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Every winter, we look back at what worked in the garden and what didn’t. If you’re new here, we’re Eric and Christopher, and we garden in Zone 6a in Upstate New York. After years of planting, moving, editing, and learning, we’ve got a pretty clear list of things we wish we’d done differently from the beginning.
If you’re starting a garden now (or you’re a few seasons in and already thinking, “Wait… did I do this wrong?”), these are the gardening mistakes to avoid that will save you time, money, and a lot of frustration.
If you’re just starting out, you can also check out our post, 5 Beginner Gardening Tips That Matter.
When we first moved into our home in 2018, it was a brand-new build with a blank-slate yard and sandy soil. We were so excited to fill the space that we bought whatever we could find, especially clearance plants.
Here’s the thing: buying on sale is not a design strategy. A garden built around random bargains can turn into a mismatched collection of “just okay” plants that don’t work together.
Key takeaway: Don’t let a plant’s price decide your garden’s direction. Your garden should serve the look and feel you want.
We were fully convinced landscape fabric would suppress weeds. It did not. What it did do was make gardening harder.
Weeds often grow on top of landscape fabric in the mulch layer. Meanwhile, the fabric can interfere with improving your soil over time, since compost, organic matter, and granular fertilizers don’t naturally integrate as well.
Key takeaway: Landscape fabric often creates more work, not less, especially long-term.
Even after we had years of gardening experience, we made this mistake. When we installed our terrace and patio beds (and planted a lot of new plants in late June), we assumed the summer would be rainy.
It wasn’t. We spent countless hours hand-watering, and we lost plants and growth.
Key takeaway: If you plan to install drip eventually, do it immediately. It’s much harder later.
We learned this lesson more times than we’d like to admit. Cheap hoses kink, leak, snap at the connectors, and make watering way more frustrating than it needs to be.
Same goes for tools. Poor-quality tools bend, break, and slow you down.
Key takeaway: Your garden experience improves dramatically when the boring “utility” items actually work.
We used to drive back and forth buying bag after bag of mulch. It was time-consuming, expensive, messy, and the coverage per bag was tiny.
Then we discovered bulk delivery and realized you can also get compost delivered the same way.
Key takeaway: Bulk mulch (and compost) saves money, saves time, and can seriously improve soil quality faster.
We invested in self-watering containers and expected them to simplify watering. In our case, they caused more problems.
Because our containers were in a hot, south-facing location on blacktop, the water reservoir heated up. Over time, roots clogged the system, and the insert couldn’t be removed to clean or repair.
We ended up cutting the inserts out and using them as regular planters.
Key takeaway: Self-watering can work, but only if the system is serviceable and suited to your site.
This one is emotional because we didn’t realize how much we’d fall in love with gardening. We assumed our garage space would be enough for storage.
But the reality is: you go back and forth to tools and supplies constantly. If your storage is far from where you garden, it becomes annoying fast.
Now, our garden is established, and adding a shed or greenhouse would require major changes.
Key takeaway: Even if you’re not sure you’ll “need” a shed or greenhouse, planning for one gives you options later.
None of these choices ruined our garden, but they shaped it. Gardening is built through learning, editing, and sometimes doing things the hard way.
If you’re starting a garden right now, you don’t need to get everything perfect. But if you can avoid a few of these common mistakes, you’ll save yourself time, money, and frustration, and you’ll enjoy the process a lot more.
For even more info when you’re just starting out, download our free Beginner Gardening Guide!
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