It’s Easy Being Green

It’s hot, summer is winding down, those lucky neighbors are on vacation for a week. For those holding down the home front, here are a few tips for keeping the garden ball in play while saving electricity, water, gas, money and your enthusiasm.

Get out!  Any task that can be done outside most pleasant will be. Even when written in Elizabethan, you know I’m right. Common sense dictates that exposure to daylight is a natural anti-depressant. Morning coffee, washing the dog, turning on the garden hose to water potted plants can actually become a pleasant break from the swirl of indoor tasks waiting to engulf you. Even sweeping outside lends proprioceptive tranquilizing rhythms.  So arrange flowers outside in the shade.  Set out that jar of sun-tea early in the day. BBQ outside, of course. Then for at least one evening this week, have dinner outside, too. On your balcony, the front steps, or at a patio table. Listen to the crickets. Feel the occasional breeze. Sweet!

Lifeline? Ah, clothesline. I know people hailing from the 20th century like my aunt Thelma who never bought into the whole dryer thing. But I’ve just recently become a clothesline convert. I use it for about 50% of the washloads that I pull out of the machine. It saves electricity, sure. More important for me, I don’t have to clean the lint filter, nor vacuum on the bottom, sides and top of my under-counter dryer. Nor am I a slave to the cleanout vent on the side of the house. Ew, I could weave coats for the whole neighborhood based on the amount of lint in that 20 foot egress. Instead, I copied my sister, who loves her clothesline dried loofah-strength bath towels, a stiff crisp of terrycloth to invigorate après le bain. (Note to self: if the towels are brought in as soon as they dry, the family won’t complain about abrasions.)

Save it, Sister!  Ever notice how bigger pots cost more than small pots?  Yes, bigger and more go together. Bigger pots require more potting soil. Again with the bigger plus more. Add more fertilizer, more water, more space and that ka-ching will clean out your wallet faster than you can say ouch!  Solution: plant smaller pots. Insert that 4” herb in a 6” diameter container.  You cook food, three, maybe four nights a week? You’re not using a kilo of parsley. Use four sprigs in salad and another two to garnish pasta. You still have plenty left over for next Tuesday. If you have a large family or lots of guests, yes, refresh the end-of-summer growing season with an entire 6-pack in a 12” squat pot, such as one for azaleas or bulbs. Generally with growing herbs, think small. You’ll use fewer resources and have far less heavy lifting when it comes to moving or replanting pots.

Make Way For Pups.  Check your succulents. Not for wayward behavior, but for offspring. This time of year many have set pups. With a straight-edge blade or sharp knife, cut away new plants, let them heel or develop a callus, or air dry, for a few days. Then plant the pups in loosely draining potting soil. Voila! New plants for the cost of your labor. Don’t overthink this. For the record, they’re free.

More tips next week!  Meanwhile, slow down. Gardening is not a race.