5 Mistakes Beginner Gardeners Make

The summer of 2008, while Hubs and I were in grad school, we decided that we wanted to grow some fresh veggies at our apartment. We bought a pepper and tomato plant since they were veggies we use frequently and they can be pretty expensive to buy at the store. The following year we expanded what we grew to include cucumbers, squash, beans and peas. We now have 300 square feet of raised bed garden space that we grow and preserve a lot of our own foods.

Back at our first apartment, we had no clue about all the mistakes we would make as first time gardeners, as well as all the things we would learn over the next 8 years. But the biggest way to learn when it comes to gardening is by doing. Over the years I’ve developed a love for gardening, and while it can be frustrating and hectic, the hard work pays off in the end. I haven’t had to buy spaghetti sauce & pizza sauce, canned green beans, diced tomatoes, pickles, frozen peas, jellies and jams in a long time. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

If you have no experience growing things and you’re thinking about starting a garden this year, here are 5 common gardening mistakes made by first time gardeners.

Planting in an area where there’s not enough light.

Our first pepper and tomato plant that I talked about? We killed them. Our first year gardening, and we killed the only two plants we bought. It was devastating. We almost didn’t grow anything the following year because “it would be wasted money”. But the problem wasn’t our care. Our problem was location. While we chose the sunniest spot we had in our tiny yard, that spot only received 6 hours of sunlight maximum.

Some plants are shade tolerant and don’t mind few hours of sunlight per day, while tomatoes and peppers thrive on 12-16 hours of sunlight. To prevent your plants from not getting enough light, determine whether your plants need full sun or can grow in some shade. While most will say they require full sun, plants like spinach, arugula, chard, lettuce and kale, will still grow on a 2 to 6 hours of sunlight a day.

Not leaving enough spacing between plants.

Some plants love to sprawl out and need the space. Tomatoes, melons, cucumbers and squash fall into this category. Other plants, like carrots, peas, pole beans and leaf lettuces do well in smaller spaces. When you’re first planting in the spring, it’s really easy to plant too close together. I’ve fallen into that trap many times, especially with tomatoes. and zucchini. 3 feet spacing is a lot bigger than you’d think! But if you don’t leave enough space, your tomatoes and squash will become unruly and eventyally overcrowd and kill any nearby plants. A really easy fix to this is to make sure you have a measuring tape handy when planting.

Not planning ahead.

While you’re not planning to build the next NYC skyscraper, a little bit of preplanning before planting your garden can save you a lot of frustration later in the season. Planning ahead can ensure that long maturity plants, like leeks, brussel sprouts, pumpkins, winter squashes and some tomatoes, have enough time to mature for harvest before the first frost. It can also help with continual harvests of some foods like lettuces and spinach.

Planning ahead will help you determine the quantity of food you’re thinking of harvesting as well. Tomatoes, beans, peas, squash and cucumbers are very prolific, and a few plants will give more than enough for fresh eating throughout the summer. On the other hand, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower only give one major harvest per plant. By planning ahead, you can start to think in terms of what you want to get out of your garden over the course of the summer and fall, and know what you may need to plant more of. To get started, try planning out what you want to grow, and how much. From there, you can plan out how much you’ll need to grow from there.

Starting too soon {or too late}.

This is especially important when you’re starting plants from seeds because germination rates vary by plant. I’m always amazed at how fast some plants sprout, and equally amazed how long it takes others. By planting too early, I run the risk of the transplants getting damaged by frost, stunted by cooler weather, and seeds not germinating. By starting too late, the plant may bolt because of the heat, or it won’t mature in time to produce fruits and vegetables for you. To prevent this, always check the back of the seed packets for proper planting times. Check the maturity date too so you know when to expect the harvest.

Planting everything all at once.

There’s two downsides to this mistake. Some plants like the cool weather, while others like it warmer. Starting everything at once means that one will be growing in weather that’s not suited to them. Plants that need warm weather to grow will be delayed in growth, while cooler weather plants will germinate, and then work on producing seeds rather than giving you food.

The other side to this mistake is that if everything survives and produces, you’ll have a TON of fresh produce all at once. Sometimes this is what I want, like when I’m canning green beans or making pizza & spaghetti sauce. Other times it’s not ideal. I can honestly only go through so much squash and lettuce at once.

Watering too much {or too little}.

Even as a seasoned gardener, this is something I struggle with. I am known to kill house plants because I don’t water them often enough, and I tend to be lax watering the garden as well. In my defense, I don’t want my plants to die from too much water. To determine whether you plants need watering, stick your finger in the soil up to the fingernail. If the soil is wet, your plants don’t need watered at this time, but if the soil is dry, they could benefit from some water.

I do try to stick to a semi-watering schedule, if you could call it that. Between summer thunderstorms and our yard being semi-wet until the end of June, it’s pointless to stick to a strict “water every 3 days schedule”. What I do is look at the forecast, and if there’s a period of time where we go for 4 or more days without rain, I’ll water my garden every other day until we get more rain.

Don’t let these 5 mistakes prevent you from growing your own food. They’re really simple to fix! If I can go from completely killing plants to growing our own food for preservation in a few years, you can too! Besides, growing food in your own garden is well worth the rewards you’ll reap.