I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years, contemplating what I think are the five biggest mistakes we make in our gardens and landscapes. Consider the following list personal opinion, but I’ve drawn a lot of conclusions from my observation as I travel, speaking to scores of gardening enthusiasts and taping television shows in gardens across America. It also stems from my research for my latest book, The Green Gardener’s Guide. And as I like to say, as we do so much to beautify our own little corner of the world, we’re doing a lot of not-so-pretty things in the process. Here’s my list.
Poor Water Management: We are in a global water crisis. Of all the water in the world, only 1% is available to us as fresh pure water. Yet between 1950 and 1980, when the world’s population doubled, the demand on that water tripled! It’s a finite resource and we’re using it an unsustainable rates. Half of the water we use outside is wasted because we overwater or do so during the middle of the day. Consequently we lose much of it to evaporation and runoff. And harvesting rainwater using rain barrels is an easy way to collect and store this valuable resource for use on-demand, especially in times of drought.
Failure to understand a plant’s cultural requirements: Plants growing in their ideal environment are naturally more vigorous and therefore more pest and disease resistant. Plus, when we don’t read or heed the information on those plant tags, we make the mistake of planting that three-gallon holly against the foundation, only to cut it down a few years later when it overtakes the house. Put the right plant in the right place and you eliminate most of your maintenance problems, specifically the need to apply excess fertilizer or pesticides.
Failure to promote healthy soil: There is another world below the soil surface that we home gardeners know little about. Yet soil scientists tell us that in ideal conditions, it is teeming with billions of beneficial microorganisms that provide our plants with everything they need to grow and prosper, naturally. Of course that assumes we haven’t desiccated our soil with excessive salts that come from over use of synthetic fertilizers. Instead, we should improve the soil with a steady supply of organic matter, to promote plant growth by maintaining a healthy soil food web.
Excessive use of fertilizers: More is not better. Fertilizer that isn’t absorbed by the plant can leach into ground water or runoff into watersheds, polluting water systems and harming amphibious habitats. Excess buildup in the soil can desiccate life underground, making plants chemically dependent for their nutrients and creating unsustainable soil for plants to thrive naturally. Using any chemicals with discretion and on-target will go a long way to improving ecosystems everywhere.
Indiscriminate use of Pesticides: Only about 3% of all insects are considered pests, so why do we carpet bomb with non-selective pesticides when 97% are either neutral or beneficial. If you want to have a bug problem, start spraying. Many pest insect pests have developed a resistance to insecticides while beneficial insects are often the ones most adversely affected. In addition, according to the National Audubon Society, about seven million backyard birds die each year as a result of consuming insects that have been killed by pesticides.
I have plenty more examples for the above five and rivals for other common mistakes. Now it’s your turn. What are some other big mistakes? I’d love to hear about them. I’ll give away a copy of my book, The Green Gardener’s Guide to the best comment. Thanks.
(photo credit to iStock Photo)
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Couldn’t have said it better Jennifer. Amen to everything you said! Thanks.
JL
I agree with you on the inappropriate plantings. Just the other day I was driving through an otherwise nice town when I noticed oak trees planted in a strip between the sidewalk and main road in a space that was no more than 2′ wide. There were at least 3 of them.
In about 15 years these trees will wind up being topped off to avoid power lines, trimmed to keep from scraping cars and pedestrians, or cut down and replaced because the sidewalk has started to buckle from the roots and diameter of the trunk. That’s if they are still there and haven’t already been replaced by another inappropriate tree.
I don’t know if the city or the bank had them planted there, but the landscaper should have known better. (Grass mowers masquerading as professional landscapers is another pet peeve of mine, but that’s a rant for a different day.)
Having suffered from it myself at the outset of my gardening career, I’d say that “Unreasonable expectations and lack of a long term vision” is an issue that ruins a lot of folks on gardening in general.
For example, having a vegetable garden FULL of delicious produce sounds amazing in, say, May, when the garden is going in, but can become prohibitively time and labor intensive come mid-summer when plants need regular waterings, harvests, pest control, etc.
Setting priorities and expectations up front that apply to the long and short term vision for your garden can be the difference between loving a productive and healthy garden and loathing a waning bed of burnt foliage.
As an organic gardener, I would have to modify your list to read:
Use of Chemical Fertilizers
and
Use of Chemical Pesticides
In this day and age of sustainability and concerns about our environment, I find it distressing that gardening experts continue to promote the use of products such as Scotts Miracle-Gro and pesticides that have been proven to be harmful to sustaining the delicate balance in a garden’s ecosystem–especially when it is so easy to have a beautiful garden without contaminating it with these enviornmentally harmful products.
I encourage your readers to join the Organic Gardening forums to learn more about how to garden without using harmful chemicals: http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/forums There are gardeners there who’ve been gardening without chemicals for decades and have flower gardens that rival what you see in gardening magazines.
Also, I host a free weekly teleclass about organic gardening, with a fresh topic each week, at http://www.askfarmerphoebe.com. Although my focus is on vegetable gardening, the principles are the same.
I’m also working on a blog post targeting folks who may be brand new to organic gardening, although not new to gardening. While doing research for a newbie gardener, I found that a lot of online resources for organic gardening had lots of great information, but they ALL made it sound so complicated and labor intensive.
The focus of my post will be “it’s not that hard”! You don’t have to be a soil scientist or immediately go out and buy an expensive compost tumbler to engage in organic gardening practices! I have never tested my soil and manage to grow beautful, bug-free flowers and vegetables every year by taking a few simple steps. You can read more here: http://askfarmerphoebe.wordpress.com
As you say yourself, Joe, building healthy soil goes a long way in establishing a healthy, beautiful garden. Organic gardeners take that concept a step further by saying it’s the ONLY way to have a healthy, beautiful garden. And it’s really not that hard to get started.
Thanks for this forum to “spout off” a little. 🙂
Sincerely,
Phoebe King
aka FarmerPhoebe
Organic Gardener
So many people expect their gardens to be perfect, ‘Type-A’ spaces – I’d like to see mainstream gardeners bring their expectations into line with the natural world. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with clients who are dismayed when I tell them that the few aphids they have on their roses aren’t too much of a problem, that brown edges on a couple of leaves isn’t something to worry about, and that the mildew they see on the underside of leaves will abate if they stop overwatering. I actually had a client who insisted that I design her a garden that would attract no bees or butterflies! The need for magazine-clean outdoor spaces that are as precise as livingrooms, and for plants that behave like furniture rather than living things is a huge problem, in my book. If people suffer from this, it is likely that they are making the 5 mistakes you mentioned, so maybe this isn’t really a mistake, but a personality disorder. Perceived Horticultural Dysmorphic Syndrome.
I hope I might still be in the running for an autographed copy of your book! I know you said nothing about autographing, but nothing ventured nothing gained, right?
Hi Nikki, TC and Helen. Thanks for checking in and adding your comments. I’ll keep plugging away at this list and have plenty of material for mistakes 6 – 10. I should get around to that one in the near future.
This is a great list. Some suggestions like responsible water management seem so obvious, but other like proper fertilizing not as much. I’m guilty of loving my plants too much sometimes: too much water or soil, not necessarily a good thing.
I mentioned these Top 5 mistakes in this week’s edition the Compost Pile. Sustainability was a common theme in garden news this week. Maybe people are finally starting to listen!
http://www.whgmag.com/613-the-compost-pile-613
You’ve sure captured a good top five with those Joe. The first one you mentioned is something I’m always reminding folks about in my weekly column. I see bad watering habits when I’m out and about; folks will mist during the hottest part of the day thinking that it’s okay just because the water’s not coming out at full force. You and I have both posted about bad tree pruning; this is another thing I see too much of. Something else that might not be considered a mistake, but is something I think should be addressed is when folks are hesitant about getting rid of a plant that isn’t quite living up to their expectations. Felder Rushing once told me “it’s not like you’re married to it.” Dig out whatever it is you don’t like, toss it on the compost pile, and try something new. As a matter of fact, why not correct the mistake you might be making planting too many hybrids by going with native plants?
Too right! Thanks for presenting the issues so well.