How to Keep Your Plants Thriving: 8 Mistakes You Should Never Make
Even the most experienced gardeners can make gardening mistakes or just have plain bad luck. Now, sadly, there is no antidote or preventative against a stroke of bad luck, but there are mistakes and pitfalls you can avoid to at least lessen the chance of freak accidents.
Plants are living, breathing organisms, so they require more than just mechanical care. They require your attention and gentle care; each type of greenery has its own quirks and little hidden details that you will only find out with time. This is the first thing you should know before even starting to garden.
You have to treat them with the same amount of care and attention as almost anything else in your life. Now that that is out of the way, why don’t we take a look at some very important gardening mistakes you should avoid like the plague?
Not Planning Ahead Concerning Layout and Design
The more you plan to grow, the more space you are going to need. One common gardening mistake even experienced growers can make is to underestimate or not even consider how much space the plants are going to take up once they are grown.
If anything, overestimate, as it is certainly far better to end up with more space than having none, and if you need any help with the plants themselves and the little tricks you can try, look at sites like Plant Informer, with whose help you will quickly reach the knowledge level of a tree scholar, so to speak.
Anyway, remember to make a garden plan, be aware of how the sun moves over your designated space throughout the day, where the nearest water source is located, and so on. If you have or are planning to have trees, keep in mind how tall they might grow and how far and deep their roots might reach.
Not Following the Instructions
This one might seem laughably simple and obvious, but often the simplest things completely slip our minds. So, always remember to carefully read and follow the instructions on seed packets or plant tags.
All that tiny print is chock-full of very valuable information, like how deep you should sow your seeds or how far apart your plants should be. Trust the information given to you and assume it comes from professionals who know what they are talking about.
Growing out of Season
Well, this one is not all that important if you live in warmer climates like California, Spain, or whatever, as it is pretty hard to grow things out of season. But usually, you should remember that plants do have a season they tend to favor, and so if you follow that natural cycle, you will be rewarded with the maximum flavor and production.
Not only will they look or taste better, but they will also require less maintenance on your part, and to find out whether the plant is in the warm weather or cool weather category, just check the packets or tags.
Watering Issues
Hand-watering or having a normal sprinkler can get old really, really fast, as it is not only time-consuming but can also set the stage for a plethora of foliage diseases like allium rust or mildew, to name a few.
Watering your plants from above makes you run the risk of spreading fungal diseases to plants that would have otherwise been healthy, and you lose a lot of water to the leaves, which ends up with the roots not getting enough moisture, kind of defeating the purpose.
So, long story short, install drip irrigation if you can or soaker hoses in your garden. A drip system that works with an automatic timer will free up so much of your day, and you won’t have to guess anymore how much water your plants need and so on.
Forgetting to Label Plants
Again, another thing that is easy to forget or doesn’t even seem all that important, but you shouldn’t forget to label those little pots you put seeds in or label the seedlings you have planted in your garden. Of course, if you are only growing begonias, onions, or another sort of plant, then you really don’t have a need to label anything. But if you have various types of greenery, take a few minutes to just label the seeds and the like.
Letting Plants Get Weedy
When you think of weeds, you shouldn’t think of dandelions or whatever, as they are actually “vegetables” in their own right, but of plants that grow where they really shouldn’t, invaders, if you will. Mint is actually one of these, if you can believe it, and will ruin your entire yard if you let it spread like wildfire. So, keep an eye on your plants and quickly remove any foreign occupiers.
Watering Too Much
You certainly don’t want to water too little and dry out the plants, but you also definitely don’t want to flood and practically drown your poor plants with a deluge, which is all too easy to do. Not only is this the most common gardening mistake we can make, but it is also one of the most damaging ones, practically destroying the roots and ruining the plants you so lovingly tried to maintain. Watch the water.
Right Light
You really want to watch the light; too much heat and sun can ruin your plants, but too little can as well, so first you want to know what plants need what climate. Usually, it’s not anything too wild, for which you will need a greenhouse or something of the sort, but you should make sure anyway, and then put the plants where they will be able to grow as they should. It isn’t all that difficult, and so it is often easy to overlook.
Growing plants can be both practically and emotionally and visually rewarding, and you have countless options on what, where, and how to grow them. If you are serious about it, it is doable without much trouble, but there are also many little gardening mistakes you should stay away from to avoid unnecessary headaches. Hopefully, this little list helped you along on the path to becoming Swamp Thing and lovingly cultivating the great green.
Read More: Biggest Vegetable Gardening Mistakes
