What do you wish you'd known before you started gardening?

[ImprobablePuffin]

Just that really, I couldn't find a recent similar thread so thought I'd start one. I'm still such a novice and feel proud if I remember the correct name for any plants! It feels a bit overwhelming at times with each plants different needs and I've def lost a few plants to ignorance.
So what do you wish you'd known as a novice that would have helped no end? Picture just for fun because I love my allium 😂

how much the weather would bother me!!

too much sun
not enough sun
where the sun is positioned
no rain
too much rain
wind

i have no control over these things so it annoys me!

That I’d be so utterly crap at it

That you learn every year and make changes as you go
That you have to start somewhere and you always feel like there's so much to learn
That you don't need to buy lots of plants or spend lots of money . Gardening is cheap if you grow from seed / swap / take cuttings

How much hard slog it is, how it will beat me, how no matter how many hours I put into it, I will never ever get on top of it or tame it.

My garden pretty much sold me my house. It was stunning, absolutely stunning.
But it was managed by 2 retired fit & healthy people.
It never occurred to me that it took literally hours and hours to maintain!
So after 2 years of spending every single day off, annual leave, after work out there trying to keep it looking lovely, I gave up.
I couldn’t keep up.

It's ok to change your mind/not like something. It took me years to get to the point where I was ok pulling something out, even if it was growing well, just because I didn't like it.

@gardeninggirl68

how much the weather would bother me!!

too much sun
not enough sun
where the sun is positioned
no rain
too much rain
wind

i have no control over these things so it annoys me!

Oh I'm learning this fast! It really DOES matter!

Group same plants together. Don't dot them around the garden. It will annoy you and then you'll see it planted as a group in another garden and kick yourself.

@5zeds

That I’d be so utterly crap at it

I'm sure that's not the case maybe you haven't found your expert area yet. I have never kept a single houseplant alive, but for some reason things are surviving outside so I'm just going to stick to that and forget indoors!

@TiddleTaddleTat

That you learn every year and make changes as you go That you have to start somewhere and you always feel like there's so much to learn That you don't need to buy lots of plants or spend lots of money . Gardening is cheap if you grow from seed / swap / take cuttings

Great advice

@Sprig1

It's ok to change your mind/not like something. It took me years to get to the point where I was ok pulling something out, even if it was growing well, just because I didn't like it.

I've started doing a lot of reading prior to any purchases due to a couple of costly errors. I like perennial, evergreen, frost hardy, low maintenance plants

You sometimes have to accept that your garden dictates what will grow in it!

There are so many plants I'd love (and have tried) to grow - cottage garden perennials like campanula, delphiniums, lovely early reticulated irises . I could go on and on. But slugs are rampant in my garden and whole plants get eaten overnight.
At last I have found the plants that thrive . Heucheras, perennial geraniums,acanthus, Japanese anemones

@HarryBoa

Group same plants together. Don't dot them around the garden. It will annoy you and then you'll see it planted as a group in another garden and kick yourself.

Did this with my buddleias - had to dig them all up and planted together and much happier now not so spindly!

Learn to embrace the things that thrive in your garden (including things that self seed) and accept that some things you might want to grow just won’t work - no matter how you try. A few pots of summer bedding can really brighten everything up, particularly while you are getting the rest of your garden up and running. Remember to sit back and admire your work sometimes.

Is that an allium or an agapanthus?
Either way, it’s lovely.
I wish I’d known to pretty much ignore expert advice, all of the dos and donts. You can’t grow this there, that won’t tolerate shade, that needs constant sun.
Just try it and see. Works pretty well for me. My garden’s lovely 😊

That something just take time. And patience.

I am referencing my 1 single dahlia that's flowering this week, after all the others did nothing.

Its addictive and you really can't have too many seeds.

Too many seedlings and not enough space yes. Too many seeds no.

Also see bulbs.

The information on the seed packet about dry / moist etc is meaningless if you have unprecedented rain or heatwave.

You need another water butt.

Your neighbours who don't maintain their gardens and let bindweed invade yours are total twats.

That pretty borders everywhere are a bastard to mow around. I had that wooden edging but ripped it all up as the lawnmower couldn't get the grass right next to it, the strimmer would leave whip marks in the wood, and going along the edges with the shears was more trouble than it's worth.

That you don’t have to die the whole packet of seeds all at once, you can sow a few and keep the rest for next year. Otherwise you end up with 178 tomato plants.

Sow not die lol

@Cheermonger

That you don’t have to die the whole packet of seeds all at once, you can sow a few and keep the rest for next year. Otherwise you end up with 178 tomato plants.

You didn't??!

Feeding is important
Cutting back/pruning/deadheading is important
Dig a pretty big hole for most plants to allow their roots to really establish (exceptions apply!)

That the kind of soil you have really really matters. I spent hundreds on plants that did not want to grow on chalk.

Don't plant a climber called 'morning glory'. It is exactly the same plant as the invasive horror bindweed, which you will never, ever get rid of.

Buy good quality secateurs, shears and loppers, cheap ones are just hard to use, blunt too easily and are frustrating.

Think about different times of year: e.g. spring bulbs, summer annuals, autumn dahlias, winter shrubs.

Expect to spend a lot of money over the years on plants that just die on you - that's life.

To keep the little plastic things that come with the plants so you know what they are
Sun/shade loving, they tell you this for a reason
You need to water hanging baskets a lot

Trees take a long time to grow. So decide on them first and get them in the ground!

If your lawnmower has a height setting then cut grass so it stays quite long. Short grass means bald patches, dry soil and weeds.