Rookie Mistakes - Please Share Yours

I probably should have read the book before planting, but realise that I have planted loose leaf lettuce mix in two adjacent squares. Mel said to plant in a patchwork. Rookie mistake. 
I think I have overwatered my lettuce and sage seeds as none have germinated - another rookie mistake.
I am sure that they will be the first of many.
Please share your rookie boo boos.,,

Just to put your mind at ease, many, many of use adjacent squares for one crop, such as your lettuce.  I have a bed or tomatoes, a bed of peppers, a bed of beans, etc.

My first 3 big mistakes were:
a)  Using Kellogg's Soil Amendment instead of blended composts.
b)  Using perlite instead of coarse vermiculite just to save $10.
c)  Planting winter squash in the fall because I thought they grew during the winter.

All 3 happened the first year.

I'm making some of the same mistakes, Hip2B. 

One boo boo I hope won't be too fatal is that in the first raised bed, I skimped on the fabric liner, and at opposite edges, it's slipping down a bit towards the water reservoir area below, under the weight of the MM.  Also the "platform" that holds the MM above the water reservoir is not as fine mesh as the plan I'm using, though I did not realize it at the time, and that has weakened the edges.  I fear dips in the fabric liner.  It's not a disaster -- yet.  I hope the plants will stabilize it.   I am hoping to get through this season without deconstructing that bed.

Another booboo was that I had to ask friends to pick up plants for me this first season.  I did not keep track.  Just whatever they were getting for themselves.  I have too many tomatoes.  At least I have some plants!   Seedlings have been hard to come by the past 2 years here, and I knew my success finding them would be iffy.  Huge demand, and costs too high.  So when friends were shopping in smaller towns they picked up seedlings at 3 for $2 rather than the 1 for $5 the big stores here are offering.

Also I now have some veggies that I do not have info on, just a general label.  I am guessing on some of the tomatoes for instance, vine or bush?   It can't be helped.  I hope to start my own going forward.  

Oh.  And my original Rookie Mistake.  I tried to start Square Ft Gardening when the original book came out.  But I did not make the MM.  I don't know why.  I used the soil around my new house, and screened it well.  I probably got the peat moss in it.   Nothing grew, or what did grow had terrible problems like tomatoes with blossom rot, or terribly stunted carrots.  There's no telling what that cheap builder filled around the foundation of my house.  I got discouraged and did not continue.  No forums at the time.  So I missed many years of learning to garden.  Quitting was a major mistake.

Thanks for sharing Soose. Sounds like beggars can't be choosers for you at the moment when it comes to plant selection. I had a look at your thread a while back but I'm keen to revisit it in more detail. Shame about your initial SFG efforts. I'm glad you came back to it though. Talk to you soon - almost bed time here.

I'm sure we're making a TON of mistakes! Will have to post more as we go through as this is our first year trying this.

The first one we can see - we have to have cages around the beds. We have too many critters that will most likely help themselves to the beds and ruin the plants. We have stakes on both sides (N and S) of one of the beds. We need to hinge the cage so I can get it off by myself (it's tall - 5 feet - and there is rebar in the base PVC pipe...husband figures the raccoons will try to chew through the PVC and we know rebar will stop them!). We can't hinge where we thought we could. So, we'll have to cut the stakes down a bit (they are for smaller peppers - jalepeno and habernero - hoping they only max out at 2 feet) and then see if we can hinge on the N side of the box. That is also where we need a trellis.

If someone has a good idea of how to get a trellis INSIDE a cage, we'd love to see that! He's going to work on the trellis this week (supposed to rain all week - so he can't work when it's raining...sigh...kills his jobs this week!) and figure out how to attach it to the inside of the box.

Personally, I think I'm crazy - pretty sure my husband thinks that as well! But, when I see a good idea, I jump in like a cannonball into a swimming pool! I figure we will learn a lot as we go

Sound like you have your work cut out for you BioBarns. Critters are a problem here too, but hopefully tbey aren't as determined as yours. Good luck sorting out your under cage trellis.

biobarnes wrote:If someone has a good idea of how to get a trellis INSIDE a cage, we'd love to see that!

I have seen a cattle panel section installed horizontally across midway inside the box/cage.  (In that case the outside of the cage was also made with cattle panel.)

Several people here have recommended this brand trellis netting, can you rig something with that, independent of your removable cage? 
Viagrow 5x15ft: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Viagrow-5-ft-x-15-ft-Garden-Trellis-Netting-VTN5X15/203124376  $9.87 US at Home Depot

We had the same dilemma, btw.  The first season I had "earth boxes" for greens on my porch, they did great... 
that next Fall/Winter, I installed a frame with green house cover, zippable on a steel frame (bought it).  One long frame covers
four of my boxes in a row.  I have 3 sets.  Thought we were fixed. 

The next Spring season, the squirrels ate all immediately.  And it took me another season of not growing to get the frames
from the greenhouse covers  covered themselves in a chicken wire cage with a door so we can access the plants. 


Fast forward: 
As we were planning this SFG with raised beds, worried about squirrels, I contemplated making a cage for each 3x4 raised bed. 
Actually, the totes I  am using come with a cage.  It's just that I couldn't  make two beds per cage...    double the cost if I use
a cage.

I found someone who left the outer frames/cages that come with the IBC totes intact, and just covered those with hardware cloth,
cutting an access door into the cage. He did a neat job. 

Let me find it... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-dPZbQ9FtasPfCuTtkjc_F3StUNoNTsK


Doesn't help you much since he started with IBC totes that already have a cage where you have just the four corner posts.


And I contemplated access.  (Didn't think of the trellis problem inside a cage yet. Or limiting the height of a trellis to 4 ft.) 
These totes are over 3ft x 4ft, and 4ft high.  We'd need TWO doors.  Plus I could only make one raised bed out of one tote, doubling my tote costs.
(He uses the upper half of the bottles that he cuts off as a greenhouse cover in winter.  We turn it upside down and make another bed.

I thought of covering each bed...  sigh.

Instead of making a cage for each bed, bothering with the doors, limiting the trellis, etc., we decided to just try to enclose the whole garden area
with all the totes. That'll keep the critters of all types out.

So, I totally screwed up my MM, used too much peat and not enough types of compost…that plagued me for a while, maybe 2 seasons?

Second (and still going on, I’m sorry to say) I do not label well my starts….so all the melons/cukes/squashes look very similar.  This is just the tip of the iceberg, and I need need need to do better!  

Third, not growing things I love to eat.  Don’t grow things you don’t like!  They will not get eaten!  It’s good to experiment, because homegrown things taste better?  But Kale?  I don’t like it.  Grew it for 3 years.  It grew like a weed….never did like it.  I do love cabbage though, so I grow that and love it and eat it!

Biobarnes, Trellises set inside the box.  The 1/2" PVC frames with nylon trellis netting slip into 1" PVC "cup holders" secured inside the box with plumbers tape and 3/4" screws.
 

Close up of a cup holder in a corner.

Scorpio Rising wrote:So, I totally screwed up my MM, used too much peat and not enough types of compost…that plagued me for a while, maybe 2 seasons?

I did the same thing.  I forgot to fluff up the peat moss before measuring.

Biobarnes, Thank you for letting me know that you accidentally gave me a thumbs down. I was notified of a complaint and wondered where it was located.

Hip2B wrote:Thanks Scorpio Rising. Did you ditch the original Mel's Mix, or just work on improving it over the years?
 I am trying to only grow what we like too. Good advice!

You know?  I amended this original MM.  It is so expensive to get going....I did salvage the attempt.  

It really has been a hunt and peck thing--I usually amend my older gardens with vermiculite and peat, and of course compost.  As far as the compost, I do compost my own kitchen stuff.  But I had a bad experience with hay (donated).  GRASS!!!!

Argh!

I'm not exactly a rookie, but like most people I still make mistakes. About a month ago I started some new Cucumber seeds indoors to plant out on the arbor for the fall cucumbers to replace the earlier ones that were about done producing.  The seedlings grew well indoors, and were planted out in the raised bed on the arbor ready to grow. But, they didn't vine up the arbor, they just stayed as compact little plants. Then I noticed that the bottom of the plants near the soil was full of blooms, with some small cucumbers.  I went in and checked the package of seeds, and discovered that I had planted Bush Cucumbers, which I don't remember ever buying seeds for.  I wanted vine plants to grow up the arbor, not bushes. But, we are getting 3 or 4 nice cucumbers every day off of the two plants.  Lesson learned: Look at the package before planting seeds, carefully!

Bush Cucumbers on this side of the arbor, with Blue Lake Pole Beans starting up the arbor on the other side.

I did the same thing with bush Blue Lake Beans. Not that they didn't produce, but it was a waste of tall trellises. I had other beds that would been a better use of resources.

Last year I wanted to try the three sisters method of growing corn, squash,and pole beans in the same plot. The Indians apparently used this method but neglected to tell me the seeds are not planted at the same time    By the time the corn sprouted the beans were almost a foot high with nothing to attach too. The comedy continued as the corn grew the beans latched on as did the squash and by June the corn was bent over from all the weight. Needless to say there was no corn harvested last year    This year I waited for the corn to sprout and get 6-8 inches tall before planting the squash. Beans are just starting to bloom and corn is finished. Timing is everything