Vegetable Garden Mistakes to Avoid as a New Gardener

Vegetable Garden Mistakes to Avoid as a New Gardener

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When you are just starting out as a new gardener, making vegetable garden mistakes is bound to happen.

But the best thing to do is to learn as much as you can and get started with that new vegetable garden this year. You never will learn much when it comes to gardening unless you dig in and start getting your hands dirty.

Starting With Too Much

When you are new to gardening it’s easy to get excited and want to plant all the things, but this isn’t the way too go, and one of the common vegetable garden mistakes new gardeners make.

Starting with a smaller garden is easier for new gardeners. It is easier to maintain and requires less time. It will also allow you to focus more on learning about gardening while you are maintaining your small garden.

If you find after you have your small garden that gardening is definitely for you and that you think you have time for more you can always expand.


Not Labeling Your Plants

When you are new to gardening it’s important that you make sure you label your plants.

There are vegetable and herb plants that can look alike. Add that to the fact that as a new gardener you might not be all that familiar with how the different plants look, especially when they are just starting from a seed.

So it’s very important to make sure you label your plants in your garden to make sure you are able to identify them.

Also make sure to pay attention as your plants grow, you need to learn what they look like through the different growing stages. This is important so you don’t accidentally pull them up when weeding your garden.

Not Enough Sunlight

Most vegetables and herbs need at least six hours of direct sunlight each day.

If you don’t have much area’s with that much direct sunlight each day then container gardening might be best for your garden. This way you can move the containers of your garden plants around to maximize the amount of sunlight that they get.

Using Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides

Many of us start our own garden because we want to eat healthier and avoid all the chemicals Big Ag puts on the food they grow.

So using those same chemicals in your own garden is a big nono.

When you need fertilizer and pesticides it’s best try going the natural route as much as possible.

Too Much Fertilizers

It’s easy to think that fertilizer is the key to making your crop grow like crazy. And then thinking that use way too much fertilizer.

Doing this can actually kill your garden plants.

Too much fertilizer can burn your plants, make them more susceptible to getting disease, or even cause them to stop producing.

If you use compost then you will need even less fertilizer. Sometimes you might even do ok without fertilizer in your garden altogether with good compost.

How to Start Composting For Beginners

Watering Too Much or Not Enough

You need to water your vegetable garden consistently for good results in your garden. But too much watering is a vegetable garden mistake.

You need to pay attention to how much water your garden is getting.

It is best to get a rain gauge to make sure you can monitor rainfall so you know when to give your garden more than what nature is providing and when to pull back if it’s raining enough for your plants.

Not Planting at the Right Time

Any gardener is eager to get their plants growing when spring starts coming around.

But many places will still have the temperatures dipping down below freezing. Temperatures dipping down that low can be detrimental to plants like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants.

One of the things I like to do is start my seedlings indoors where I can make sure the nightly temperatures don’t go too low. I use grow lamps and storage containers to keep them happy while they’re starting out.

Putting Your Plants Too Close Together

Most vegetable plants prefer not being too close to other plants.

You want to make sure to check each type of plant to see what it’s preferred planting distance is.

Not Weeding Your Garden

Weeds compete with your garden plants. They take away moisture and food.

And another surprising thing with weeds is that they can be dormant in soil for years, sometimes even decades.

So you have to stay on-top of the weeds and make sure to weed your garden regularly. But avoid using chemical herbicides, you don’t want to add that poison to your food that you are growing.

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Vegetable Garden Mistakes to Avoid

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