I avoid a gardening method – the plants always remain a week away from death
A GARDENER revealed the method they avoided, which always leaves plants a week away from death.
Instead, they lived by a “three strikes” rule that saved time and energy.
The Redditor u/jelliknacht shared their gardening tips and tricks with beginners.
For those who worried about failure, they explained that failure was inevitable yet valuable.
“Every failure is a lesson,” they said.
Their advice to use large self-watering pots was hoped to reduce rookie mistakes.
“When you see pictures in magazines and on the Internet of piles of leaves coming out of small pots, that’s what they are lies” they explained.
“Or at least rarities. Suppose the underground part of your plant is about the same size as the above-ground part.”
Jelliknight added that gardening is a numbers game and you always have to be careful if you want to bear fruit.
Rather than experience disappointment when store-bought seedlings die, they planted as many seeds as possible to increase the odds of success.
“Start with seeds. It’s the cheapest way to garden. And you will do so for many years to come,” they said.
“Those seedlings from garden centers have been pampered, shaded, hardened, fertilized, watered several times a day and watched with an expert eye; they are not at all prepared for the harsh realities of life in a noob’s garden.
“Four dollars for one seedling that will permanently die or two dollars for 100 seeds is not a difficult choice.”
One season the gardener planted more than 60 tomato seeds, but was rewarded with only two seedlings.
“Another year I got about two dozen seedlings, I only got fruit from about four plants. Assume you’re going to fail and be pleasantly surprised if you don’t,” they said.
To make their plants successful, they also avoided planting them in containers as this can be restrictive compared to planting in the ground.
“Growing in containers sucks. It just is. In the soil you have water stored, nutrients just hanging around, good insects and worms, in a container you have exactly what you put in it,” they explained.
“Everything is always about a week away from death and the few tomatoes I have taken from containers never taste as good as those from the ground.”
Simple gardening tips to save money, maximize space and repel pests
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- Banana peels, vinegar and coffee grounds are often recommended as natural fertilizers.
- Dollar Tree sells four packets of seeds for $1.25.
- Try a vertical planter like the one from Amazon Mr. Stacky stackable planter with 5 levels$35 to make more use of a small space.
- Use nets such as the Garden Net Pest Barrier$8, from Amazon to keep away bugs from eating your veggies.
- Try sacrificial planting to reduce pesticide use and keep pests out of your garden. By deliberately growing certain plants to attract agricultural pests, you can keep them away from the plants you want to protect. Examples include marigolds, lavender, catnip and chives.
- For annoying weeds in your garden, the Grampa’s Weeder – The original upright weed puller tool with long handles$45, from Amazon is a handy tool that you can use without having to bend over.
Other tips, such as growing smaller fruit, figuring out what grows best locally, and only growing what you can eat, increased their success rate and reduced waste.
Even when the going gets tough, Jelliknight wasn’t above giving up.
“I have a three-strikes rule. If I try to grow something three times and fail, I give up and try something else,” they revealed.
“There are some things my neighbors can grow, but I just can’t. There’s no point in going uphill trying to find something that will grow in your plot.”