Newbie mistakes

[bigdog]

Everyone seems to agree that they should sow in modules. What are the advantages?

[Bramble_killer]

Everyone seems to agree that they should sow in modules. What are the advantages?

For me, anything tender gets murdered by slugs. You can also space out the vegetables properly and start them earlier so you don't have to wait till the ground gets warm.

Cosseting them too much makes them soft and need more care though. Those thrown on the ground and survive will thrive when you are too busy to pamper them.

[BarleySugar]

I've been growing veg seriously for over 20 years, but at seed sowing time I still think my greenhouse (8 by 6), will house 5 varieties of tomatoes, as well as at least 4 of peppers, 5 of chillies and 2 cucumbers. (not plants remember folks, varieties )
This year I had to go back to work in May after 6 months illness, before I was really feeling able to cope. The tomatoes had a field day, throwing up side shoots everywhere, then I couldn't tell which to remove, so I just didn't bother. It now looks a bit like a cathedral, with tomato growth meeting in the middle. Headroom for hobbits only, I keep leaving bits of hair caught in the plants, and I'm only 4ft 11.
Putting fermented bokashi into the bean trench, thinking the process would kill butternut squash seeds. It didn't, but I didn't have the heart to pull out all the seedlings, and typically the strongest grower is down the path side (well I think the path is there somewhere). I do seem to have 3 squash set though

[enrich100]

i'm somewhere between Novice and knowledgable, I studied horticulture at a Agricultural School but didn't use my knowledge for many years since then I have made many mistakes

1 Going to Wyvale when they sale seeds at 50p a packet, my OH says I now have to write a list before I go and am not allowed to deviate from what on the list, I'm also not allowed to go to Wilkinsons without her supervision (still in my head my £14 of seed will be planted and I did save £50)

2 Planting Sweet million tomatoes in hanging baskets (don't believe that every website gets it right)

3 jumping out of my skin when harvesting Dwarf beans a frog jumped up even though I know he's there I even built a small pond just for him, the kids think he's our pet

4 Freecycle addiction (need I say anymore) I have pot and trays to last a life time but can always do with a couple more if they are free

5 Thinking my lawn would not be invaded if I planted 2 pumpkin seeds in a raised bed

6 not netting Brassicas

7 a) not labeling seedlings and forgeting what they are

b) Letting my 2 year old in my potting area and mixing up unlabelled sunflower pot seedlings, dwarf sun flowers and giants giant were to be planted by the door, dwarfs under the windows

c) letting my 2 year old play and read seedling packets, he wants to see the packets all the time and I really loved him when he opened several packets and mixed the seeds

8 Thinking my OH would be as excited as I am when I harvest something different

9 thinking that I really need nearly 18 different types of peppers and still wanting more, I still want bhut jolokia (my OH say its OCD) I can't even eat a sweet pepper anymore due to a health problem

10 thinking I could trust my three children around the fruit cage to leave me some fruit

11 thinking if I pull up bind weed each time it come up it will finally give up one day

12 thinking if I have planted a seedling I should give it a chance even though I don't have space for it

13 last but not least going to the toilet after dealing with chillis and no gloves, lets just say the lesson has now been learned

Im sure I have made more mistakes and am ready to make more, as its half the fun of gardening apart from the last one, I don't want to do that again ever

[bluemoon]

1, Didn't know what 'earthing up' meant when I grew potatoes so didn't do it. (but discovered in subsequent years that it doesn't seem to make much difference)

2, Ended up growing stuff we don't eat because friends asked us to, then didn't have enough room for our own things.

3, Didn't get chickens at nine o'clock on day one. (Well, I mean, they eat weeds and slugs and turn them into eggs and manure, how stupid is waiting 20+ years for something that will do that?)

4, Assumed that my greenhouse is the size of Wembley Stadium and bought seeds accordingly (still do that one).

5, Thinking that having an allotment meant I was supposed to be a 'proper' gardener and not daring to ask the old boys for advice in case they laughed (fortunately I saw the error of that pretty quickly, but only after one of them told me that he was spending his days chasing pigeons off my cabbages and did I know there was this stuff called 'netting'?)

[Florence Fennel]

I have tried to grow all kinds of everything instead of giving more space to the things we really like, so I am steeling myself to only growing what we eat, rather than growing to give away!

[acasia]

many mistakes.....
not planting enough or big enough variety and ordering seeds from a catalogue wrong n ending up with radish and turnip ones! sigh!

also last yr i decided to make my own strawberry pots cause i was too mean to buy them and in the process managed to killed off all but 2 of my strawberries! oh dear... not thining out stuff aswell which I'm still crap at

and overwatering potatoes which looked fab for ages but then all died

[sheena]

I wouldn't know where to start with my errors.

Planted way to many Tomato's (60 in total - 4 different varieties)
Suffered a great loss until I fenced off the planter from the dog's. They managed to leave me Runner Beans and a single Marrow plant.
Planting the cucumbers too close to the runner beans... they battling it out for the trellis at the mo.
Not netting Cauli's, Broc's and Brussel's... they've only just fully recovered from the infestation.
Not fighting off the slugs earlier, they had more to eat that I have.
Not feeding my dog's enough - they seemed to like eating the corn and bring it back up. I now have 3 tall corn's and 2 stunted one's - 1 completely dead.
Dropping a ton of chilli and pepper seeds in with the trays of leeks and spring onions (2 seperate trays).
Rubbing my eyes after de-seeding chilli's, and planted way to many of them too. (Running total so far at a guess 150 - 7 varieties).
Not netting the berry bushes, the chooks had a field day!

The biggest problem of all, not having enough room in my garden for all the veg I have grown - or trying to grow!

[vikkib]

Soooooo many mistakes!

1) Buying far too many seeds. I still classify this as a 'happy' mistake as I love going through them and still believe I will sow them ALL next year!

2) Sowing everything at once. Again not so bad and still a 'happy' mistake as I loved giving the excess plants to my Nan and Granddad for their retirement communities communal greenhouse and veg garden (far bigger and more prolific than mine!) so the residents have all had ridiculously cheap veg all season! I doubt I'll actually ever be able to 'just sow 1 seed this week' and I CAN'T just chuck out the seedlings when they germinate!

3) Slugs... not tackling them head on! Next year it will be all out war from far earlier.

4) Snails... as above.

5) Not planning where anything will go and not making the time to get the beds sorted out properly so most stuff ending up in pots which just took masses of watering.

6) Not making a note of things like germination rates and times which would really help me to combat mistake no. 2 next year!

7) Not netting my pepper plants and the caterpillars turning the leaves to lace.

8) Not keeping up with removing side branches to my tomatoes enough - I have huges, sprawling, plants now some of which are still flowering!

9) Buying the first seeds I saw before realising all the amazing varieties available.

10) Not getting my greenhouse put up. Having said that it was a freecycle freebie so I'm still just glad it's hear and ready to go up when I can get the help to put it up!

[pdblake]

Spending several hours meticulously sifting and sieving seed compost, making a beautifully flat seed tray bed, placing hundreds of seeds in regimented rows then covering with snowy white Perlite.

Placed on shelf and watered with a high-pressure hose which blew the entire contents up the side of the greenhouse.

Sorry but that almost made me wet myself laughing. That image will stay in my head all day

As for me, same as everyone else, not netting all the brassicas and sowing far more than I could reasonably plant out

[taff]

1 - Didn't net the kale [for some reason it didn't occur to me butterflies might like that too, now have hundreds of caterpillars munching my winter veg]
2 - Didn't label everything, and I mean everything, and keep labelling it as it was potted on, relying on my wonderful memory when theyre were 6 different pots in a tray, thinking I'd recognise which tomato variety was which
3 - using my own compost without sterilising it so ended up with lots of varieties of tomato i didn't want and hardly any i did - although I did find one which is brill, the leaves grow upright, and no side shoots until there are at least 4 sets of leaves.
4 - not spraying against blight
5 - not being prepared enough to store the produce or pickle it, or chutney it etc

[The Nichols']

Thinking that having a year old baby, a pregnant wife and taking on a new plot in March means I'll have the whole thing up and running by the end of the season.

Oh, and not marking the tomatoes correctly so I'm left with 4 Italian Giant, 3 Cherry but only one regular sized after thinning out.

[Newbie]

Leaving my little melons on the plant too long and finding when i picked them that they were over-ripe & tasted awful - GUTTED!

[bobleponge]

Not labelling properly even though on the "What I will do differently next year" thread last year I said I would.

Planting my tomato's too close together, even though on the "What I will do differently next year" thread I said I would.

Not practising succesional(sp) sowing, even though .... you get the picture.

I have got some things better this year, but still make mistakes. As all have said, its part of the fun.
Next year my veggie plot is going to be bigger, with more varieties, so will be more mistakes made I have no doubt.
I WILL, however, label, plant succesionaly(sp) and give my toms more space.

Fat Bob - Brilliant, made me laugh out loud in the office.

[Mrs Twigg]

FionaH,
please do tell us the story of the drunk teenager.......please