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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 19, 2020 20:23:15 GMT -5
I seriously believe we all learn from our mistakes and was wondering if you'd care to share some of yours?
My absolute worst? Using old carpet as a weed barrier under beds. I had to pull some up in the backyard to make room for my new bed. It's absolutely horrible as a weed barrier because the weeds that grow on top of it eventually grow roots down through the carpet in my paths. It's currently under my herb bed and the bed dries out much quicker in the summer than it would without the carpet underneath. I'm constantly watering it. I also had it under my cold frame in its last location. After I moved it and attempted to dig up the horseradish that had been growing there for a few years, I discovered the horseradish had grown through the carpet and even had fibers through the root. It might work well for gravel paths, but I'll never use it again!
Another mistake was growing Jerusalem artichokes in one of my raised beds a few years ago. I naively thought I could just dig them out at the end of the season and move them to their new home. Little did I know that I'd never get all the tubers and they would constantly pop up. As a matter of fact I dug a bushel out of that bed this spring and have been vigilant about pulling the sprouts up as soon as they pop through the ground. So far that is working but never again will I plant them in a place where I don't want them permanently.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Aug 19, 2020 20:33:42 GMT -5
Oh, lordy...let me count them. Give me a month or two...
For starters, Wisteria, Bradford Pears, Periwinkle. Planting Cypress Vine at the end of a vegetable bed years ago.
You live and learn by successes and mistakes alike, but I wish I could get a do-over on some of my mistakes. Sadder, but wiser.
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Post by centralilrookie on Aug 19, 2020 23:23:26 GMT -5
emmsmommy, I’m glad you started this post! Maybe it’s my need to confess my shortcomings or the opportunity to give everyone a good chuckle at “rookie” mistakes. 😂😂😂
At my garden: planting 12 tomato plants in an area big enough for 9. Plants are over 6ft tall, all heavily fruited and doing well. Problem is that I have to crawl on my side to get to the inner plants. Crowding peppers, zucchini and cucumbers in to small of an area. Peppers have been invaded by cucumbers that were supposed to grow up the crw cages but seem to have a mind of their own. Planted to many cucumbers and production wasn’t as expected. Zucchini produced wonderfully but the plants became a little obnoxious in size. Probably my biggest failure was not keeping notes on planting dates and varieties.
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Post by martywny on Aug 20, 2020 4:53:23 GMT -5
Not enough room between plants. Didn't realize my squash and zucchini plants needed a half acre each. They have taken over the adjoining plants.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 20, 2020 10:38:46 GMT -5
centralilrookie , trust me, you're not alone. I have seven tomato plants, two rows of bush beans, a row of noodle beans, two marigolds and a basil plant in a 4x4 bed. Ironically this bed has produced rather well. Possibly because is does get a bit of shade from a nearby tree or maybe because I've been watering the beans a few times a week. I planted marigolds along the edges of my 4x8 bed of tomatoes and peppers and they've fully engulfed two of the pepper plants. Ironically these were marigolds that were only supposed to grow a foot high, yet two are approaching the 2' mark. I've been doing pretty good about keeping notes and even had to refer back to the "What I Did Today" thread when I see I missed writing something down. martywny , I understand completely. I dedicated an entire bed to squash and cucumbers and have been fighting the urge to fill in the empty spots for a month now. Things are finally starting to fill in and am trying to direct the winter squash towards the compost area and out of the path. Another mistake I've made this year is believing that just because I have 3-4" of mulch on a bed means it won't dry out. Wrong! My three lower beds have suffered tremendously. Beans took forever to grow, onions failed miserably, only three beets grew. When we got some rain, the beans started growing and I continued to give them water a few times a week. The big revelation came when I planted my fall cabbage where The onions had been. The soil was bone dry despite getting rain the day before. Suddenly it makes sense why the onions and beets didn't grow well. Ironically the beets that did grow were near an extra pepper I planted and watered regularly. Also the row of Roma tomatoes near the Provider beans has produced much better than the others. So it only took nearly the entire gardening season to finally have the hand to forehead moment. Guess which three beds will be first to get compost this fall?
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Post by centralilrookie on Aug 20, 2020 11:10:43 GMT -5
Mistakes at sweethearts garden: This venture was conceived and put into action just this spring there is a lot of room for improvement. There is no substitution for rich and amended soil. The side dressing of mushroom compost helped with getting everything up and growing but wasn’t enough to carry the plants vitality thru the hot and dry summer. The tomatoes never got caged and even tho the are producing well are looking rough. Pumpkins are quite rude and 12’ between plants isn’t enough. 😂 Deep tillage and horse/cow manure should help give us a better foundation for gardening success next year.
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 20, 2020 12:03:04 GMT -5
My overwhelming mistakes have been more in the landscape gardens. Planting Russian Sage has been the biggest mistake of all. Have been slowly removing them. I had 14 here at home and am down to 3. and had 8 at house in town, down to 4. emmsmommy, what were you mulching your onions with? Some mulch materials hinder rain or overhead watering from penetrating through it, to the soil. |
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 20, 2020 12:37:26 GMT -5
One year I planted some buckwheat, as a green manure crop, but unfortunately, a few went to seed, before I got it 'tilled in. To this day, it is a weed, though I have a lot less than I used to, since I try to pull it before more seeds are produced.
One season I planted some tomatoes on a new section of trellis I had set up. Unfortunately, I had used up all of my CRW, so this trellis was a nylon netting, which is not nearly as strong. The tomatoes eventually had covered the entire trellis, and one day, while harvesting, almost the entire thing collapsed! From then on, I only used CRW for the large plants, plus, I spaced them a little farther apart!
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Aug 20, 2020 12:40:52 GMT -5
Not finding a way to kill the Virginia Creeper when I first discovered it. Now it's just so prevalent that it's a major nuisance.
Perhaps the biggest mistake though is not buying power tools to take down nuisance trees started from the Tree of Heaven, and BoxElder trees. The latter were periodically cut down by tree crews, and I could keep the saplings under control. But the Tree of Heaven literally soars and grows several feet per year. And unfortunately, the growth seems to be the strongest near and/or in the electrical and phone lines.
The Black Locust in a neighbor's yard is a real pain, figuratively and actually. I have to wear heavy duty gloves as the thorns are so painful. Another neighbor has a massive Cottonwood, which drops its cotton pods into my yard. I used to be able to work through Cottonwood Season, but now even masks can't prevent the fluffy pods from affecting my breathing.
I wish I had recognized years ago that these trees need to be trimmed back annually. The neighbors didn't cut them back, so they continued to spread their seeds throughout my yard, already plowed and made fertile for gardening.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Aug 20, 2020 12:43:49 GMT -5
pepperhead212, interesting experience with buckwheat. I planted some one year, with the noble intent of using it to make buckwheat flour and bread for my father, who was fond of buckwheat. One day I discover 12 cardinals in the bed. They seemed so happy that I decided not to harvest the buckwheat and just left it for them. It never became a nuisance though.
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Post by binnylou on Aug 20, 2020 13:34:05 GMT -5
There was a period of time when state of Iowa would seed roadside areas with purple crownvetch after construction projects. It smelled wonderful and provided a rosy glow in the roadside ditches.
We have a steep embankment adjacent to our windbreak. I thought crownvetch was my answer to weed control on that embankment. I planted it...it grew...and became invasive. It creates a dense mat that crowds out weeds, but it still needs weed attention. That weed mat is very flammable. But it did bring in lots of what we call “banana spiders”. Those spiders create the most beautiful webs.
After over 30 years, I mostly have it eradicated. When I find it sprouting, I beat it to death with the weed whacker. Never let it bloom again.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 20, 2020 14:50:29 GMT -5
emmsmommy , what were you mulching your onions with? Some mulch materials hinder rain or overhead watering from penetrating through it, to the soil. I used shredded leaves which were readily available when we were avoiding town this spring. I know they can mat down, so I tried to fluff them up with a handheld fork before a rain. The three beds that were affected have the least amount or organic matter. My other new beds are performing nicely. We're constantly battling the "silver maple" saplings my mother-in-law sent home with us. Something about them never seemed right and after they started taking over, I identified them as white poplar. I'm wondering if they'll ever be eradicated. Oh and let's not forget the roadside rose I took a cutting of. It's beautiful but it does take over. pepperhead212, What is CRW? |
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 20, 2020 15:01:27 GMT -5
emmsmommy Sorry - CRW is short for concrete reinforcement wire, which is often used for trellises, as well as making tomato cages.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 23, 2020 21:48:57 GMT -5
pepperhead212, Thank you. That might be a solution to my mom's trellis needs. She loves my cattle panels but hauling them would be an issue. Another gardening mistake was not giving the sunflowers more of a head start before planting the runner beans. Most have grown strong, but two of the weaker ones snapped because of the beans.
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Post by Tomato Z on Aug 24, 2020 12:19:58 GMT -5
Grape hyacinths. When we moved here almost 30 years ago, it was a new house with no landscaping. Through the catalog, I purchased some Spring bulbs, receiving 6 free grape hyacinths. Well, through the years those 6 turned into 6,000 or thereabouts. I had been digging them up for the past decade, but left the ones in the perennial areas because I didn't want to lose them. This year 2 of my projects were to completely remove everything from 2 sections of the gardens, removing bindweed, grape hyacinths, and rocks. It only took the whole summer just for these 2 areas. They will be fallow until the Spring, I hope. More sections next year.
In the vegetable garden, the tomatoes are way too close together, as well as most everything else. I'm using CRWs for tomatoes, cucumbers, noodle and pole beans this year. I wish I'd learned this years ago.
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