Fresh air benefits the body and mind. Take a few minutes every day to check on your garden’s well-being — and boost your own in the process.
Fresh air benefits the body and mind. When given the opportunity, we all should venture outdoors to work in the garden.
Of course, COVID-19 protocols of wearing a face mask and maintaining a six-foot distance from others must always be adhered to when working in the great outdoors.
Let’s look at some of the daily and weekly tasks to tackle in the garden.
DAILY
- Get to know good and bad bugs here. Then, scrutinize your plants and trees for them. Examples of bad bugs include sucking insects such as aphids, mealy bugs and scale. Good bugs include lacewings, ladybugs, wasps, spiders and beetles.
- Add 2-3 ice cubes to your herb containers. Slow watering is perfect for herbs, and if necessary, for succulents.
- Harvest produce — it tastes best when harvested and eaten the same day.
- Smell the flowers. Everything is blooming right now.
- Use the iNaturalist app to find out what’s actually growing and going on in your garden.
- Put your kitchen byproducts — coffee, egg shells, rinds, vegetables — in a compost cage. Here’s a how-to hot composting video.
WEEKLY
- Mow, mow, mow. Select one day a week to mow and stick to it. Mowing kills weeds and encourages grass to grow.
- Water the lawn, if necessary, once a week. Not sure you need to? Consult the watering advice at com.
- If you only find bad bugs, first squish them then spray plant leaves with a fierce burst of water. Hard spray works almost as good as chemicals, but if necessary, apply an insecticidal soap.
There are many simple chores you can do to keep your garden and mind healthy and well. Use this time wisely to do just that. And remember: we’re all in this together.
