What's the biggest lesson you learned while landscaping?
Emily H
6 years ago
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annnw3
6 years agoJudy Lambert
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Tips, tricks and lessons you have learned
Comments (31)I enjoyed re-reading all of these. I have a couple more tips. If you don't have a full 8 hours of full sun, but do have 4-6, and you want tomatoes, plant them anyway. Your yields won't be as good, but I've found this year that if you prune the plants, you will get a decent number of large tomatoes. I'm not preserving my tomatoes in any way, so this only applies if you want a few tomatoes to eat. There are a lot of lovely veggies and edible plants that will grow in partial shade, so do your research and you can still grow veggies and edibles without a full-sun spot. Eat your sweet potato leaves. They are yummy. The tender tips are good raw and the older ones cook up well. The tubers will still form, even if you use some of the leaves. Most ornamental sweet potatoes don't have edible leaves (they taste horrible). I use regular sweet potatoes as ground cover just so I can eat the leaves. I never dig the ones in the ornamental beds, and they come back every year, providing ground cover, food, and a never-ending supply of slips for the edible beds. If you have earthworms, cultivate them by giving them lots of organic matter to eat. If you don't have earthworms, get some. They are nature's little fertilizer factories. You can buy red wigglers from just about any bait shop, or go out into the woods early in the morning and dig some up. They are abundant here in FL. Grow flowers! Even in veggie beds, they attract pollinators and better than that, they feed your soul. That's all. Lots to do today since we're having what I hope is our last freeze tomorrow....See MoreLessons From The Garden Or What I Learned Over Summer Vacation
Comments (16)4. Planting 3 or 4 kinds of morning glories on the arbor look as lovely as you envisioned. But seed collecting - well, that's going to be problem....if you want to keep the seeds from the BLUE plant separate from the seeds from the PINK. And NOW you have to explain to garden visitors why there are little pieces of colored ribbon tied all over the vines.... Hear, hear. I use bread ties which are decidedly more "pokey" compared to ribbon. I'm sick of apologizing for everyone getting snagged. Now I suggest that they bypass the arbor and take the long way around. Which leads me to: 1. Stop ignoring the sizes listed on plant labels and seed packs. If something says it will grow to 10ft, assume that it will and only plant one. Nobody needs 50ft of Morning Glorys to fill an arbor "nicely". 2. When you give extra plants away they then belong to the recipient who can do with them what they want. They are allowed to plant them in unsuitable (and laughable) conditions, slowly kill them in any manner in which they are good at or even launch them into space if that's what they want to do. Until someone creates the RSPCP (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Plants) you cannot take legal action against them and you should just relax. 3. Cut as many bouquets as possible and give them to everyone you know (including the cats). 4. Your garden may not be picture perfect. You might have planted orange, blue and pinks together, caterpillars have eaten off half your flowers and there are yellow leaves and floppy plants everywhere, but you know what? All that mess is much more rewarding than having miles of perfectly green antiseptic grass with perfectly spaced cone shaped shrubs planted around an empty flagpole. This is a great topic btw. :)...See MoreLesson(s) you've learned this year.
Comments (63)My lessons this year: 1. Just because you have the seeds, you don't have to start them. I was lucky and found homes for my extra 300 plants but it was touch and go for a bit. I still planted 50 plants and as I can, for the third weekend in a row, am seeing the error of my ways 2. Those cute little plants become giant mangled monsters so - don't over plant in small raised beds. They will get bigger - keep up on the pruning unless you want a tomato jungle - use better and more supports to keep the giants from falling over - write down what's planted where because sharpie will wash off sticks and the plants will grow big enough to hide the name sticks 3. Hail is horrible! My beautiful plants have looked beat up for three weeks now. 4. Chickens do not belong in the garden once the tomatoes begin to ripen... Unless you want them pre- tasted Already saving seeds and thinking about next season!!!...See MoreWhat's the most important lesson you've learned in your life?
Comments (42)Although most of the above are good, to me the most important lesson I've learned is that the best things in life truly are free (or at least fairly cheap). Good conversation, watching a sunrise/sunset, watching nature at its best, a snowfall on a peaceful night, waves rolling in, a sincere compliment, a hug, a pat on the back for a job well-done... An insincere thank-you is worthless. A sincere compliment is priceless. Money's nice but it's a tool, just like a drill. You don't buy a drill because you want a drill. You get one because you need a hole or drive a screw or something. Few people eat money. So many people have their priorities misaligned....See Moreldmforruby
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