Learning from Our Mistakes (We Must Be Very Smart By Now!)

In the world of gardening, mistakes are inevitable. From overeager planting to underestimating growth patterns, every gardener encounters their fair share of challenges. However, these missteps often provide valuable lessons that shape future practices and lead to greater success in the garden.

In this episode, we delve into the world of gardening mistakes. Join us as we share our experiences and lessons learned from common gardening mishaps. From starting seeds too early to struggling with indoor lighting, we discuss the challenges we've faced and offer valuable insights for fellow gardeners.

Despite the challenges, we remain optimistic about our gardening journey. Every mistake is a learning opportunity, and each setback teaches us valuable lessons that we can apply in the future. By sharing our experiences, we hope to help fellow gardeners navigate their gardening adventures with confidence and success. We are all learning and developing innovative gardening techniques as we go.

Tune in to discover how to avoid common pitfalls and navigate your gardening journey with confidence. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting, this episode is packed with practical tips and advice to help you grow a thriving garden.

Thank you for joining us on another episode of "Grow it, Sow it, Cook it"! 🌟 We're grateful for your company and enthusiasm for the world of gardening and cooking.

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We appreciate each listener and the growing community we're nurturing together. Your support means the world to us. Stay tuned for more exciting episodes, and until next time, happy gardening and happy cooking! 🌿🍽️

Transcript

Sherva: I'm so disappointed in my peppers. Very few of them germinated, only 3 out of 21. I keep looking at them. It's just dirt. It is aggravating. Every time I look, I'm peeking for something and all I see is dirt, like nothing. In fact, our subject today is mistakes. We thought, it's a good time to start talking about this stuff.

Karen: So we're gonna share mistakes we've made, things we are changing, things that we wanna change, things we would do differently if we were starting, you know, something all over again. And, you know, there'll be lots more mistakes to make.

Sherva: Oh, sure, absolutely. Because that's gardening and it can be, you know, frustrating, like we were just talking about, but, you know, if we all start, if sharing things that went well and things that didn't go well, maybe it would like cut our frustrations down a little bit.

Karen: I don't know if I'd say it's a mistake. I guess it's a mistake for me, for my situation, like starting my, my Microsoft, cause I was so excited to get them started and I started them pretty early. And now they're pretty tall.

Sherva: And like a couple of times now, I've noticed the top of one, a couple of them, have completely wilted and it's because the light isn't hitting it that at that very top. Now I have to keep adjusting the shelves because they're getting too big.

Karen: Now that would be great if I was growing them to eat inside and then I can focus two lights on them because of the kind of lights I have. I don't have the above head hanging lights because then those only covered the things on top.

Sherva: And then I have, I have shelves and, you know, so I need lights coming from all directions. So I guess I would consider that for me a mistake because now they're kind of tall. They're bushy, they're not like leggy or anything.

Karen: They look good, they're healthy, they look great. But I've had to rearrange them now and put them, put all of them on one shelf together with two lights. And they're gonna continue to grow. We're only in February and they probably can't go outside till about April, late April, you know?

Sherva: Right. So they're gonna keep growing. So, you know, I just can't continue. my excitement. So I got too overzealous and now my tomatoes are pretty big. So I would call that a mistake. Yeah, but it's, it's no harm done and you learn from it and you're like, um, on your calendar, you're going to put, you know, you're going to adjust your starting time.

Karen: But they take so long. Um, micros take longer to grow than other ones, but this year they've grown way bigger than they did last year, much quicker. I started them this time last year and they were like so painfully slow.

Sherva: Now they're all doing really well. I tiny totem, I started a couple of, actually, I think I did three tiny totems, but only two came up and I started those a few weeks, I don't know, maybe a month ago or close to a month ago.

Karen: And they're still really tiny. They do have true leaves, but they're still really tiny, but those offers, those as tech, mind you, I started them in November. after the end of November, the Aztec, and then I started a fat frog in December.

Sherva: But yeah, they're like this tall now, and they're like, you know, they're good size. So I got the seeds from you for the microdores, but I started a little later. Oh, where are yours? They're out in the living room, out in the living room.

Karen: And how are they doing? They're doing well, but you're right. They're painfully slow. Yeah, they're painfully slow, my God. But I think I might've timed it well, accidentally timed it well. Yeah. So happy accident for me.

Sherva: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was too eager. I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get tomatoes in the winter. I'm gonna have my own home grown to, and I'm like, oh, actually I'm not. I did the same thing with my peas.

Karen: I think I started them too early. They're out in the living room under grow lights, and they're probably already about five or six inches. Yeah. Yeah. Now, well, peas can stand some cold, so you can probably put those outside next month.

Sherva: That's what I was thinking. I'm gonna put them in probably one of my raised beds. I'm gonna just put them out, yeah, probably in March, early March, if the weather keeps looking like it's gonna look, and then if it does freeze, I'll just cover them up.

Karen: They'll be fine. Yeah. But it's iffy, I'll put it that way. But I think they'll be fine. We'll see. So yeah, starting early is definitely probably a mistake I've done many times, and probably will continue to do.

Sherva: It's all right. I can think of another mistake I've made, is when I made my own seed, seed startling mix, it dries out too quickly. I think I have too much of the coconut coir in it. I feel like I need, I don't know, maybe more of the soil. It dries out really quick. Like those peppers, I'm watering them like twice a day, I feel like. So yeah, they tend to dry. It's drying out really quickly. So the other day I ordered some seed startling mix.

Karen: Well my big mistake was something I did when I first started gardening at this house 4 years ago. When I laid out my beds I put them too close together. I made my paths too narrow. I was so focused on growing food. Now when I walk through the garden it's too crowded and I'm brushing up against plants and doing some damage. 

So I'm moving everything apart further, starting two raised beds over again and widening the paths between my in-ground beds.

Mistakes are learning opportunities.