How much time does it take?

This is from a piece originally posted in January 2013. I have updated it a slight bit. (Please excuse the broken links – I’m working on them)

One of my biggest goals at Wild Suburbia is to hone my lazy-gardening skills. I know that my family laughs when I talk about how little time I spend in the garden. Yes, it is true that sometimes a quick fifteen minutes in the garden is two hours by the clock. After all, I am a gardener; gardening is a passion, not a chore. Nevertheless, I recognize that you may not share my passion for outdoor, physical labor. With the help of a detailed garden journal, I hope that I can provide an accurate assessment of the amount of time needed to maintain a mature, native plant habitat garden like Wild Suburbia. However, you have been forewarned – my sense of time in the garden is somewhat skewed.

Unlike traditional landscape gardening I do not mow and blow each and every week of the year. To be honest, we did engage a service to do this task when most of the yard was covered with lawn. As the years passed, the amount of lawn requiring constant maintenance shrank. Finally, only a small patch of lawn remained on the east side of the front yard. One day, my gardener came to me and asked if we still wanted his services. Usually two to three workers spent about 30 minutes each week mowing, blowing and edging the lawn. In addition to the 4-person hours of labor per month, there was the noise, air pollution and use of fuel that goes with this kind of work. Since the original writing of this post, we have been lawn-free since late 2017. The mow-and-blow service no longer comes, but I occasionally hire a gardener who specializes in native plants to help me clean up after the wildflower season ends.

The following list of gardening activities include only those that would be considered general, ongoing garden care. I have not included things like new plantings, removal of large shrubs, or clean-up from major storms. The list begins with tasks that must be done all year. Next the year is divided into gardening seasons.

Gardening Seasons

Here in Southern California, the gardening season begins with the rains in late fall to winter. I know that Lowe’s and The Home Depot would prefer that you believe that our gardening season begins in spring like the rest of the country, but it just isn’t so. Rain tapers off and temperatures increase in spring. An abundance of flowering shrubs and wildflowers make California springtime outrageously colorful.

The year gets progressively hotter  and drier, occasionally with a slight respite in June, affectionately called June Gloom. Sometimes June Gloom occurs in May or July, and sometimes it does not happen at all. This is a weather pattern of heavy fog and clouds. Although it rarely rains, days are less hot and dry. Once June Gloom passes we are in for months and months of hot and dry weather. It can be foggy and overcast, and sometimes it is not all that hot, but it is unlikely that we will see any significant rain for a period of six to eight months. Finally, the rains return in late fall to winter. Some years the rain starts as early as November, while in other years it may not come at all, save a few light sprinkles. Rainfall is very variable over the years, ranging from a soaking 35 inches down to just a few. 

Gardening Fun

The following table covers the major garden tasks in Wild Suburbia. I have not yet calculated the actual amount of time spent on these tasks, though it is on my to-do list. This, though, can give you some idea of the kind of work a mature, native garden requires.

As you can see, much of the work is irrigating the garden properly. If there were no mature, non-native trees, this would not be so important. However, the avocados and deodar require year around irrigation. The vegetable garden and potted plants also require careful irrigation. Ridding the garden of both of these would greatly reduce the work load, but I love the containers, and garden tomatoes – well of course they are worth it! The parkway wildflowers are another source of garden fun. Sowing the seeds in the fall and winter is no problem. This, though, must be followed up with careful weeding, removal of the plants once they have finished their life cycle (died, that is), and seed collection, if desired. It is actually a fair amount of work. 

I know that as my garden has matured (and I have grown older), the amount of attention and work required have decreased. Not a bad thing at all. 

(Click here for Garden Schedule)

ALL YEAR
Sweep paths and sidewalk	at least weekly
Prune shrubs and plants along sidewalk	monthly
Tend vegetable garden	weekly
Weed new garden beds, be especially vigilant to get bermuda grass	approx. 1-2x month
COOL, WET SEASON (Nov – Feb)
Irrigation	depends on seasonal rain
– Parkway gardens, oak tree, woodland garden	usually none; suppl. if no rain
– Front yard, on irrigation system	approx. 1-2x/mo
– Front yard veg garden (west), on auto low volume emitters	approx. 2-3x per week
– Backyard avocado, citrus trees	approx. 2x//month
– Pots	as needed
Weed control: prostrate spurge and other winter weeds	1-2x/month
Sow wildflower seeds	2-3x/season
Prune sage and monkey flowers before new growth begins (late fall)	1x/season
Prune hard wild grape after it has gone dormant	1x/season
SPRING (Mar – May)
Irrigation
– Parkway gardens, oak tree, woodland garden	usually none; suppl. if no rain
– Front yard, on irrigation system	start watering bi-monthly if hot
– Front yard veg garden (west), on auto low volume emitters	approx. 3x/week or every other day
– Backyard avocado, citrus trees	approx. 2x//month
– Pots	as needed
Weed control: garden spurge, oxalis, warm season weeds, new beds	weekly
Wildflowers: weed around them, thin, clear, collect seeds. I love the wildflower display, but if you are tempted to create your own superbloom, and who isn’t, be forewarned, THIS IS NOT A SMALL TASK. Clean up is a major job requiring a very large compost area, or many green waste containers.	weekly
Groom large bunchgrass (deergrass, alkali sacaton) by raking dried blades with landscape rake	1x/year
HOT/DRY SEASON (June – Oct)
– Parkway gardens, oak tree, woodland garden	none for oak; 1-2x/summer for parkway; 1x/mo for wdld
– Front yard, on irrigation system	weekly or every 10 days
– Front yard veg garden (west), on auto low volume emitters	daily or every other day dep. weather
– Backyard avocado, citrus trees	approx. 2x/mon, or more often dep. on weather
– Pots	daily or as needed
Prune coast live oak, late July to early Sept. Only remove branches for safety, those that are damaged or crossed or with narrow crotches, and those needed to develop good structure. (Hire a reputable arborist for mature trees.)	as needed
Prune wild grape to control growth. Remove from nearby plants and structures as needed.	as needed