A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Worst gardening regret?

Do you ever regret something you did in your gardens? I was just out doing some weeding last night and thinking of when we moved into our new house surrounded by a hay field. I started a little flower bed (had no idea on what I was doing). I told Dh about the little variagated plant I'd seen one day and that I'd love to have some. He goes to town one day and comes home so proud with two of these plants and two silver mounds.

Well the two silver mounds have now been split into 20 over the years and that cute little variagated plant haunts me to this day. It was Goutweed or Bishops' weed as they call it. I am steady pulling it up by the handfuls and nothing kills it.

It's now growing from the flower bed and well into the lawn. Don't get me wrong I still like the little plant but am scared it's going to kill all the perrenials in the bed also.So every week from spring to fall I go out and pull a few handfuls of it, I should throw some on sis-in-laws lawn.

So far, and I'm just getting started with gardening my worst regret was not knowing about soil before I spent over 100.00 on flowers. If I knew then what I know now is definitely something that I can say.

If I had to do it over I'd have spent this year weeding and amending the soil and putting in large rocks and edging stones to create a garden that could be stablized easily and really look good. As it is I am trying to do everything backwards. Plus my plant spacing would have been a lot different. Most of my stuff is way to close together which means it will have to be moved.

I guess I'm saying that if I had it to do over I would:

Plan my garden space.
Put in the structual supports that would best display my plants.
Amend the soil.
Then buy the plants.

Mine so far is to have "eyes bigger than my garden" and not knowing where I want to put something before I get it!

I love plants and flowers. Any kind. When I see a pretty bloom, I just have to have it. Whether I know what I am gonna do with it or not. Makes for some interesting conversations around here.

Jim...."I thought you just planted that tree there."

Dianna...."I know, but now I want it somewhere else", or "I have decided I don't like that particular tree."

Jim...."Why did you buy it then if you didn't know where you were gonna put it or you didn't really like it?"

Dianna...."I couldn't resist the price!"

Jim...."You change your mind every time you turn around."

Dianna...."I am WOMAN. I am allowed to!"

I have gotten a little bit better about getting something lately when I don't know exactly what I am going to do with it, though. With the wedding plans I am having to prioritize what I want to do and get it done. I don't want the yard to be a mess when the big day gets here!

Dianna

I can relate with ALL THE POSTS!!!

*For Tamara's, I have the just plain ole green bishop's weed... :p I HATE IT!!
I've found 2 things that can get a small handle on it is
#1. A PLASTIC LANDSCAPE FABRIC..*or black garbage bags, but you have to use alot to make sure all is covered and the parts where the bags meet have got to be covered too...
#2. Ammend the soil soooooo much, it's sooooooooo
easy to pull it out...still doesn't get rid of it
totally, but gets the panic attacks about it to a minimal.

**For TK, next year, when you are just admending soil and getting ready for gardening, and building soil, etc... garden in pots and containers now and next year...you still get your gardening down and out of your system...
but you also get your soil admended and what rewards you'll have when you actually get to garden in your soil..

**For Dianna, I am sooo bad at that,
I still have plants in containers...
I haven't planted.... and the seed packages are just backin' up now...

My biggest mistake is liking plants toooooo much!!

Weezie

so far....the only things I have regretted is the ones I didn't do!!! I didn't garden for years because I had convinced myself I had a black thumb when all along what I had was the lazies!!! I started at one house first with hanging baskets and then with a little tiny flower bed, filling it with petunias or other annuals. VOILA!!!! I am hooked.

Oh, I can relate to everyone too!

I'm awful about buying plants with no place to put them -- and I have a huge yard. I draw up a very detailed plan every spring (well, actually in February... ) and then, as soon as I see plants at the stores and nurseries, my very detailed plan just runs amuck!

I'm weak...NO self-restraint whatsoever when it come to flowers and herbs. NONE !

I also tend to jump the gun a little every year and plant too soon. A little..well sometimes a lot...

Gisela

Oh goodness.. let's see..

1. planted pansies, right? umm.. no, those were pumpkins..

2. killed trees because I didn't know you shouldn't put them in pots.. even big ones.

3. keep buying seeds, even tho I have nowhere to plant them.

4. have 10 trees to plant, and like, no yard for them?

I live in town on a .14 acre lot, including the house on that space.. yard isn't that overly big. I want trees, but don't seem to have a place for them. I want flower gardens, but want so many flowers, and only a limited flower bed in front of the house. I want a veggie garden, but only have a small 8' x 12' plot dug up for it in the back.. and that's for CORN, and beans, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, 4 kinds of peppers, & 2 kinds of tomatoes. Not to mention I just ordered cucumber seeds, more carrot seeds, & tomato seeds. Plus, I have cantelope seeds my kiddo wants me to plant. Oh, and the 2 barrel halves I have now for potatoes, and the big huge pot I bought for a strawberry plant. I have bulbs to plant, bulbs on the way, seeds from a seed swap.. I mean really now.. where the frilly heck am I supposed to put all this?! And besides the desire to have all these.. I have no idea how to arrange them. Where I'd like them to be, etc. <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" /> So, yea, still figuring things out here.

Meg

You have a plan and the plants still highjack you? This does not bod well for me. I was kind of hoping if I made lists and maps and journals and everything! I might be SAFE when I wondered through the garden center.

so i'm going to totally dedicate nyself to my gardening eventhough i cant really utilize the land in my yard.but i think i'll set up a roadside stand and sell plants and flowers this summer

I don't have a problem with the space thing, I sit on the edge of a 100 acre farm but every time I expand the lawn, it takes longer to mow. Yesterday DH bought me a rechargable weed trimmer for mother's day and teen daughter purchased some raspberry plants for my mother.

I was so tempted to buy more stuff but my garden beds are full already and everything still has to be divided so I guess I'll be sending alot over to my mothers. I wish I would of bought some rhubarb (next time) and the yellow lilacs look nice..hmmm...

Planting periwinkle! If I knew then what I know now, it would have never been brought on my property! That has to be some of most spreading stuff on earth.

Gardencrazy

Hhmm...regrets...well, probably not taking the time to really pay attention to my grandparents when I would go to the garden with them. That would have been a wealth of information! And...my mother could look at anything...ANYTHING..and tell you the name of the plant!I was amazed at her gardening skills...I use to tell everyone that she could take the seeds off a hamburger bun and make them grow! I miss her! so now I wonder why in the world sisn't I pay attention!!! Would have saved me a lot of time and effort looking up stuff and knowing what to do.
I also always want to plant WAY too much stuff, so I end up planting to close together...
And, I regret not moving my privacy fence last year and making my back yard larger and the front yard smaller...I liv in the back yard and have run out of room!

Well here is another one for the regret list. I didn't know that I didn't need to be breaking the mother root to get the baby dwarf evergreens. I hope I haven't done irrepairable damage.

I guess my worst garden regret would be from last year when we chopped down the beautiful blue spruce that was in our yard......I never loved that tree, and we wanted to put up a raised bed and birdhouse in its spot......Plus the local cats went under the tree and used it as a litterbox all the time......

I did however like it because it gave my birdies somewhere to hide when the were startled from my feeder......and I did feel bad killing a beautiful tree for no reason other than I didn't like it where it was. It just looked like it was plopped in the wrong place.....