We all know that gardening is a great hobby and a great stress-reliever, and an anti-depressant. Many of us take up this hobby with total interest, but very few continue with it. One of the many reasons people stop gardening is the lack of success in their gardening journey because of a lack of patience and inevitable silly mistakes.
Let us run down both major and minor mistakes and quickly learn how to solve them one by one. Just remember that people with great gardens have learned from their mistakes in the past.
- Poor Soil Selection – Attempting to grow high-quality plants from low-quality soil will surely give you less chance to succeed. You cannot expect to have an amazing yield without amazing and healthy soil. The plant may grow in poor soil, but overall it will be unhealthy, and produce might be less than what is expected especially when you are growing vegetables.
- Poor Sunlight – Sunlight is very important for photosynthesis, which is the plant’s way of food preparation. Placing your plants improperly or choosing a proper garden location can affect your plant’s growth. As a general rule, most flowering and fruiting plants need to receive the maximum amount of sunlight possible, at least eight hours of direct sunlight a day.
- Water Consumption – Over-watering or Under-watering plants greatly affect their health and growth. The rule of thumb on watering is to water deeply but infrequently. New gardeners tend to be better at first on this rule, but not on the second half of it. It is always better to dip your finger to about an inch into the soil to check for moisture before watering. Some plants need very little watering like maybe once a week, for example, succulents. For this, it’s a good idea to research things about your plant first before committing to it.
- Fertilizers – Many beginners assume that plants only need water to grow and bloom, and this is a mistake already. Plants do need water, but they also need about sixteen different nutrient elements in the soil. On the other hand, over-fertilizing or overfeeding them can result in damage to your plants. The best solution to this is to use organic fertilizers like compost, cow dung, and most importantly stay away from chemical fertilizers. It is often a good idea to apply less than what the fertilizer package recommends.
- Planting invasive plants near other plants – With invasive plants planted close to other plants, the result will be deficiencies in the weaker plants which are the non-invasive ones. In plants, there is also the principle of survival of the fittest.
All these mistakes can be avoided with proper preparation and commitment. In the long run, these five faults can be valuable lessons to a successful gardening journey.
