Bizarre gardening lessons you have learned.....

Rummer

I am so glad to hear that I am not alone!

Smoffi

When planting seeds ALWAYS read the instructions for amount in a hole and the space provided between each seed AND row... also plan everything on paper... and BE REAL

invisiblecabbage

Joly-Roger: the image of your cement mixing and night time activities made me do this ....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

foxwales

Don't plant mature expensive Japanese Acers in a spot that even gets mild wind, because the shrivel and die!

Don't spend hundreds of pounds on plants and a pond for your newly landscaped garden when you have two spaniels otherwise you will find your plants half way down the garden and the dogs in the pond looking like swamp things :mad:

foreign_correspondent

Rummer wrote: »

I learned yesterday that if you do not pin the leaves of cauliflower the heads go a patchy lilac colour !

How odd - when my dad grew fields of them for years (for the wholesale markets and supermarkets) he never went round the fields with safety pins and elastic bands arranging the leaves... and I never remember seeing a patchy purple cauli when we cut them either!

Are you sure it wasnt a wind up?

Ken68

That NO DIG gardening works, at least is does for taters. An inexhaustible supply of mowings or similar helps.

Lotus-eater

Ken68 wrote: »

That NO DIG gardening works, at least is does for taters. An inexhaustible supply of mowings or similar helps.

Yeah, see, I tried that and all of my tubers got decimated by slugs, slug pellets may have helped I suppose, but it really needed nematodes I think.
Good lesson, nothing works the same for everyone,

Zazen999

If ever any other allotmenteers are stood laughing at your crops; tell them it was part of a trial for someone or other. In fact, put Trial A; Trial B etc on various coloured labels throughout your lottie to give yourself an excuse at any point. Once everything looks healthy - move the label to something else. :rotfl:

Use the first couple of years to experiment, then settle down to grow what you know grows in your area, and never underestimate the determination of bugs, pests, beasties to decimate all your hard work overnight.

Never see a beastie and think 'I'll come back and sort that out next week' as next week the leaves and/or crop itself won't be there.

Ken68

That grass is stronger than lawn weeds if given the chance to grow away.

Volcano

Buying 200 saplings in bulk may be cheaper and make you feel like you've been clever and got a bargain; however the realisation that you'll have to get them planted rapidly before they die, that it will involve digging 200 holes by hand, alone, and you need to take 3 days off work to do it, will somewhat take the edge off the bargain.