Every now and then there's a cross over with my favourite communities which I love! I'm always telling my students that you can bring Math skills to Literature and vice verse but they never believe me. This week The Minimalist community asks how we might practice a minimalist approach in our gardens - how could I not reply as facilitator of the Hive Garden community?

For me personally, minimalist gardening comes down to three main things:

a) Reducing labour and time intensive tasks
b) Reducing waste - both financial and garden waste
c) Maximising time you enjoy in the garden.

Our garden after a month away in Tassie. Wild and unruly!

The way I garden has changed a lot over the years, but I was thinking the other day that I have always been a gardener, since I first moved out of home with pots of herbs when I was a teenager. That's 40 years of being a gardener, and I still don't call myself an expert, but I'd like know a few things!

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 1: Be Prepared to Pull Out Things That Don't Work

This is the umbrella rule of all rules - everything else is under this massive starting point that takes gardeners a long time to learn.

As plant lovers we often get attached to all our plants, and can persist even though that plant doesn't have a real function or might be more trouble than it's worth. There has to be a degree of ruthlessness and logic in our garden life otherwise we make more work for ourselves. For example, my dream of a pomegranate tree had to be put to one side because they really struggle to bear fruit in this climate.

I had the small shrub, but it had no other function - it didn't provide valuable shade, the birds weren't as keen on it's flowers, and it really isn't a pretty plant unless it's fruiting. The huge fig I planted sucked water from all the plants around it. The pear trees got in the way of reversing our cars. The second dagga plant with it's beautiful orange flowers was a labour, as the rabbits hid under both - one was enough. Some plants are harder to care for with house sitters, are water hungry (like corn) or spread madly (like elder). Whilst I loved all those plants, they had to go - except for the elder, which provides shade for the chickens and the berries we make into syrup, so it earnt it's place.

Bottom line is don't make life harder for yourself - there's plenty that needs a'tending in the garden.

Freshly laid garden path - we bought a battery powered blower that de-leafs the whole garden fast!

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 2: Let Things Flower & Self Seed

It is a lot of effort to grow plants from seed, nurturing them along in greenhouses. If you live in a temperate climate like mine, it's a good idea to let some plants seed, particularly coriander, lettuce, kale, silverbeet, fennel and beetroot. The flowers help the bees survive, which in turn help pollinate your garden, and the seeds create plants that grow just when the conditions are right, saving you the trouble of doing it yourself. You can thin them or replant them if you like, or let them grow where they want.

As 'garden minimalism' for me often means 'maximising TIME in the garden, I think letting your garden do it's own thing sometimes works. Sometimes things that self seed can be pleasant suprises, like tomatoes or chamomile.

Calendula is a great one to let go to seed. It's cheery, you can use it in salads and medicines, and it's good for the soil

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 3: Keep Chickens, And Worms

One can't be mad at chickens. They are such lovely and calming creatures - no, a rooster isn't a chicken. As long as you can keep them contained where you want them and keep the foxes away, they give an enormous amount back. And whilst feed might seem expensive, there's other things - aside from eggs - that save labour, money and time in the garden. And I dont know anyone who's ever held a grudge against a worm.

Firstly, mulch. I have a circular economy thing going where I spread straw for the chooks, who pick it free of seeds, scatter it, poo and wee on it, and then when it's mucky, I rake it up and it goes on the compost in layers or as mulch in the garden.

Secondly, they help get rid of food waste - and turn it into fertiliser.

Thirdly, let the chickens scratch over a bed you've just harvested from and they'll sort out the weeds and the bugs in no time.

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 4: Save Money by Making Your Own Fertiliser

You seriously aren't a gardener if you're not making your own compost. But another cheap fertiliser is making a 'tea' - basically a lovely, smelly liquid that can be diluted and sprayed or poured over certain plants. Mine is a big rubbish bin full of comfrey and borage leaves and broad leaf weeds. Sometimes I make my own seaweed fertiliser too, or pick it up in bucketfuls for mulch. Once you have the know how and the working system, it takes very little time to do this.

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 5: Mulch, mulch, mulch.

There is NOTHING better for keeping soil fertile than mulch - it stops the soil drying out, keeps the weeds from growing where you don't want them, encourages important bacteria, and fertilises as it breaks down.

Minimalist Gardening Tip Number 6: Stick to the 15 Minutes a Day Rule

My yoga teacher used to say that doing an hour of yoga a day saved time. How could this be when I'd just spent an hour doing it? But it gave me more clarity and I was less ill, so actualllly made me more productive after all.

It's the same with gardening. If you make a rule that you'll get out there every day for 15 minutes, you'll save time and effort. And if you have a partner, 15 minutes doubled is half an hour. Here's what we did last night, on a hot autumn evening:

• Watered the garden
• Picked tomatoes
• Pulled a handful of weeds
• Changed the chicken water
• Picked zucchini and chopped the big ones up for the chooks.

Now, I know there's more to do - I have to prune the grapevine, pick lemons, and sweep the leaves from the path, but I can leave that for tomorrow, or maybe I'll get carried away and spend a joyful hour in the garden that feels like 15 minutes. But that minimum stops things being overwhelming, and even if there isn't much to do at all or if you're too tired to do it, you get this lovely meditative moment in nature and maybe reassess what to do on the weekend.

Since we started this rule, our garden has been more consistantly tended, neater, and more cared for. It doesn't feel like a sacrifice and the benefits are huge. It's only when people ignore their gardens for weeks on end because it feels like too much gardens get out of control. I promise you that a small amount of effort every day has much bigger rewards.

I laughed reading back this post. It doesn't sound like I'm a minimalist in the garden at all - if you're a non gardener you'd think this was all too much! But gardeners will know that no matter the size of the garden, it's about systems that work to maximise labour, pleasure, and your wallet - that's it. From a balcony garden to a farm, minimalist habits bring maxi results.

With Love,

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