5 Common Mistakes In The Backyard Vegetable Garden

You’re likely to err when you take your first stab at vegetable gardening. As a very smart individual once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

Not that we advocate making preventable errors. After all, gardening blunders cost you both time and money. So with that in mind, we asked Bill Rein, a horticulturist at W. Atlee Burpee & Co., to point out the common missteps of beginning gardeners. After reviewing these, feel free to make your own mistakes from them. It’s bound to make you a better gardener!

1. Great expectations for your backyard vegetable garden

High on their own enthusiasm, many veggie gardeners bite off more than they can chew by planting gardens without considering the time and effort needed to maintain them.

“You have to remember that plants are living things, so neglect—unless you’re very lucky—means dead plants or, at the very least, sad-looking plants,” Bill says. “Be realistic about how much time you have for gardening, and refrain from growing more than you can maintain. A small, healthy garden is a lot more attractive than loads of wilting plants among a mass of weeds.”

And too much maintenance can be as bad as too little. “Some of the new gardeners I’ve met during my travels are so dedicated that they actually end up overdoing it: overwatering, ­over­fertilizing and overpruning,” Bill says. “It’s easy to do if you really enjoy tinkering in the garden.”

To avoid showering your plants with too much attention, draw up a weekly checklist of maintenance tasks and stick to it.

2. Ignoring light requirements

It sounds simple enough: Locate plants that need full sun in sunny areas and those that prefer shade in shady areas.

“But you’d be surprised at how many gardeners, new and old, get this wrong,” Bill says.

Full sun actually means the plant grows best in six or more hours of direct sunlight. Sure, you can plant it in a spot that gets fewer than six hours, but the chances are your yield will decrease and the fruits won’t be nearly as sweet, Bill warns.

To avoid making this mistake with the area you’re considering, track the sunlight there for about a week before you plant. This should give you enough time to observe the way light hits your yard on both sunny and cloudy days. If you monitor sunlight in early spring, be sure to account for how much shade nearby trees will produce after they fully leaf out.

If you don’t have time or aren’t at home enough to make such observations, try a digital monitor like the SunCalc.

3. Forgetting to Make Amends

“Amending the soil is the first and most important task before you start planting,” Bill says. “I can’t stress enough how important it is to prepare the planting site.”

Good soil means the right combination of silt, clay and organic material. Too much sand in the soil can dry your plants out. Compact soils with too much clay can lead to poor air and water circulation.

Start by digging the bed, then removing weeds, debris and rocks so you can see and touch the soil. Grab a handful. Does it feel compacted or gummy, or does it appear to be exceptionally loose and grainy, indicating a sandy soil type?

“For sandy soil, add a higher ratio of organic material,” Bill recommends. “Place at least 2 inches on top of the bed and work it in evenly to a depth of 4 to 6 inches. For clay soil, you should work in an ample amount of compost, so that the ratio of clay to organicmaterial ratio is roughly 50:50.”

Adding organic matter improves your soil’s texture and nutrient balance. But you can also get a soil test by taking samples to your local university extension office. The tests are helpful because they indicate which nutrients your soil lacks and what should be added, as well as the soil’s pH level and what should be done to change it. Then you can remedy the situation accordingly.