The Most Common 8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Do you realize that gardening mistakes happen right in your front yard? Whether you think that your garden looks good or not, if everything doesn't work together, the entire garden doesn’t work. Let’s talk about the most common gardening mistakes and how to fix them.

Lawn&Garden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Grass is not greener. This ranks number 1. Why? Most gardens and yards have lawn, but one may be slightly greener than the other. If your lawn looks browner than the soil underneath, it is time to reassess your watering, fertilizing and mowing schedule. Think where you may have gone wrong and make the necessary lawn care adjustments. Tired of lawn care? Consider other lawn substitute options such as ground covers such as periwinkle. Visit Greenwood Nursery for more on lawn substitutes.

2. Tools and clutter are everywhere. They may be useful objects, but if they are just stacked in your garage or tossed in a box, then you think they are not worth the storage. At that point, they don't just look like junk; they are junk. Sort through them one by one and determine whether you want to keep them or not. Your criteria when deciding if they deserve the trip to dump or not is simple: Ask yourself, do you specific plans for them?

3. Your house and garden can be seen from the road. There are several short- and long-term solutions to using plants to create privacy. One quick-fix solution is to build a concrete wall that would separate your garden from the sidewalk view. For a longer, much appealing look, planting fast growing shrubs is a good idea.

4. Weed invasion. Keeping your lawn regularly maintained can solve weed problems. Do a regular walk through to check for weeds about twice a week during the growing season. Dig the weeds out by hand to keep them from re-growing by seeding the empty areas of your lawn.

5. Limited space. If your problem is space, then here's one idea that can definitely help you maximize every square inch of your garden: think vertical gardens. With vertical gardening, you can create a sense of lush greenery by using wall space, arbors and trellises to allow plants to climb upwards.

6. Where's your house? If shrubs have swallowed your house, then hedge clippers comes in handy. You don’t want plants blocking the way from your drive to the front door so some serious pruning may be in order. You want landscaping, not a house in the middle of the forest. Also, tall and over grown shrubs are a security hazard providing a burglar with the protection and opportunity that they would need to break into your home. It's time to select curb appeal plants.

7. Selection and winter care. Some garden plants will not survive winter temperatures without proper care. When planning your garden, be sure to select the majority of your plant that will grow year round and always include a few evergreens and plants with winter interest. In fall be sure to provide your garden plants with a good thick layer (approximately 3 inches) of shredded bark mulch to insulate and provide moisture over the winter months.

8. Fences are falling apart. Fences are not just to separate your property from your neighbor's. They also add to the overall look of your garden. Make sure that you maintain your fences like the way you keep your plants. Use fences as backdrops for your landscaping projects.

8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Correct Them by Greenwood Nursery

Garden tools can make outdoors more fun, less tiring

If there’s anything that garden lovers enjoy almost as much as plants, then it’s finding new garden tools and gadgets.

Today, I’ll feature some products that might make your time outdoors less arduous and more enjoyable. Cheryl and I are already using some of them around our own landscape or at the nursery. Maybe one or two will be just what you’ve been looking for!

Tractor Seat on Wheels
Well, the name of this one says it all: it’s a tractor seat on wheels. This has become one of our favorite products because it saves all that wear and tear on our knees and backs. Now if there’s a job that would normally require squatting, stooping or kneeling, we pull this guy out of the barn and off we go.

The tractor seat rotates 360 degrees and there’s a garden caddy tray underneath it that holds hand tools and gloves, etc. It looks so funky with its big ol’ 8 inch wheels that your kids might actually volunteer to weed the flower beds. Or maybe not.

If you can’t find a product I mention here, drop me an e-mail and I’ll try to help.

Flat Stack self winding hose
If you hate untangling a knotted pile of garden hose or if you’re tired of winding it back onto its storage reel when you’re through watering, this might be what you need. It’s a 50 foot, half-inch hose that stretches out for use like a regular hose then simply retracts itself back into a perfect pancake-shaped circle when you’ve finished using it.

It’s a bit more expensive than a “normal” hose, but you won’t need a hose reel and it might save you a lot of sweat and under-the-breath cursing. The Flat Stack is UV and weather-resistant and should last years longer than those leaky cheapo hoses most of us have lurking somewhere in the garage.

Rain Bird Time-Release Water We haven’t tried this one yet but it certainly looks useful. Essentially, it’s water bound in the form of a solid gel that slowly converts back into water over time, sending water and nutrients from the soil to a plant’s roots over a period of 30 days or more.

Time-Release Water comes in plastic packages that are the size and shape of a 12 ounce tube of bulk sausage. Slit the “sausage,” lay it cut-side down on moist soil next to the plant stem, cover with some topsoil and it will gradually release the water that is suspended in the gel.

It costs around $1.99 per 9 oz tube and is available at most home and garden centers. If you are planning to go on vacation this summer, a few of these around your shrubs or in your container gardens might relieve you of water worries while you’re away.

Black & Decker Cordless Cultivator If you hate weeding or turning over soil in flowerbeds with a shovel or a hoe, this could be the tool you’re looking for. Don’t confuse it with a rotary tiller. It isn’t intended to cut through hard-packed sod. But it’s a good option if you need to loosen dirt for planting, aerate soil or get in and around plants without damaging them while getting at the roots of most weeds.

Because it’s cordless, it can go anywhere, using the same interchangeable 18V power pack that drives several other Black & Decker cordless power tools.

Liquid Net Insect Repellent
Cheryl and I have tried just about every spray and lotion on the market. The ones with DEET are effective, but that’s a chemical that can be absorbed through the skin and has been linked to neurological damage. We came across Liquid Net and we use it because it’s DEET-free, safe for children, has all-natural ingredients and it actually smells pretty good.

There’s even a version called Liquid Net for Pets that repels ticks and fleas without any harmful or dangerous chemicals.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve's free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org