Question 5: How will you maintain your new garden?
Once you’ve dedicated your time and funds to installing a new garden, you will want to maintain your new investment. Watering, weeding, fertilizing, mulching, pruning and harvesting are a few maintenance items you will need to plan for. If yours is a family garden, specific tasks could be assigned to certain family members. Doing so helps to create a sense of ownership of the space as you all work together to grow your new garden.
Conversely, if you will be the only person maintaining it, consider how much you can realistically handle given your available time and energy to devote to the task. It’s better to start small, then scale your garden up as more resources become available, than to bite off too much and become completely overwhelmed, risking quitting before you accomplish your goal.
One additional consideration is the tools that will be needed to maintain the garden you are installing. You wouldn’t plant a lawn, for example, if you didn’t own a lawnmower or have a service to mow it for you. Basic garden tools such as spades, trowels, pruners, pruning saw, rakes, watering cans and a wheelbarrow or cart will be needed if you want to grow and maintain a garden.
