Here are 10 garden design mistakes I made when designing my garden from scratch. I started this garden 8 years ago and I’ve learned many garden design lessons the hard way. I’m no expert! I’m just an avid gardener who loves learning from trial and error. The landscape design tips I’m sharing today are based on personal experience. These gardening mistakes have taught me to take more time when designing a garden from scratch and to fully understand all the nuances of a property before breaking ground on a new garden.
23 Comments
You can find someone who wants your compost you just have to mention it to a few people
Plant a willow in that wet area and it will dry it up
It's always good to be distracted by Grace! I hope you aren't selling your house! Your garden is beautiful. I understand the things you call mistakes; I have a lot in my 1/3rd acre property. The main one is leaving the existing beds from the previous owners. I get powdery mildew every year, especially on peonies and zinnias-yours don't get that? I am in Northern Virginia, zone 6b
Really appreciated this and related to many of those design mistakes. And learned so much, thank you!
Your garden is so beautiful, even with the mistakes you have mentioned. Well done! ❤🎉
boy I can relate to just buying things on clearence or accepting aggresice plants from other people without realizing there is a reason they are getting rid of that plant
Here's an idea for you uneven driveway with uninspired grassy area. What about blacktopping the drive and as you do, create a nice curve at the grass? Then remove the grass completely, fill the area with a mixture of very fine mulch and pea gravel. In the center, add a large planter with an assortment of ornamental grass and some perennials. Would that make a statement of simple beauty as lookers drive up, that hints at what's to come? Plus, don't let the agent scare you into thinking your love for gardening is so unique it will be hard to sell. You can add a note in your for sale description, "Spectacular cut gardens …. etc. Can be easily converted to kitchen garden" etc. It's special and beautiful!
The pathway is very narrow. Not much room for a wheelbarrel, elbow room & your hunched over body….those trees didn't get cut back every 3 yrs but you can redesign them now Spring & mid winter yearly a bit off each time until you get them to a low enough height. Think bonsai & topiary…. but human sized. Tht is my answer. I got huge infestation from a large load of mulch for my existing beds. Made me give up on some garden beds completely.
Do you have rain barrels so that you use t he water to flush toilets rather than letting it accumulate beneath your path? I don't see a willow anywhere there. My neighbour keeps a lovely gravel garden. 3 hrs every few days on his ride-on mower with a heavy many toothed scraper on the back. Ya. Mine has grown in with clover etc despite hand digging that out a few yrs ago & SPENDING HOURE STRING TRIMMING SO THAT i WAS SHAVING THE GROUND! Bursn thru lots of string since it gets so hot as it hits the actual gravel -ground to get plants AT root level. Looks fabulous, like a rattan long runner…for a few weeks. Then air born seeds take hold of the disturbed gravel.
Thank you for sharing your lessons learned. Here are some of mine.
1. Never just buy plants because they are cheap or on sale. Know what plants I want and where to plant them before buying the plants. In another word, has the design in place before buying any plants. Often times, I did just the opposite. 😂
2. Keep the low maintainence goal in mind before going out buying all kinds of plants. Design a low maintenance garden taking the sun, weather and nature of the plants into account before buying any plants.
3. Have more of foundational evergreen plants and less of flowering plants.
4. Have the physical structure in place first and build the garden around it, not the other way around.
Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned. I planted beautiful Carolina Sapphire cypress (4) as a privacy screen. They’re now enormous and blocking sunshine. S as a result the small area of grass in front of them is suffering and to make it worse I planted an entire row of Sunshine ligustrums in front which are now shaded by the cypresses. 😮 it was beautiful for several years but now I’ve got some problems to solve. Oh well. I guess if you’ve never made a mistake gardening you haven’t been gardening very long. 😂
Thank you for sharing. I learn something in every one of your videos. I have a sidewalk that floods and I read you can dig holes, fill them with pea rock and even cover over them with soil or grass in your low spots, so water has a place to drain. Maybe it would work in your path. I'm definitely going to try it with my walkway this fall.
I can absolutely relate to almost all of your gardening “mistakes,” especially buying plants on sale without first knowing where you’ll plant them. Also, I didn’t know that trees and shrubs grow far larger over the years than sizes listed on labels!
You could have grown polebeans!
Thank you Danielle….🤗
I'm 72 and my sons have encouraged me to get started at getting rid of some of my gardens. The ones in our front yard I'm keeping, but I'm planting easier annuals rather than perennials. Some of the ones in back I am letting go back to grass. We have to be realistic about our gardens, especially as we grow older. I don't want to have problems selling our home when the time comes, just because the gardens are intimidating to buyers.
You could put a French Drain in the area water collects
Grace is the best! <3
Grace, I love your face! 😁 Nobody ever has enough compost! Your garden issues are very familiar. I've dealt with them all in my 30+ years of gardening. Don't despair, you can make changes. It's part of the fun. This afternoon, I spent a few hours moving plants around and had a blast.
Go Grace! She’s so beautiful. No mistakes, just look at what you achieved!
hi! I can totally relate, I think alot of us (clearly, see comment section)! I think it's okay and important to reassess. When I started gardening 9 years ago it was bc we wanted privacy and I wanted it to look pretty. It soon became a passion (obsession) for me and carried me through some really difficult times of my life. I am now 9 years older, with a teenage son, and work too. So my life has changed, and the needs of my garden have changed. I am becoming content in what I made, created. My new phase has been to take out any plants that no longer work for me and to focus on repetition (i.e: dividing instead of buying any more). My garden has taught me patience and is now teaching me discipline. Enjoy the journey! 💓
Your house is fine, it's big and pleasant, the road is functionable and the garden is glorious. You americans are such neat-picky people! Aren't you guys supposed to be having currently a big housing crisis?? Besides, not only garden lovers are growing in numbers, you should also spare yourself the trouble of selling it, the housing market is about to collapse. Stay put in your wonderful paradise. Hugs from Portugal 🙂
I did similar mistakes. Agree with you 100%. Still, you garden looks heavenly to me. Mine too.👍🤗❤