Common Gardening Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
February 19th, 2012Before you start your garden you will have, no doubt, visualized how you want it to look when it’s in its prime. Nonetheless, there are many habitual blunders that gardeners make that prevent their gardens from reaching their full potential. Even something as elementary as the types of plants you put in your garden, and their locations relative to each other, is a frequent oversight of a lot of beginning gardeners. Our focus in this article is to help you recognize – and avoid – some of the typical errors a gardener can make.
A decent attitude is a must when starting your garden, in addition to the right seeds, soil and tools. Quite a few people begin their garden without really thinking it through and as a result they nonchalantly toss seeds around their yard. This is the way to catastrophes or maybe a small degree of accomplishment. You should choose a spot strategically, based on factors such as sunlight and proper irrigation. Additionally, you should avoid starting out with a plan that is too pushy. Winning prizes or being featured in a local newspaper are far-fetched thoughts for your first garden however if you want some inspiration for your garden, take a look at some magazines, watch some gardening shows on TV or even search the web. As with anything, there is a learning curve with gardening, so take it step by step and just focus on the basics at first.
Obviously, water is important to successful plant growth. Even though this is common knowledge, this is an area that a lot of gardeners get wrong. What is there to know about watering? Well, not every plant has the same moisture requirements as every other plant, so you need to keep plants with different water requirements separated. Another thing to keep in mind is your local climate conditions. How much rain will you be getting and what is the climate like at the time your garden will be growing? How often you need to water will be determined by these factors. One handy gadget for gardeners is a soil tester. This simple piece of equipment will analyze the moisture content of your soil. This way, you will know without doubt whether your plants require more water or not. Also, realize that plants don’t like to sit in puddles of water. They like their soil to be moist, not saturated. Giving your plants an over-abundance of water can be just as bad for them as letting the soil dry out too much between watering.
Make sure you learn about plants that can grow fast and spread – thus strangling your other plants. These plants can really hamper the production of other plants. Many plants exist that become invasive and aggressive in their growth and can have a serious impact on your other garden plants.
Goldenrod is another invasive plant. Even though it can be beautiful and colorful, if you don’t keep it under control it can spread fast. Whenever you buy plants, seed packets, or order from a seed catalog, you should be able to find information on which plants are invasive or overly aggressive. When you just must have a plant in your garden that has a tendency to “creep” and crowd out other plants, consider planting it by itself in a container. Most gardening mistakes are not hard to avoid once you are aware of them. Usually, when inexperienced gardeners do something wrong, it is because they began planting their garden without doing enough research. Quite often, you can find instructions for seeds on the back of the packet. You will not mess up to much, as long as you seek information when you need it.