Everything We Got Wrong the First Year
- Garden diary
- Beginner mistakes
- Honest notes
I’ve been writing gardening guides for this site for a while now, and most of them sound like I know what I’m doing.
I want to be clear about something: the first year was a disaster. Almost everything I did was wrong.
Here’s the list, because if you’re starting out, you’re probably about to make the same mistakes.
I Used Garden Soil in Pots
Dug soil out of the yard and filled three pots with it. Within a week it compacted into something resembling concrete.
The basil turned yellow. The pepper never grew a single new leaf.
I didn’t know potting mix was a different thing. Cost me an entire season of container gardening before I figured it out.
I Watered Everything the Same
Every plant got the hose every evening.
Tomatoes, herbs, flowers, the new shrub by the fence. Same amount, same time.
The lavender rotted. The tomatoes got blossom end rot from inconsistent moisture.
The basil was the only thing that didn’t seem to mind, which is ironic because I’d already killed one indoors.
I Planted Everything Too Close Together
The spacing on the seed packet said 18 inches apart. I looked at the tiny seedlings and thought, no way they need that much room.
Planted them 6 inches apart. By July they were a tangled mess with no airflow, powdery mildew everywhere, and I couldn’t get between them to harvest without stepping on something.
The tags are not suggestions. They know how big the plant gets. I didn’t.
I Ignored the Sun
Planted tomatoes where I wanted them to be, not where the sun actually hits. That spot gets maybe 3 hours of direct light.
The tomatoes grew tall, leggy, and produced almost nothing.
Moved them the next year to the sunny side of the yard. Night and day difference.
I Bought Whatever Was on Sale
End-of-season clearance at the garden center. Half-dead perennials for $2 each.
I bought nine of them. Two survived. The rest were too far gone.
A $2 dead plant is not a deal. Now I buy healthy plants at full price in spring and they actually make it.
I Never Tested the Soil
Dumped fertilizer on everything assuming the soil needed it. Added lime because someone online said to.
Turns out the pH was already fine and I was throwing off the balance.
A $15 soil test from the extension office would have told me that before I spent $40 on amendments I didn’t need.
I Thought More Compost Was Always Better
Filled the raised bed with about 80% compost because I figured organic matter is good, so more must be better.
The soil drained like a sieve. Nutrients washed out every time it rained. Plants looked hungry despite sitting in what I thought was the richest soil possible.
Turns out 25-30% compost is the target. Not 80%.
I Didn’t Mulch Anything
Left bare soil everywhere. Weeds exploded.
The soil dried out in two days. I was watering constantly and weeding every weekend.
One season of 3-inch wood chip mulch later and I couldn’t believe the difference. Should have done it from day one.
Why I’m Telling You This
Every guide on this site came from getting something wrong first. The epsom salt article exists because I dumped it on everything and made half my plants worse.
The container gardening guide exists because I killed my first pot of tomatoes with yard dirt.
We’re not writing from expertise. We’re writing from mistakes.
If you’re in your first year and everything is going sideways, that’s normal. Keep going.
The second year is better. The third year is when you start to feel like you know something. We’re about there now.
