"You must spend so much time in your garden" is the phrase I hear most often from the foot traffic that goes by my home. But while it is certainly seasonal, with needs changing from week to week, once my garden is installed for the summer, I never actually spend more than an hour in it per day, and frequently far less than that. This summer I'm practicing radical avoidance, and I've been impressed at how well the garden is managing itself. I simply make sure I get outside once a day and do these three things.
Either first thing in the morning or at twilight, I grab a hod, a five gallon bucket, and my clean pruners, and I walk around the garden doing these tasks:
As you move around the garden, grab any errant weeds. They grow in the beds, alongside the beds, and in the cracks of the concrete. Pitch them into the bucket. If you do this every day, or even most days, it's not an overwhelming chore. Weeding can also mean winnowing down seedlings if you're growing radishes or carrots, so they're spaced appropriately. I don't use any special equipment, I just pull the weeds out with my hands, doing my best to get as much root as possible. Shake off the weed so you rid it of any good dirt that clings to before it goes in the bucket.
The fruit, vegetables, and flowers change daily in the garden, so the best way to grab everything at its peak is to get out there most days and look around. If you do, you'll also know what to anticipate being ready from day to day so you can meal plan. The produce goes into the hod, ready to come into the house. If you need to ditch carrot greens or radish tops, you can do that outside and add them to your bucket. Before you come in, you can rinse off everything in the hod with your hose—that's why you want a hod and not a basket.
This is also your chance to look for any potential issues. If you see leaves that might have blight, fungus, or virus, use those pruners and cut it out. If the problem is bad enough, cull the plant entirely. If you see pest damage, start flipping leaves over and look for the eggs to remove them. Definitely remove pests as you see them, too. If you need to add Sluggo or a foliar treatment to any plant, now is the time. A few notes: If you do have to cut out or cull, that plant should not go in the bucket but should proceed directly to the trash can. Don't put diseased plants into the compost either at your home or for the city. Also, be sure that you clean your hands and the pruners after you do this pruning/culling with antibacterial soap or spray.
There are other tasks you might encounter as you go about your daily walk around the garden, but unless they're particularly time sensitive (like a leaky hose), you can save those for the weekly task list instead.
