5 mistakes you’re making when purchasing garden supplies
IT’S EASY TO DROP serious cash in a garden supply shop, falling in love with a gorgeous yucca plant or picking up a bunch of bargain tools.
But when the that sun-loving yucca dies in your shady, wet-soil backyard, or that plastic-handled spade breaks the first time it’s used, you’ve wasted money and you’re frustrated. To help you avoid financial heartbreak, garden experts have shared some common mistakes.
1. You’ve neglected the soil.
Joe Raboine, national design specialist for Belgard, a landscape supply firm, said that when people dig up part of their yard, install a raised bed or build a small vertical garden, good soil will mean the difference between plants that thrive and those that wither. Plants need a foot of soil to grow properly, he said. Buy topsoil or garden soil for yards and potting soil for raised beds and containers.
2. Choosing the wrong plants and cramming in too many.
Tim Johnson, senior director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, and Renee Young, manager at Christy Webber Farm and Garden, see these mistakes a lot.
“Where a lot of people go wrong from the get-go is they don’t know plants. You’re in the garden centre and you see something that’s in flower and beautiful, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that would look great in this corner of my garden,’” Johnson said.
Gardeners need to consider their spot’s growing conditions and about their design goals, he said, and talk to the staff for advice on what plants will fulfil those dreams.
Young said she sees people stuffing too many plants into small spaces.
“People will want to put three tomatoes in a 12-inch pot, and really one 12inch pot is barely big enough for one tomato plant,” she said.
A tomato plant without a roommate will likely produce more fruits than those in the overcrowded pot that will be fighting for nutrients and light, she said.
3. Buying cheap tools.
Bargain tools don’t last. Invest in quality. Pick up the tools and judge how they feel in your hands. Look for something comfortable and sturdy, Johnson said, which may mean something different for each gardener. Good-quality tools have warranties, Young said. She likes hand tools by Dutch company DeWit, which have lifetime warranties.
“I try to encourage people to go with that tool that’s going to last you a lifetime over something that’s less expensive and may break after a couple of seasons,” she said.
4. You didn’t think about watering.
Raised beds and vertical gardens, especially on rooftops, can dry out quickly. They may need daily watering and even more when temperatures climb. Raboine and Young said you need to buy, at a minimum, a watering can and hose. Raboine said another option is to install drip irrigation, either with kits or by creating your own by drilling holes in PVC pipes. Improper watering can stunt or kill plants.
5. You’re overdoing it on fertilizer or pesticides.
If you’re gardening to be more environmental, the last thing you want to do is waste money on expensive fertilizers, and many of these can make your plant dependent on the feedings.
“(Synthetic) can harm your plant quite a bit. If you overfertilize, it will burn the roots of the plant, or the plant is so dependent on the synthetic fertilizer that the minute you stop using it, it begins to fail because it needs that constantly,” Young said. She recommends organic fertilizers that feed the microbes and the soil, which will then in turn feed your plants.