When YOU were a Beginner....

Top 2. Jul 12, 1999 11:21 AM

» Carol Wallace - Oh my!

Whan I saw this questions I remembered so many silly and sometimes funny mistakes that I almost wrote them all into my article for next week!

The first garden I did was all from seed. Of course I had no idea what the seedlinds would look like. But I watered faithfully and was absolutely thrilled to see greene merge in only about thrtee days. I carefully watered and fed and tended it - and then one day a startling thought occurred to me. I had planted fifteen different kinds of seed. So why did all the seedlngs look exactly alike.

What I had been noursihing was a bumper crop of crabgrass. It took me three weeks to pull it all without dislodging the real seedlings that finally made an appearance.

Then there was the time I decided to create a poppy field a la Wizard of Oz. I spread newspaper several sheets thick over a new area of the gardenand covered with with compost and soil. I scattered about a zillion poppy seeds.

Some spring I noticed a familiar phenomenon - a haze of green things emerging, all identical. This year I thought I was smarter, and immediately and thoroughly routed out every one.

I thoroughly and systematically had routed out every one of my new poppies.

-- posted by Carol Wallace

Top 3. Jul 14, 1999 7:16 AM

» KateBerry - I can just imagine

you beating your head against the ground after that one. I'm pretty sure that my failure on most of my attempts to direct seed flowers in the garden was due to overzealous weeding on my part, too.

But my biggest 'Beginner Bummer' (which I'll now share only because I've replaced the plant) was when I planted "elephant ears." I picked up a huge, coconut-sized bulb at a garden center and brought it home, daydreaming of how great the tropical foliage would look. I dug a hole for it near the pond, amended with bonemeal, and bragged to Hubby about what a great plant it would be.

Three months later when I saw no signs of growth, not even the smallest ones, I dug it up again only to find that I'd planted it upside down. Small shoots had tried to make their way out of the bulb but weren't successful, and in the meantime the thing had rotted in all of the rain that we got. Oh, was it gross!

-- posted by KateBerry

Top 4. Jul 17, 1999 8:23 AM

» KateBerry - A Friend's Confession

Went to lunch the other day with a friend who occasionally stops by to visit us on the Suite 101. She'd seen this discussion topic, and said she was looking forward to reading more messages about "Beginner Boo-Boo's." So I asked her why she didn't contribute her own, and she explained that while she enjoys reading about other people's mistakes, she's not so sure she wants to own up to the ones she made when beginning her garden.

Luckily, she promised not to be mad if I told everyone that this woman -- who now sports 4 dozen rose bushes in her backyard -- planted her first dozen upside down. Not just upside down, but she'd bought the Jackson and Perkins roses that come in a 'biodegradeable box,' and thought that was the end that would bloom. So she planted the canes in the ground, boxes in the air, expecting that the roses would burst through the cardboard like Jiffy-Pop when they got big enough.

I had to assure her that she's not alone: I've heard of others planting the canes and waiting for the roots to bloom, then wondering all summer why they can't get a single rose out of their garden.

-- posted by KateBerry

Top 5. Jul 17, 1999 8:29 AM

» Carol Wallace - It's true

Not many gardeners seem to be willing to own up to their mistakes in public. I remember a while back I ran an article similar to yours and thought we'd have GREAT fun talking about all the dumb things we'd done as beginners. No way - the first response I got said that they'd rather not have the whole world know about their stupidity.

But we all have to learn some way - and how better than to profit from the mistakes of those who have gone before? We could have a laugh and stop someone else freom doing the same thing.

-- posted by Carol Wallace

Top 6. Jul 17, 1999 11:52 PM

» JaneHollis - My first mistakes

Hi Kate and Carol,
I don't know why people are so shy about owning up to their early disasters - its all part of the learning process.

My main mistake when I started gardening was lack of soil preparation. I dug out a large border and thought if I just dug in the turves they would rot down. Of course, they didn't and I was forever weeding grass out of that border. Now I spend a lot of time removing all the weeds and grass before planting a new bed!

Just as well I moved to a new garden - other people have to live with my old mistakes!

-- posted by JaneHollis

Top 7. Jul 18, 1999 10:16 AM

» KateBerry - Wishful Thinking

Well, Carol, since this is a topic that's geared toward beginners, I really had a couple of hopes in mind when I tried to entice the more experienced to share their early mistakes.

First, I want beginning gardeners to feel safe. I get a dozen e-mails daily from folks just starting out, and most of them say they'd be too embarassed to post "such a basic question" because they figure everyone here knows what they're talking about.

I hoped by starting this discussion, new gardeners would realize that everyone started out not knowing much, and it only takes one or two successful seasons before you "sound like a pro."

Second, I hoped the more experienced gardeners would feel safe sharing their experiences, since their 'mistakes' are presumably in the past.

Jane, I'm really grateful that you mentioned digging in the grass. Not only am I still pulling grass out of my garden daily (and using Grass-B-Gone almost religiously), but I sure wish someone had warned me how important it was to get every little sprout of green stuff eradicated before setting my first plant in the ground!

-- posted by KateBerry

Top 8. Jul 18, 1999 10:33 AM

» Carol Wallace - My point exactly

Luckily I was never afraid to ask "stupid" questions. Because when I first started out I was truly ignorant. Forinstance, I must have thought that seed was something mysteriously manufactured by Burpees and others in some kind of factory. I had no clue that many of the plants I was growing could provide them for me for free.

And I didn't realize that plants have different needs for moisture and made the mistake of planting water lovers nex to those which like it lean and dry - which meant either one was going to drown or the other was going to shrivel and dwindle but I couldn't please both at once.

I was so dumb that, because I was afraid of bees, I actually went looking for some way to eliminate them from my garden.

Oh - and my biggest mistake in the beginning - when there were all those big spaces to fill - was eagerly buying anything that promised to be a vigorous spreader. Talk about war in the beds!

-- posted by Carol Wallace

Top 9. Jul 18, 1999 11:29 PM

» JaneHollis - Present mistakes as well!

Oh I wish all my mistakes were in the past, but I can assure you I am still making them now. For example, there was the Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' I planted on my sunny bank. Now I know the reference books say it takes drier soil than other Cornuses, but obviously it can't tolerate soil as dry as that on my bank! Luckily I noticed dieback in the shoots and dug it up quickly and placed it in a large pot on the shady side of my patio (which seems to becoming a plant hospital!). It is now doing well and in the autumn I plan to plant it out in partial shade in a large hole with plenty of manure.

The other mistake I repeatedly make is planting plants in mid summer. All the flower shows and plant fairs tend to be held in summer and it is difficult to resist buying beautiful plants. However, many times I have come home and planted my purchases in the border, where they tend to get forgotten and infrequently watered and hey presto - dead plant! Now if I do buy anything in summer I put it into a bigger pot and place it on the shady side of the patio with my other pots, so it gets watered regularly.

I think the important thing, however, is not to concentrate on your failures, but celebrate your successes. That's probably why you haven't got lots of people posting their mistakes - they are probably long forgotten!

-- posted by JaneHollis