You’re right – there is such a thing as a “drive by garden view” and that’s the reason I don’t manicure the day lilies by the road. I just let them do their thing and focus on more intimate parts of the garden that are seen at a closer range and not by peripheral vision!

On the bigger areas under the pine trees (on the boundary, another driveby view), I have resorted to a stirrup hoe Definitely speeds the process to the extent that if every single weed is not removed, another quick go-round with spot hand weeding will do the trick.

We need to start a Speed Weeding movement and compile everyone’s best tricks — think of all the time that could be returned to the gardening world for use making better and more beautiful gardens (or even opening the mail…)!

Both “Done is better than perfect” and “Nothing a man on a galloping horse is going to notice” work for me. Many of the people going past my front garden are driving, biking or running so it sure doesn’t need to be perfect for them, and the other people are walking dogs – making my garden look good enough for a dog’s toilet is not on my to-do list.

In the back yard I work most on the beds I can see from the breakfast room window.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Thanks Craig for my new garden mantra! I weed around the edges quite nicely, and next to the patio, but where only the cats and birds can see? Practically never! Brilliant.

“Nothing a man on a galloping horse is going to notice.”

That’s been my attitude about the front beds. I also tend to plant them with big drifts of tall plants so that’s what folks notice, not the weeds.

This also helps: Call those low weeds ‘groundcovers’. It’s good to keep the soil covered with plants that can protect it and eventually return more organic matter to the soil when you do get around to killing them.