are free. A portable mini-greenhouse is ready. Stick arcs from both ends of the beds. To close the plants from frost, straighten the spunbond, you can open it for a day by collecting all the material on one side. The same design will save you from overheating in the summer heat.
• Put a large metal barrel in the corner of the site. Put weeds and other plant waste in it. To fill with water. The greens will quickly rot and this slurry can be used for top dressing. Only the barrel must be covered – the contents do not smell the best.

Surely there are more tricks in the processing of a smart garden. If we find out about them, we will definitely update the article.