10 commandments for carefree gardening

Editor's note: This is the first in a 10-week series of useful tips from the writers of our Northwest Gardens section. Watch for a new list each Thursday.

1. Thou shall not argue with the Great Creator.

Put the right plant in the right place. You will eliminate a host of gardening sins by accepting that some plants need sun, some seek shade and some are picky about soil.

2. Thou shall not take the name of a dying plant in vain.

Give the poor thing a death with dignity. Why waste time and money trying to keep a struggling plant alive with chemo treatments? There are plenty of plants that will survive happily in your garden's unique conditions. It's your job to find out which ones.

3. Keep holey all containers.

Good drainage is essential to potted plants. This also means not letting pots sit in their own drainage water.

4. Honor thy Mother Nature and Father Time.

Use native plants when possible and recognize that plants continue to grow over time. So don't put a big-leaved rhodie in front of a low picture window, or a young tree directly beneath the power lines. Using dwarf varieties can eliminate many pruning chores in the future.

5. Thou shall not kill beautiful insects by spraying broad-spectrum pesticides.

You'll create more work for yourself later on if you murder the beneficial bugs in your garden. If you must resort to violence to save the life of a valuable plant, arm yourself with information about the problem insects and use the least-toxic method to control them.

6. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's lawn.

If you have less than perfect lawn-growing conditions -- too shady, too dry or too sloped to grow grass -- choose ground covers instead.

7. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife or husband if they do all the gardening next door and have a beautiful yard.

Make friends and ask the names of the plants that grow best for them. The easy way to figure out what will do well in your yard is to find out what is doing well for the neighbors. If they don't know the names of plants you admire, ask for a leaf sample and bring it to your local nursery.

8. Thou shall not lie about how much you water during restricted times.

Plant drought-resistant plants instead. Improving your soil with organic matter, adding a mulch and learning to avoid plants with a drinking problem will keep you honest about your water use.

9. Thou shall steal more color from flowering shrubs.

Blooming bushes offer more flowers for less work than any perennial or annual. In the Pacific Northwest we can have yearlong color from easy-care shrubs, including forsythia, lilacs, spiraea, Rose of Sharon, rhododendrons, heathers and azaleas.

10. Thou shall be ashamed of your naked soil.

Use layers of newspaper as an undergarment for mulches, cover up with ground covers and pack plants close together to cover up exposed soil -- all ways to spend less time weedin' in your Garden of Eden.

-- Marianne Binetti

Adapted from Marianne Binetti's book "Tips for Carefree Landscapes" (publisher, pages, price).

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