I bought some dark colored mulch on clearance last year. It was one of those bags that had busted open and they repackaged it. That stuff turned out to be killer. It killed everything that came in contact with it.

I tried to compost fruit/veggie/vegetation waste in my back yard. The soil is great, but it kept the rats and mice well fed. I had to get rid of it. I don't need rodents in my yard.

Susan- You have my sympathy. I made the same mistake- or rather my husband did and I made the mistake of not speaking up before the stones were put down. I didn't want them but figured the landscaper knew what he was doing.

I've been digging them up and putting them into my empty pool chemical buckets- I now have 8 or 9 40 pound buckets half full of stones. I can't fill the buckets because then I can't pick them up. I have a place to dispose of them. Our supermarket put stones down on the dividers in the parking lot and the manager said I could dump my stones there as long as they were clean.

There's only one area where I can leave them because luckily I insisted that they enclose the area with a metal edger- it's high enough that dirt and mulch can't wash into the stone area.

So while I'm removing the rest of the d***m rocks I'll be thinking of you.

Maybe not quite that spectacular a one. But years ago, I got a lovely little pussywillow bush. Planted it next to the front door, in front of the house. I had NO idea how huge those things grow. I cut it all the way down to the ground every year, and it still comes back and grows up to the second floor! I plan to root some cuttings of it to take to the country house, but you can bet they will NOT be planted near the house or garage!

Everyone will laugh, but there is a reason behind the madness. Last year I painted the floorboards of my wooden deck, blueÂ

Ok, hereÂs why. The deck stain made the deck too hot and the dogs would burn their feet. White wouldnÂt work because it would always be dirty, so I wanted something light and neutral.

I had a gallon of blue paint in the basement that I wouldnÂt use again, but didnÂt want to throw out, so I decided it would be perfect for my cute little sitting deck.

Lord have mercy. Ok, it was cute for a day. Throughout the winter snow, the blue started peeling, and itÂs peeled ever since. I have blue paint chips everywhere and a mostly exposed wood deck. ItÂs horrible.

IÂve used paint stripper and have most of the blue removed. IÂm going to stain the natural wood this week.

Hey, I have a deck to match pawprint's!

Many mistakes. Like you we put in stones around foundation bushes. 8 years later I started to remove them, took me two summers. I did put them under my deck, I needed more there anyway. The landscape fabric was the cheap kind under the deck (that I put in), it was tearing and lots of weeds, so I moved the stones to one side, put in commercial quality/heavy duty stuff, move the stones over and did other side. I did find a good way to "wash" the stones but took forever. Get a large heavy garden pot, like one that a small tree comes in. Put "dirty" stones in, run garden hose in it, shake, run water over stones again, and let it drain. You can't do a lot at a time, only put amt of stones you can move with wheelbarrow or lift. It works...very labor intensive....

....I HATE LANDSCAPING ROCKS!!!!

How would we learn what not to do again if it weren't for the mistakes? LOL My wonderful DH believes I make a bizarre mistake on every job just so he can come to my rescue. LOL Wellll......... NOT I just make mistakes. If he wants to fix them he is more than welcome. I just wish he would come along before the mistake is made and help because that would cost so much less in time, money, labor and recovery from the aches of doing more than enough work.

Rocks, rocks, rocks,
everywhere you dig, rocks!

Hot soaks do wonders for the "Rock carrying induced leg,arm torso, neck,head and back pain." You don't wanna know how I know! LOL

CT

Stones!!! DH put them in a few years ago. Did not discuss with me. I hate them. He did not spray the places he was putting the stone with something like Round Up, he didn't use a commercial grade landscape fabric. Now we have weeds coming up all thru the stones AND the chipmunks think that is where to dig their tunnels, there are pieces of fabirc sticking up all over and chippy mounds all around.
But, you gotta realize, this is the man who sprayed Round Up all over the grass one year to kill the weeds, before he planted his tomato plants. He just couldn't understand why his plants died (and most of the grass in that area).
LOL, Farmer John he will never be. Now if I could just get him to remove most of the rocks, but I know how much work it was to do that project so I'm not opening my mouth!
Kathy G in MI

Now you tell me! This yard already had them in in all the front flower beds.

Mistakes? Once I painted all the kitchen cabinets pumpkin. Was stylin' at the time, but I'd sure hate to see it now. Oh--and black handles. Can we say Halloween?

Yes, I'm living with some mistakes. But it's not the end of the world.

I feel for you. My last house had stone mulch. I kept digging it up. Got ride of quite a bit for "free" on craigslist. Yup, them people came and got it by the five gallons full. ;)

My mistake was planting horse tail. Don't do it. It spreads underground... all throughout your flower bed.

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful:

oklamoni-I feel for you. We had it in the irrigation ditch in front of our house. When they put the water in pipes and filled in the ditch, it spread through the lawn and into the flower beds. And people actually pay money for that stuff! Hey, come dig it out of MY garden if'n ya want it, it's free!!

And yes I have a few nightmare garden plantings that I shoulda known better, but live and learn, dig it up and find a better place.

Craigslist! There's a good idea!

-- "Peel and stick" vinyl tiles on the kitchen floor. Any moisture in the cracks has led to unpeeling and unsticking, particularly in front of the sink and fridge.

-- Failing to check what primer the painters used when they painted our house trim. We bought the colored paint ourselves, but because of the cheap quick-dry primer most of it started peeling within a year.

-- Planting violets, daisies and mint underneath the rose bushes, all of which ended up spreading far and wide, seemingly impossible to eradicate. Not a huge problem, but annoying.

-- The neighbor's gardening boo-boo was worse than mine. She planted morning glory along our mutual fence. Talk about invasive! It tried to take over both our yards and two years later she's still trying to get rid of it.

Petaloid, how did you fix that paint problem? I think I know someone who will have to fix theirs. Did you have to strip the rest of the old paint? And how did you do that?

Mcmann, at least I'm not alone in doing that!

Live and learn, I guess.

"My mistake was planting horse tail. " OMG! you will NEVER be rid of that. I so cringed when an HGTV landscaping show put that in! OMG! lol

yeah, lots of mistakes! Photinia and english laurel for two! NEVEr AGAIN! oh, yeah, ivy.. omy goodness!

same here! i wanted a dry river look, and now i have weeds in it...and can't garden now...

Susan -- We haven't fixed the paint problem yet. I suppose the trim will have to be sanded down or stripped and re-done. Grrr...