Lazy gardener. I want to make Wildlife/Veg/Fruit Gardens without digging. How?

Question

I have three weeks to make a garden for wildlife, fruit and veg. I am a lazy gardener and want to do least work possible. What should I do? What should I plant? I want to keep it low maintenance how do I do this?

Any other tips?

Three Weeks Free - we could 3 gardens and dig 3 ponds. What you lot talking about? Once established there should only be maintenance. Yes you need time to grow, but three weeks to make it is oooodles of time.

Answer 1

you made a spelling mistake
I am sure you meant 3 years
and that is very fast
a tree needs at least 7 years to be something to bear fruit ,but the design can be build in 3 weeks (paths)

BUILDING A GARDEN By the rules

Employ some pigs to do the work and eat them when the work is finished.

or/and make friends with some immigrants or strong hungry youths ,to do the muscle work

This is a very rough and general guide ,because there is no limit to individual situations.

PREPARING THE GROUND

Fence the garden off and put pigs in it .
but keep the ground moist
They will thoroughly clean it of all weeds and grass ,in fact of everything even suck on the stones to clean them ,for you to use after for borders or something

After 3 weeks you eat or sell the pigs ,or put them in a pen so that you can start working for them .

Your garden now needs shaping.With the least amount of work.

ROADS OR PATHS
First make the paths.draw the design of all the paths with a stick, one meter wider than you want them.Make curves and have balanced side roads .so that wheel barrows can easily navigate along(no right angles),

TRY TO MAKE A COLLECTION OF FIGURE 8`S,
so that the resulting low lying plots are surrounded by a path ,you make the entrance where it suits best.

The roads must be high ,dry and hard.
The plots low wet and soft (covered in mulch )

Dig a ditch along the lines you made ,on both sides ,and throw all the resulting ground on top of the path ,
This results in a higher path and initiates the beginning of water harvesting system,draining the roads and when inter connected with tubes or ditches with bridges to other plots ,can overall be led into a dam.

Any rocks or stones you find go on to the road including hard rubbish,gravel or building rubble

work with a wheel barrow and throw excess ground where it lacks hight.putting stuff in the right place in one time
.
PERMACULTURE PRINCIPLES
each Job must have at least two results .

So this was one job MAKING PATHS ,and you got them ,
as well as an overall design of the garden ,and you got marked plots .lower than the paths ,to be developed one at the time .
some can be turned into dams (remember they are interlinked with the water flows)
Others into vegetable plots .
and others into places for people or animals .

ZONING .
Have the things you need or visit most ,close to the house.
UTILIZE ALL SPACE
,to ensure maximum possibility
bio diversity and guild planting,Trees and fences are structures for vines

UTILIZE ALL RESOURCE
to limit costs ,everything is a resource ,stones(each size having its own range of uses)gravel .sand .clay,planks,tree trunks etc.

LOCATIONS
Plan each location of everything you make and choose the best .
a door can open more than a hundred ways ,but only one way is the best in you situation
it can also be on 4 sides and in countless places ,again only one place is the best .

a plant or a tree or a bush .in one place is good for one thing ,maybe in an other place it serves more purposes
Bushes with thorns on the borders ,to also act as a barrier,a beautiful shady tree is always a good place for a table and seats ,or to ensure shady paths to meander along.

Put animals above the veg garden so that with some ground work their manure ends up fertilizing the plants .

UTILIZE ENERGY FLOWS
try to create and utilize energy flows
for example the rain from the roof ,can lead with a channel through the chicken house (cleaning it with the rains )and deposit the manure ,where it is wanted.

Plant carrots ,cabbage ,leeks,onions in fact anything that grows ,where you are ,
Always leave some of the best examples to produce seed (seeds are expensive)
put up some structures for beans and tomatoes

What kind of wild life were you thinking off
squirrels ????
Deer need a large corral with some trees ,in fact 2 to keep the male separate

If you do veg or anything else that may represent food to homeless people or wild life
the most important part of the construction is a good fence ,
when you have nothing ,you will be alone
we all know that .
But when your garden is full of edible flowers ,fruits or vegetables ,the whole world want to come for a free dinner
if you have wet mulched plots ,the neighbors chickens are in there and you may end up at war ,and shooting the neighbor ,(although it is your responsibility to guard your creations ) ,cats (to hunt for the bird life that comes to your ponds or fruit trees)
and if you are fruitfull the wild life will find you.

Do not underestimate the good work of birds in keeping pests down.and put out feeders and bird baths to attract them,and plant something extra for them

get silkeys or bantams (they dont rake),to eat 70 % of your garden pests ,but lock them up at night in their dormitory ,because cats ,foxes weasels and meercats also love them.

keep fruit trees apart in a orchard and fence it of ,so that you can keep deer or pot belly pigs there ,to eat fallen fruit ,

hope this was any help
check my spaces for more detail on ponds and paths http://spaces.msn.com/byderule

Remember with Permaculture most of the work is in the beginning ,shaping the ground putting in structures ,building the soil and the organic cycle,regulating the guilds
and discovering the best placements for everybody ,but with time the work becomes less and less
so you can wallow in your paradise hopefully way before you die.

Answer 2

Is this a joke? Let's get out of Fantasyland and into reality. OK? There's no such thing as making a garden of any kind in three "Weeks" - unless, maybe if it's an artificial garden made up of displays - and making displays can take longer than three weeks.

So I'm thinking someone is dreaming and hasn't yet got out of the Alpha state. I really have to agree with Amy L, and Permaculture byderule.

Love ya sweety, but this isn't gonna work for you like you're wishing it to.
Gardening is NOT for LAZY people. Gardening is a relaxing pleasure, even the work involved brings a peaceful relaxing feeling of oneness with the earth and nature. Working the soil, planting the seeds, nurturing the earth with proper water and sun, keeping the weeds and bugs out, but inviting and welcoming the bees to pollinate.

You cannot rush nature - she takes her time, and she's certainly beautiful. You must first learn to relax and enjoy nature before you can successfully grow and enjoy a garden.

Rushing is never a good thing anyway - causes confusion.
Are you awake now? Ha ha ha!
Next dream?

Answer 3

Three weeks? Ain't gonna happen; the closest you can come is casting seed and feeding the birds, squirrels, etc. A few seeds might actually grow and blossom and provide a bounty for other species, including pollinators.

Low maintenance? Natives, including wildflowers (wrong time of year for that tho) are pretty hardy overall. Here in Southern California I rely on Tree of Life Nursery. In Texas there's the Lady Bird Johnson center outside of Austin (I can't recall the true name, sorry), and there's Wally Hansen's place in Washington. (He's retiring by the way, so the nursery is up for sale!) They can help you develop a wildlife-friendly plant palette that's low maintenance.

But 3 weeks? Good luck!

Answer 4

Without digging try growing it inside the house under a mercury vapor light or a metal-halid light.

Answer 5

Imagine.

Answer 6

cut some pics out of a magazine and order food online!

Answer 7

you could make a compost for starters. if you don't know what it is, check on the internet.

Answer 8

hydroponics

Answer 9

Have fun with that :)