5 Gardening Mistakes We Wish We Had Avoided
Some of the best lessons in the garden are the ones nobody warns you about. We sat down with our friend Jason at Melanchthon Creek Farms — a fellow Zone 8a gardener — to swap the five things we most wish we had known when we started. Prefer to listen? Press play. Rather read? It is all below.
1. Do not plant everything at once
When you plant a whole bed of squash or zucchini at one time, it all ripens at one time — and it quickly overwhelms you. We learned to use succession planting instead: sow a few, then a few more a couple of weeks later, so the harvest comes in steadily all season. (A few crops, like tomatoes and corn, we still want all at once — that is canning season.)
2. Grow vertically
Trellising is not just for tomatoes and pole beans. Vining crops like squash, zucchini, and cucumbers do beautifully up off the ground: better airflow, less powdery mildew, easier picking, and you can space them closer together. You do not need anything fancy — a cattle panel, garden stakes, bamboo, or even a corn stalk will do the job.
3. The pests will come
They always do. The trick is not to reach for the harshest spray — those chemicals kill the beneficial bugs and pollinators right alongside the pests. Learn to identify what you have got (your county extension office is a goldmine), lean on organic options like BT, neem oil, or Captain Jack's, and when in doubt, pick them off by hand. Above all, protect your bees.
4. Companion planting changes everything
Some plants simply grow better together. The classic Three Sisters — corn, beans, and squash — feed and support one another: beans fix nitrogen for the corn, the corn is a living trellis for the beans, and the squash leaves shade the soil. Tuck in flowers and herbs like marigolds, nasturtiums, and dill to draw pollinators and the predatory bugs that hunt your pests.
5. Embrace your failures
Every gardener has a crop that flops. Our strawberries sulked in the shade until we moved them to a sunny raised bed — now we can hardly keep up with them. Keep a journal, figure out what went wrong, and try again next season. That is not failure; that is how you learn.
Above all, do not try to do it all at once. Take your time, enjoy the walk around your beds, and thank God for what is growing. A big thank-you to Jason at Melanchthon Creek Farms for growing right alongside us.