Work Shy Gardener

Whats it mean? to garden without breaking your back or spending hours weeding. I practice adaptive gardening. That is gardening light weigth enough to allow you to have a day job or a disability and still be able to garden.

I grow in raised beds, there is a 4" concreate weed barrier under them :) and they are filled with a light weight composed based soil which is a little heavier than potting soil but much cheaper to make. In addition i build and use very simple hydrophonics systems (mostly in winter).

Over the years as I have grown in various gardens I have marveled over a plants ability to grow in spite of me. They have after all been doing thier things for millions of years. Each year I planted a garden, exhasted and in pain i tended it and life would grab me. I would quite gardening for 3-4 months, only to find a massive patch of weeds. As I went about clearing the area to mow, I would find heads of lettice, large pepper plants full of fruit and so forth. So I figured they really did not need me to be messing about. So I set out to find a way to give them a chance and me a rest (at least my back)

This year I am tracking my garden in a blog, mostly for myself (gardeners log) and for anyone who has a similar situation (work and physical limits) and just wants to enjoy a garden.

Sacramento, CA Zone 8 is where I live, the climate here is good but in some ways a real pain. Why, because it basically lacks seasons. It harder for me to figure out the growing times etc. This year we had about 1 week of frost.