6 Ways to Speed Up Spring Cleaning

It's time to clean up the garden for spring, and if you're anything like me, you want it done as quickly and painlessly as possible. I love to sit in the garden and enjoy the blooms, but toiling endlessly is not my jam.  Here are a few ways to make the cleanup go more quickly.

GET IT DONE BEFORE THE HEAT SETS IN

It will be hot, hot, hot by June. If you don't want your garden clean up served with a side of heat stroke, get going now.

MAKE IT A SPRINT, NOT A MARATHON

Don't make this a marathon where you spend 6 hours bent over weeds (and another 3 hours soaking in the tub wishing you hadn't). Do it in short sprints when the weather allows. Then you can start sooner and get a jump on the season. I take 20 minutes to make sure all my plant labels are in place and legible (so I don't mulch over something by mistake), then I'm done. Another 20 minutes getting any old leaves out of pots, then I'm done. Another 20 minutes planting out the pots on the front porch for spring, then I'm done. You get the idea.

FOCUS

It is genuinely overwhelming to think about everything you have to get done out there. So don't. Go all out on one small area of the garden, make it perfect, then you're done for now. You officially have a "win" under your belt, you have one good-looking garden area to relax in, and you have proved to yourself that you CAN do this. When you're ready, move on to the next small area. Make it perfect. Then the next. Before you know it, half the garden is done, and you didn't end up in a chiropractor's office to do it.

"Small area" can be as small as you want. On my laziest days, this is literally one pot. Don't judge me. If I can get one pot planted out perfectly, that's a win. 

THINK ABOUT THE FASTEST WAY TO GET IT DONE BEFORE YOU DO IT

I appreciate the dedication that goes into spending 3 hours pulling 52 individual weeds by hand, but ummm...  no. I save up cardboard boxes from deliveries all winter, and when it's time to weed and mulch the beds, I lay the cardboard over the weeds, lay the mulch over the cardboard, and I'm DONE. You can't tell the cardboard is there at all; the cardboard is biodegradable so I'm not an environment-destroying monster; and I will not see a single weed all season. Most importantly, it is FAST and SIMPLE. Check, check.

(I'm going to pause here to rant about landscape fabric in garden beds, which I despise with my whole being. Am I the only person who toiled endlessly to put down landscape fabric only to have weeds literally grow ON TOP of the fabric the next year????  Seriously?  That's a no for me.)

There's the "technically perfect" way to do it, and the "get it done" way to do it. Go for the "get it done" method and applaud yourself for being efficient. 

DON'T HESITATE TO GET HELP

I like to dig in the dirt as much as the next gal, but when 20 trees drop all their leaves in my backyard in one week, it's time to bring in extra hands. This can be a family member, neighborhood kids, or someone you hire if you have the money for it. As long as it get's done, what's the difference? 

RELAX

Best for last here...  Chillllllll. It WILL get done. Or it won't and you will still enjoy your summer. Keep your perspective. If you get enough done so that you're not "that" house in the neighborhood and you have a spot to enjoy outside for the summer, that's a win. Gardening is about peace and joy. If you don't enjoy it, don't do it.