A Garden For Lazy People

This has been my Mother's Day gift that I have requested for the last few years and I LOVE it. This year I requested: basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, and MINT!!!! Mint is great in many drinks including water with lemon, limes, orange slices, and mint!

Helene

My Mom used to grow mint in our backyard when I was a kid. It smelled really good,but mint spreads so easily and can take over a small patch of ground fast. Still it's awesome in iced tea...and I have fond memories of smelling mint growing under my bedroom window.

arlene

I kept one planter with basil & dill last year and used them both all up. This year I'm adding mint. I plant flowers around the yard but I cannot get myself to plant a garden so this works.

De

They come ready made? I'm in. Thank you for being so honest about this. I love the THOUGHT of gardening but really don't enjoy it at all. The sun, the bugs, the backaches. I'm off to Home Depot this weekend!

Patti

I keep an herb garden outside in my flower beds. But don't want to disappoint the farmer market folks, so try not to plant veggies! As you can tell I don't enjoy all the work gardening requires! Glad to see I'm not alone!

Di

My lazy garden has sage, thyme, chives, basil, tarragon and rosemary. It spurs all kinds of creative cooking.

Marilyn

Another lazy farming trick, they're called something like city garden boxes and you get them online or in the gardening department of large hardware or department stores. Mine are about 4x4 (feet) and I have one for herbs and one for tomatoes. I'm putting it on my deck, they're made from plastic and come with an irrigation system so you can't over-water. I told the woman I bought my herbs from that I was a lazy gardener, she said-no you're an urban gardener. I like that!

Becky

I love gardening but never have enough room. Last year we got a Tower Garden. It's vertical aeroponic garden system. Our produce grew so fast and tasted better than the stuff in the found. The kids love picking their salad right off of it. That is when they really started eating salad!

Anna Spaeth

I am working on a small garden with herbs and vegetables. Where I live, heat isn't a problem. It's a raised bed garden so weeding shouldn't be as big as a deal. But, I'm excited for the garden. I can't wait to get fresh veggies and herbs!

Kelly

I live in a city, where gardening is difficult, but my apartment gets a fair amount of sun. That makes it easy to keep herbs growing right on my windowsill. I buy organic basil from the grocery store and put it right in my fair trade herb planter from tenthousandvillages.com. (I don't work for the store, but I love their products.)

Diana L.

Fresh herbs are one of the things I enjoy most about summer. I have small herb plot in the sunny area of my backyard, and chive and sage will 'winter over' and be there in the spring. Keep clipping the chive and it's blossoms to use in salads. Severely cut the sage back in the spring and you'll have it for years. Basil is such a treat with tomatoes; just don't let it wilt from lack of water. Keep pinching it back while you use it all summer and you'll have more than you need from about 4 plants. Rosemary is wonderful with chicken -- slide long stalks under the skin before roasting. But rosemary won't survive the winter in N.E. so pot it up as a houseplant in the fall. Mint does make a wonderful, refreshing drink. I gather a handful of leaves, crush them in a tall container, add a cup of boiling water, 2 tsp. of sugar, and let it steep a couple of hours. Fill with cold water and refrigerate for a wonderful, not-too-sweet drink. But like Arlene wrote, mint can spread quickly, so plant it in it's own area. It will also come back year after year. When my son was in pre-school, I received a dixie cup with some mint for mother's day -- 31 years ago, and the stuff is here to stay!

Marlene

Hey Snack Girl, I love that you tried a farm share last year! I'm a produce grower, and our farm runs a share program that doesn't require any working hours from its members. (Though most of them ask to do a few hours of volunteering for our food bank harvests through the season.)

Maybe there's a farm in your area that runs shares the same way, and you could still get that fresh-picked just-for-you yummy produce. One way to find them is on localharvest.org in the CSA section. That's one of the places I have my farm listed. For your readers: CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

Christina

There are some great youtube videos on how to prune/harvest basil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLblD5vM_P4

Diana L.

I absolutely love the idea,'garden for lazy people.' Part of my childhood was spent on a farm and I think I was burned out picking weeds and caring for the HUGE garden. The only thing I grow now is tomatoes on the deck but this is a great idea! I think I can manage adding some spices to my 'deck garden.'

Linda Griego

I have a garden with tomatoes, squash lots of herbs, melons, etc etc, but talk about picking weeds in the heat we will have triple digit heat for close to two months lol sometimes my garden makes it sometimes not. but we try

cindy hancock

I have been gardening the last 10 years or so, with pretty good success. Never was the best at keeping the weeds out, but other than that I have enjoyed it till the last two years.

Since I have moved in with my now wife at her place, gardening has changed. Me and my wife love tomatoes, and I have always enjoyed growing them. Once I moved here, I can not keep the squirrels out of the tomatoes. I have tried everything. Then also the last 2 years we have had heavy drought.

I basically have given up gardening, but an herb garden in the window is a good solution. Now I won't have to fight nature as hard.

Jeffery

My back yard is all shade so I usually do a container of herbs and put on my front porch. Wish I had the sun for a vegetable garden. Luckily there is a farm near by that does organic vegetables in late July/August.

Sue

You just reminded me that I want to do an herb garden this year! Thank you.

Carrie @ Season It Already!

Try this with mint. Cut up cantaloupe, honeydew, and kiwi. Make a dressing with lime juice, chopped mint and sugar (or sweetner). Toss the melon mixture and the lime dressing. Refrigerate for about an hour before serving for best flavor absorption. Yum!!

Cee

I would like to know if there are receipes

Out there just for one. Different ideas for all meals

Annamarie

I love to garden...because it is very satisfying labor of love to produce the veggies that we eat and the only place I find a little peace and quiet ;-) Just me and the weeds...

I like to make frittatas filled with veggies and herbs. This recipe had asparagus from my garden and quinoa as well, but you can change things up and add whatever veggies or herbs you like!

http://partykitchen.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/veggie-quinoa-…

Colleen

*sigh* when I started gardening I build 6 huge beds outside, bought a plastic greenhouse and all kinds of kit to grow vegetables. I should have started smaller. I spent a lot of money and effort to get very little in return. A small window sill garden like this would have been a much better start than going all in thinking I was going to end my trips to the grocery store with all the produce I grew!

CPR in Kansas