How busy gardeners can save time: 5 simple strategies to reduce garden overwhelm

For those gardening in the Southern Hemisphere, late November is undoubtedly one of the busiest times of the year, with pretty much all our summer crops either in the ground and needing watering and attention, or about to be planted. But with the festive season just around the corner, and the end of year wind down already in motion, it’s a busy time in general, so allocating even just ten minutes a day towards growing your own food can feel daunting.

I work with women who want to overcome garden overwhelm so they can grow, harvest and eat organic food from their garden year-round, and one of the most common complaints I hear is that they are lacking time. So today I want to offer a 5 simple strategies to help, so that instead of getting overwhelmed and achieving nothing (I've been there!) you can get organised and tick things off your list one by one.

1.       Create a weekly timetable to suit your schedule.

It’s hard to make time for something if we don’t actually know how much time we have to spare. When we just guess, we usually get it wrong — we either assume we have all the time in the world (and then wonder why nothing gets done), or we convince ourselves we’re far too busy (when in reality, a little less Netflix or an earlier start might free up more time than we think).

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of believing we don’t have time for our gardens, when often it’s just that we’re not allocating our time properly. The same goes the other way - thinking we can squeeze in massive jobs, only to realise later we didn’t have nearly enough time after all to get the job done in.

So, using a garden diary, planner, or Google calendar, mark out all the times in your week that are already spoken for - work hours, school runs, kids’ activities, night classes, family commitments, even social events. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to clearly see the gaps.

Now you can see where the gaps are, allocate a regular time each week to spend in your garden. This might be a Saturday afternoon, or Thursday morning. Whenever it is, try to block out a three or four hour chunk each week for your garden over this busy growing season. Sometimes if I have an entire day available I just write "Gardening Day" in my planner and leave the actual time I will go out to the garden until the day itself.

The important thing here is to actually write your intentions down; its amazing what gets achieved when you cement your plans on paper!

After this, look at the smaller gaps you have left that could be used to do any regular garden tasks. Depending on the season and how large your garden is, this might be just ten minutes each morning to check and water seedlings, or half an hour after dinner each evening so you can get on top of the weeding.

Be intentional with this - the amount of time you need will depend on what you are wanting to achieve, so take each week as it comes.

**One thing to keep in mind is that planning garden time can be tricky when the weather’s unpredictable, so I highly recommend finding a reliable weather app and using it to help plan your gardening windows each week.

Allocating time in your planner for gardening means it is more likely to actually get done.

2.       Break down the big jobs into small manageable chunks.

So much of our overwhelm in life comes from panning right out and seeing everything that needs to happen before we can reach our desired goal. It’s no different in the garden - especially in the middle of spring when there’s just so much to do.

While it’s important to hold the bigger picture in mind, I encourage you to zoom in and tackle the smaller jobs one by one as they come up. When we break larger tasks down; so that a daunting two or three hour mission becomes a few manageable 20- or 30-minute segments, it suddenly feels achievable. You can then slot these smaller chunks into your weekly timetable, and take small, consistent steps toward that bigger vision, without getting lost in the overwhelm.

For example: instead of “create the new garden bed,” start with “collect the compost” or “mark out the shape.” These smaller wins build momentum, and before you know it, you’ve made real progress without feeling buried by the to-do list.

The creation of this no-dig garden area is managed by breaking the big jobs into smaller tasks that can be tackled one-by-one as time allows

3.       Make a "to-do" list and have it on display

This is one of the most effective time saving strategies of all, because not only does it ensure you are only working on the highest priority jobs, it also encourages those living with you to help.

Get a blackboard or whiteboard set up somewhere in plain view that you walk past everyday. On here you will write only the most pressing jobs as they come up; these are the things that need to get done now; you might have noticed they needed your attention when you were out in your garden last, or they may be part of a larger garden goal that you have broken up into manageable chunks (see above).

Right now on our blackboard - which is in the kitchen - it says: tie up grape, plant pumpkins, get manure, make compost and mound potatoes up. These are the top jobs that need doing now.

Having a list like this is the perfect way to include a partner or housemate who perhaps is willing to help but never really knows what should be done - invite them to take notice of what is written on it each week and ask them to help out whenever they can. You could even put a star next to the jobs you need a hand with or that they could tackle on their own.

There are a couple of rules when it comes to the list:

• Only write the most urgent to-do jobs on there - I usually try not to have any more than five jobs written up at one time. You want to avoid using this as a brainstorming area, instead you want a short yet concise list of jobs that you can tick off one by one. once ticked off will

• Secondly, always rub each job off the list once it is done. This will make you feel like you are getting somewhere, clear room for the next urgent job, and help to propel your garden production forward.

OK, so I did have more than five jobs written here, but the grapes were tied and the pumpkins were planted on the same day I wrote up "mulch corn"

4.       Ask your family to help

There are a few ways you can do this, and having the visible list I mentioned above is a really good start. But if you have children or grandchildren, (especially young kids that are still at the age where they are willing to please) you could extend the invitation to help to the, and offer an incentive. You will find they are enthusiastic helpers, and there are certain tasks you might find they are surprisingly good at.

My boy Shea was a top weeder when he was younger; his diligence at doing mundane jobs well meant he helped me weed many garden beds. Now he is my top hedge pruner (see the pic below).

**A tip for if you bring your kids out to help weed is to give them an area that is just weeds where they can freely pull everything out, or give them a garden where it it really obvious which plants are weeds and which plants aren't (like a strawberry patch for example). It also pays to make sure the ground isn't too hard so the weeds can be easily pulled.

Another thing we used to do was pay our kids 50c a bucket to collect horse manure from our paddock. The job was tedious for us but a fun competition to them, with the boys fighting over the poo to see who could earn the most! Yay for us!!

My children used to help me a lot in the garden...

...and sometimes they still do!

5. Have a working bee

This one’s often overlooked, but a good old-fashioned working bee can work wonders for those big, daunting garden jobs. If you have friends or family who can help you, utilise their skills and host a working bee, then return the favour when they’ve got a big task of their own to tackle - even if it isn't gardening. It’s amazing how much more you can get done (and how much more fun it feels) when you’re working alongside others.

If you’ve got a good community of neighbours around you, you could even rotate working bees at each other’s homes and finish the day with a shared potluck meal. Not only will you all be achieving big jobs with ease, you will also be forming a positive community connection with each other, a rhythm which can continue on. This will make your gardening plans feel less like a solo mission and more like a shared celebration.

Having friends and family help with the big jobs always eases the burden and makes the task more fun

Lastly, let’s talk about intention. If you really want something, it won’t happen by accident. Instead, you need to set aside time each day and pay it attention. Planning like this helps make that intention real and puts it out into the cosmos, showing that it’s important and that you’re choosing to make it happen. Remember, organisation is a very empowering way of combating overwhelm.

One last word. Overwhelm is a very real thing when discussing something as big as growing food - I mean it is a lot! But your not alone..

I help women just like you who want to grow an abundant garden for their families, but are totally confused with where to start. If you need help in this area, book a free garden chat with me. Together we will brainstorm your challenges and explore ways I may be able to help.

Book your Free Garden Chat here