Visitors to my yard usually all make the following statement, "I bet this is a lot of work!" I always respond, "It's not a lot of work, but it does take a lot of love." Actually, I know what they mean, gardening takes time and energy and if your garden area has expanded with every new plant you've purchased, it can be a daunting task to tackle the entire thing.

The mini-garden is my answer to this challenge. Instead of having one GIGANTIC garden area, break it up into smaller mini-gardens. The picture shows one of my mini-gardens. It's a square about seven feet on each side. While I wouldn't want to tackle my entire garden all in one day, I can easily deadhead, stake and pull weeds from an area this large. My goal, most days, is to work in one or two mini-gardens and leave the rest for another day. In this way I usually make it around to my 14 mini-gardens by the end of the week.

One of the nature groups I belong to encourages people to plant native plants in their yards... a noble idea. Some people take this to the extreme and literally don't have one blade of grass left in their yard. As we visit these suburban gardens, I hear horror stories of how the home owners are getting police citations and court summons for having their yards so much out of control. As I visit some of these yards it's easy to see how the home owner has been overwhelmed with the task of keeping up such a large area.

I'd encourage you to try the mini-garden theory. It's a lot easier to maintain and should keep you from breaking the law.