Are you a beginner gardener who often finds yourself making gardening mistakes? Are you unsure how to fix these errors? Or even how to prevent them? If you answered yes, you are not alone! Every gardener makes mistakes! But how do you avoid making these mistakes again? After researching and working with gardening experts, I've created the 25 most common gardening mistakes and how to avoid them! The following content also has some reference value for raised garden beds.
- Watering is wrong
One of the most common mistakes beginners make is to water plants the wrong way.
Most gardeners water either the wrong way or at the wrong time.
How can you avoid this problem
Be sure to water your garden and plants in the morning or after the sun goes down.
Watering in the middle of the day will cause most of the water to evaporate, potentially "burning" your plants and causing long-term damage.
Also, never water the leaves of a plant.
Be sure to water plants where they are in contact with the soil. This will ensure that your plants get all the water they need.
- Plant in the shade
Another common gardening mistake is planting a garden in a shady area.
This often happens to beginning gardeners who don't know that their plants need sunlight.
How can you avoid this problem
Don't plant your garden or plants under big trees.
Most vegetables, flowers, and fruits need at least eight hours of sun, which prevents sunburn.
Also, be sure to research whether your plants need full, partial, or full shade.
- Dig in moist soil and clay
If you're like me, you want to plant your garden every chance you get. Even if it means the soil is wet.
This can cause a lot of problems for you and your garden.
The problems include:
The roots of plants cannot spread
Nutrients can't reach your plants
The soil hardens and plants die.
How can you avoid this problem
Wait until the soil is dry.
You know your soil is dry when it feels dry, but if it's light brown, it breaks down easily in your hands.
- Overwatering houseplants
One of the most common gardening mistakes that almost any beginner gardener makes is overwatering houseplants.
One of the fastest ways to kill houseplants like orchids is to overwater them.
It only takes one to two times as much overwatering to kill your houseplants.
When it comes to houseplants, less water is better than more. For most houseplants, such as succulents, you should water them once a week.
If the potting soil feels dry or the plant begins to sag, it is an indication that your plant needs watering.
- Poor weeding
One of the most common mistakes novice gardeners make is not weeding.
Not weeding or weeding poorly can result in:
Your garden is not getting the nutrients it needs
An overgrown plant
Noxious weeds may cause plant death.
How can you avoid this problem
The first way to avoid garden weed problems is to weed early and often.
There are also many ways to prevent weeds. You can use a weed killer or herbicide.
- Not applying fertilizer properly
Fertilizing is tricky. Most beginner gardeners want to fertilize plants as soon as they are in the ground.
Other gardeners often never fertilize their plants because they don't know what to use or how to use it.
Both of these errors are possible:
Long-term damage to plants
Prevent flowers from blooming
Prevent fruit from growing.
How can you avoid this problem
The best way to prevent this gardening mistake is to read the instructions that come with plants and fertilizers.
You need to pay special attention to the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium required by specific plants.
It is also recommended not to fertilize plants during their first year of growth.
For most garden plants, you will usually fertilize in the spring to early summer, not in the fall or winter.
- Plant too early
Another of the most common gardening mistakes is planting plants into the ground too soon.
This can lead to:
Frost can damage or kill your plants
The plant is not growing properly
A plant that does not bear fruit
How can you avoid this problem
This mistake is one of the hardest to avoid because you never know when the last frost will be.
To minimize this, I suggest you find the last frost date here and plant it a week or two later.
- Conserve soil
If you're like me, when I first started gardening, I never used soil. I just dug a hole, put my plants in it, and backfilled it with the soil I dug out.
This is a bad technique. It doesn't provide the nutrients your plants need.
How can you avoid this problem
The easiest way to avoid this beginner's mistake is to dig the hole first, put the plant in the hole, and backfill it.
For fruits, vegetables, and herbs, you should use nutrient-rich garden soil.
If you want to spend, you need to spend soil. Peat moss is perfect for berry bushes.
- Harvest too late
Sometimes it's hard to decide when to harvest fruits, vegetables, herbs, or even flowers.
If you wait too long, your crop may not be good and may rot or even spread disease to other plants.
How can you avoid this problem
The easiest way to avoid this problem is to harvest early.
By harvesting your crops early, you allow fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers to continue ripening without rotting or attracting pests.
- Planting too much
Another common mistake gardeners make is something that happens every year.
Most gardeners grow too many plants in their gardens.
Having too many plants in the garden can lead to crowding, and:
Prevent your plants from getting nutrients
Alien invasive species
death
How can you avoid this problem
Follow the plan and instructions for spacing your plants.
If it says to space the tomato plants four feet apart, do it.
- Ignore spacing
Most gardeners neglect spacing when planting.
This can lead to overcrowding, lack of nutrients, and invasive plants like mint.
How can you avoid this problem
Is it important to follow instructions when it comes to spacing and planting?
If you want to eliminate the need for spacing, grow vegetables, herbs, flowers, and even fruits in containers and jars.
- Don't use fences
Another mistake gardeners make most often is not using fences around plants.
If you don't use a fence, you will have pests and other animals coming in that could damage your garden.
How can you avoid this problem
The best way to protect your garden from harmful pests and other animals is to build or purchase a fence.
Fences not only protect your garden, but also make your yard and garden more beautiful.
- Do not use pollinators
Another common and easy mistake most gardeners make is not using pollinators to help grow bigger, better, and more plants.
That's because attracting bees, hummingbirds and butterflies is difficult, time-consuming and sometimes inconsistent.
How can you avoid this problem
Attracting pollinators is not difficult.
Just plant something that appeals to them. It's that simple!
- Not checking your hardiness zone
Another mistake novice gardeners make most often is failing to check the hardiness zone of plants.
This can result in your plants not growing properly, being more susceptible to disease, being attacked by pests, and sometimes even dying.
How can you avoid this problem
This is the simplest tip on the list.
All you need to do is look up the plant you want to grow, which is cold resistant, and your cold resistant zone.
If the plant lands in the hardy area where you live, you're fine. If not, you can still develop it, but probably not with as much success.
- Not checking your soil pH
Just as failing to check stress resistant areas can cause problems with plants, the same can happen with failing to check soil ph.
This can again lead to pest and insect problems, poor fruit development, and even plant death.
How can you avoid this problem
The easiest way to determine if your plants can grow in your garden is to check the ph of the soil with a ph meter.
If the ph of the plant is within the ph range of the soil, then you have it all figured out. If not, you can still develop it, but probably not with as much success.
- Planting too shallow or too deep
You can have the best weather conditions, perfect soil, and no pests, and still have a terrible garden.
This usually happens when you plant too deeply and the seeds, bulbs, or plants are not growing fast enough.
It can also happen when you plant too shallow and wind, rain and pests damage your garden.
How can you avoid this problem
Don't rush into gardening.
Do your research and plant seeds, bulbs or plants to the required depth.
- No mulch
If you notice too many weeds, dead plants, or even frozen plants in your yard, it may be because you're not using mulch.
One of the most common mistakes farmers, homesteaders and gardeners make is never using or replacing mulch.
How can you avoid this problem
To avoid this problem, all you need to do is cover the roots of the plant with 3-6 inches of mulch.
Then each year you should replace or add to your existing mulch.
It should be noted that black mulch really looks brown, and brown mulch will look very faded and dull.
- Failure to control pests
One of the quickest things to do for a barren or dying garden is to let the pests take over.
Advanced and junior gardeners often decide not to control or prevent insects.
The main reason is that they don't know how to control pests.
How can you avoid this problem
The easiest way to control pests is to prevent them before they happen.
- Growing the wrong plant
Although less common, sometimes gardeners grow the wrong plants.
This usually happens if you don't know your hardiness zone, the ph of your soil, or if the plants you're growing don't match up with other plants.
How can you avoid this problem
Follow my "How to" guide to help you properly select, grow and care for the right plants for your garden.
- Create a garden that's too big
Another of the most common gardening mistakes is to build a garden that is too big.
This happens when your eyes are bigger than your stomach.
Not only does this waste space, but it depletes the soil of valuable nutrients.
How can you avoid this problem
Simply put, plan what you want to grow before you even start gardening.
If you have a garden that is too big, you can always reduce the size for next year.
To make matters worse, you can give your crops to neighbors, friends and family.
Related: The ultimate guide to starting a vegetable garden
- No crop rotation
There are mistakes you don't even know you're making.
One mistake is not rotating crops.
Non-rotating crops depletes the soil of valuable nutrients, causing plants to fail to grow properly and produce less harvest.
How can you avoid this problem
To avoid this problem, all you need to do is rotate your plants every year.
Simply moving the crop to a different row or column each year can help replenish the soil.
- Not using native species
If you make an effort to grow plants in your garden, it could range from planting non-native species to your hardiness zone or even invasive plants.
This will cause your plants not to grow fully and may affect other plants in your garden.
How can you avoid this problem
You should always check with your local garden center, gardening expert or thegardeningdad.com that you are growing native plants in your garden.
- No garden design
While this error will not affect your plants, not having a garden design may affect the number of plants you can use.
It also affects how much land you use and the efficiency of your garden.
How can you avoid this problem
Before you plant your garden, you should outline your land, where your garden should be, and where your plants should be.
- Forget plant labels
Have you ever grown a plant from a seed or bulb and then forgotten what it was a few weeks later?
This happens when you forget to label seeds, bulbs and plants.
How can you avoid this problem
To avoid forgetting what you've grown, all you need to do is use a plant tag.
- No trimming
Are you struggling to produce fruit, vegetables and flowers?
Did you not get enough crops as you wanted?
This may be because you are not pruning your plants
How can you avoid this problem
If you want the best plants to grow, the best crops, and more crops, then you need to prune!
conclusion
After reading this article, you should now have a better idea of the most common mistakes gardeners make.
Not only that, but you should also better understand how to avoid these problems.
