What keeps a beginner gardener lying awake at night? Is it realizing they forgot to water? Wondering if they should fertilize some more? Or if they accidentally ripped out their vegetables instead of their weeds?
No. It’s wondering why their plants are dying… yet again.
While I can’t know exactly every reason your plant bit the dust, here are the most common reasons your plants die when you’re a beginner.
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8 Reasons Your Plants Die as a Beginner Gardener
1. Your Soil Sucks
Did you add compost, manure, or other nutrients to your soil?
If you answered no, chances are your soil and plants could use an extra dose of important nutrients. Try watering once a week with a general-purpose fertilizer or digging a trench beside your plants and burying your kitchen scraps that were destined for the compost.
Related: Best Fertilizers for Your Garden
2. You Didn’t Rotate Your Crops
Worse than bad soil, you grow the same crop in the same spot every year. Sure, you might be able to get away with it for a year or two. However, be ready for bugs and disease as the soil slowly gets depleted of essential nutrients. This is why it’s important to keep track of what you plant where. Keep better track of your garden with one of my garden planners!
3. You Underestimated How Much Light You REALLY Get
Plants need light, and it’s essential to know how much. Beginners often think that full sun is just a suggestion and of course that flower will be okay in a spot that gets four hours of sun a day. (It needs at least six, and preferably eight or more.)
On the flip side, that lovely begonia you just bought won’t be happy in your full-sun flower bed on the south side of the house.
Struggling to find perennials that grow in the shade? Here are 17 that work well in Zone 3!
4. You Forget to Water
As a general rule of thumb, outdoor vegetables and annuals should be watered once a day unless it rains and more if the weather is above 25 degrees Celsius. If the plant is starting to wilt or get brown, it needs water—stat!
New perennial plants should be watered frequently in their first year. Once established, they can be ignored unless there is a period of drought.
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5. Pests are Stealing Your Vegetables
Every gardener will encounter some sort of foe—birds, cats, dogs, deer, rabbits, slugs, bugs, and more can all ruin a beautiful crop. If you notice things look dug up, chewed off, or have holes in them, it’s time to research how to keep your pest-du-jour out of the garden.
Related: The Best Deterrents to Keep Pesky Birds Away from Plants
6. The Weather Won’t Co-operate
Some years are just better than others. Last year (in 2017), almost everyone in my province had a worse-than-average garden because the weather was cold and wet. Lots of vegetables didn’t germinate, and everything was delayed in growing. Add to that three crazy hail storms that threatened to kill all my plants.
On the flip side, the year before (in 2016), I had one of the best gardens I’ve ever had. It was warm, I could plant a week earlier than usual, and it rained at least once a week.
7. You Picked a High Maintenance Plant
Let’s face it: some plants are trickier to grow than others. With flowers, the newer the variety, the harder it is to grow.
Vegetables are no exception. Some need to be started indoors before the growing season starts, and others may take a long time to germinate or require more watering and wind protection than you thought they needed.
Find 10 Beginner Friendly Vegetables to Grow, plus 5 to Avoid here.
8. You Stopped Weeding and Let the Weeds Overtake Everything
Let’s face it: no one really likes to weed the garden. Unless you commit to mulch or some sort of lasagne gardening, you’ll have to weed at least once a week to stay on top of it without it getting overwhelming.
Not sure what’s a weed and what’s a plant? Here are four easy guidelines to help you figure it out.
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There is a Solution!
Tired of killing everything you touch? You need my beginner gardening guide! In it, you’ll learn how to solve every one of these problems and prioritize your time and what to plant so that you’re not chained to your garden all summer.
Wouldn’t you like to serve a meal full of vegetables that you grew yourself? Or be the friend with the beautiful backyard everyone wants to hang out in? Don’t wait another growing season to finally figure out gardening!
Gardening doesn’t have to be this mysterious get-it-perfect-or-don’t-even-bother thing. I’ll give you easy-to-follow guidelines and gardening advice that you can apply to almost any growing zone.
Nat
Kristen Raney