Gardening doesn’t need to be out of reach of people with hectic lifestyles. Those are the ones who need it the most. It’s a therapeutic hobby. One study revealed that just viewing plants altered EEG results, proving that “green care” reduces “stress, fear, anger and sadness”.
With that in mind…
Discover 6 Quick Gardening Ideas that Require Very Little Time
1. Herb wall planters
Small herbs like basil, oregano, parsley and coriander need little soil depth and are minimal maintenance edibles. These can be grown on planters on a kitchen windowsill, or you could go all in and dedicate a wall or a door for a herb wall planter.
You can grow these in hanging grow bags, perfect if you have limited space because you could hang them over the inside door of a garden shed. For greenery outdoors, herb stands can be affixed to the side of wooden garden sheds, and if all you have are exterior walls with no garden, you can affix herb stands to the exterior walls of your home to grow herbs vertically.
For a more ornate design, consider using a trellis and hanging decorative planters from it, each having different herbs growing.
2. Window box gardening
Window boxes date back to the 17th Century. A typical wooden box planter can last between 3 and 5 years before the wood deteriorates. Give it a lick of paint, that life span can be tripled to last up to 15 years.
If you live in an apartment without a garden or a balcony, the window box may be the only way to grow plants. They can be perched on the windowsill indoors, or you can anchor them to the building, just below the window so they’re within easy reach.
As for the size, you can get window box planters with depths up to 12”, so you aren’t limited to only shallow-rooted plants like growing an herb garden. You can branch out and even have rows of different plants in a single container.
Think if it as similar to a hanging basket with much more space!
3. Air Plant Gardens
First, a little clarification: Air plants are not the same as succulents. Succulents need soil to support them. Air plants don’t. That’s an important distinction because when you want fast ways to have plants (minimal time caring for them), you can ditch the soil by growing air plants.
The roots of air plants are only there for anchoring. They’ll latch onto anything such as the crevices of driftwood, or spaces between gravel. They can go outdoors, indoors, in pots, or you can grow them vertically by removing the stems and using a hot glue gun to attach them to walls, a piece of driftwood to create a nice wall art display, the back panel of a shelf on a bookcase, or an alcove (recess in a wall).
All air plants need is about 6 hours of sun a day. They get water, nutrients, oxygen and moisture from humidity in the air entering through the leaves, not roots.
Most things that traditional gardeners spend time fixing or maintaining is the health of a plant’s roots. When you take the root care out of the equation, you’d be surprised how minimal effort air plants are.
4. Dish or container gardening
Dish gardening could be described as a miniature version of container gardens. Instead of plant pots, you use dishes, bowls, or big round bird baths to create a floral display with numerous plant types.
Some ideas:
- Stick with the succulents and build them in terrariums (more on that below)
- Go with a tropical setup and have moss, ferns, and the dwarf varieties of tropical plants like philodendron, or the pygmy date palm.
- Get creative with a fairy garden using plants like Baby Tears, a Dwarf Fig Tree, spikemoss, asparagus fern, and of course, the star of the shows, figurines and ornamentals for display pieces. Miniature fairies, trolls, bird baths, toadstools, perhaps even a treehouse.
- The lowest maintenance garden is the Zen Garden and that’s because the primary focus is on hardscaping. There’s 3 core components – rock, gravel, and sand. Wood can be used, too. Typically, water features aren’t included, but you do you. If you that a water feature would help you feel zen, include one.
The idea really boils down to simplifying and downsizing gardens using miniatures or dwarf varieties and a dish to keep everything contained.
If you have the space and your only limitation is time to tend to watering, you can drastically reduce time by making a wicking bed, much like a self-watering system for plants in containers.
5. Terrariums
Closed terrariums are sealed containers with miniature plants inside. As the container is sealed, it locks in moisture. Heat causes water to evaporate resulting in condensation. The rule of gravity – what goes up must come down – keeps the plants watered. Terrariums are self-sustaining in the watering department.
What can happen though is too much condensation can set in. When that happens, to avoid an over-watering catastrophe, open the terrarium to let some moisture dissipate, then seal it again after several hours.
When there’s too much moisture in the terrarium, it can cause mold spores and even mushrooms to start to grow. If you do get mold or white mushroom spores developing, treating it with neem oil early on can nip it in the bud.
Plants that are elongating to reach light, indicate it’s not getting enough sunlight. Terrariums tend to thrive when they get a good dose of indirect sunlight. Direct sunlight can be too strong, resulting in scorching of some of the plants inside, and moisture loss from overheating. The ideal temperature for terrariums is 21oC (69.8oF).
6. Grow microgreens
Who says fast food ain’t healthy? It can be when you grow your own micro greens. As the name suggests these are micro in size, generally harvested when they reach just a few inches.
Despite them being teeny in size at the point of harvesting, they still pack a nutritious punch. From seed to harvest can take less than 3 weeks. Sometimes just one week after the first true leaves emerge.
All you need is some seeds, a plastic tray and light, plus the usual equipment like a spray bottle and a soil mix like peat and perlite. You don’t even need sunlight!
These can be grown outdoors, or inside, near a window, or under grow lights. The more light they get, the faster they’ll grow and the more compact they’ll grow too.
For minimal work and maximum yield, set a grow station up with LED lights on a timer to have the plants get light exposure for 16 hours, then 8 hours rest. See how they fair with those times and shorten or lengthen the time they get under lights based on how they respond.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.