Something about growing your own food just makes it taste better. Maybe it's the countless hours of toiling in your garden beds that make the fruits taste sweeter. However, there's so much more work that goes into maintaining these garden beds than simply harvesting crops.
Fortunately, TikToker Betsy (@betsyjennings) has shared a simple "lazy girl" hack to help save some time and effort on closing the gardening season and packing up your garden beds for the year.
@betsyjennings Lazy girl gardening >>> #backyardgarden #backyardgardening #gardeninghacks #gardeningtips #lazygirl ♬ original sound - betsyjennings
The scoop
By the start of fall, your garden's likely filled with spent plants, remaining foliage, and other plant material.
End-of-season gardening checklists, like this one from the Old Farmer's Almanac, might have you digging out annual plants, weed-whacking your perennials and weeds, and prepping your garden's soil for the next season.
Instead of cleaning out her garden beds perfectly, Betsy simply prunes the overgrown foliage and plant material and covers her garden beds with it. The idea is to provide an organic matter cover for the soil. This cover protects and fertilizes the soil as the organic matter breaks down over time during the colder seasons.
Betsy explains, "This is actually really good for the soil. It's also good for insects to winter over in, and for birds and other animals to have something to eat off of through the winter."
How it's helping
Gardening — especially community gardening — is a fantastic hobby to pick up for physical and mental health.
One study by the University of Colorado (Boulder) found that between two study groups (one gardening and one control group), the gardening group increased their levels of weekly physical activity and had lower levels of anxiety and stress compared to the control group. The gardening group also had a higher daily fiber intake than the control group.
Another study from Singapore found that community gardeners, compared to non-gardeners and at-home gardeners, had higher levels of subjective well-being, including higher levels of resilience and optimism. Community gardening provides a sense of belonging and purpose that contributes to greater well-being.
🗣️ What is the biggest reason you don't grow food at home?
🔘 Not enough time ⏳
🔘 Not enough space 🤏
🔘 It seems too hard 😬
🔘 I have a garden already 😎
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Gardening is a relaxing and, quite literally, fruitful hobby. However, it's not always a walk in the park.
Having the end-of-season garden clean-up hanging over your head can feel stressful, especially with the rest of your to-do list.
Not only is this gardening hack encouraging you to leave it all be, but the result is that your garden beds provide a safe habitat for important pollinators, insects, and non-migratory birds to hide in throughout the colder months.
What people are saying
Folks were thrilled to learn they could do good for the environment by simply being "lazy" with their gardens.
"I got to do this for my garden!" one user exclaimed.
"Love this idea and it makes me feel less guilty about not cleaning out my gardens," another user commented, to which Betsy replied, saying, "I saw something that said nature doesn't clean up in the fall, so maybe we should take its lead."
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