Why I Oughta...

Over the years, I've written and linked to various 'garden rules' and 'garden mistakes' lists.  And, I've made a bunch of those mistakes. And, learned from the 'rules'.  But, over the holidays, I was talking to my oldest sister and my brother-in-law about gardening.  They're taking on a new, exciting project and are in the midst of planning a clean-sheet garden at their lake house in Michigan.  The conversation drifted towards them asking for advice on where to start.  And, that made me think about what I would tell other gardeners.  I went home and ended up writing a Google Doc that included some advice, links and thoughts.  After editing a little bit, it ended up taking the shape of being a list of rules (or advice) that I've seemingly adopted for my own garden.  I thought it was worth sharing as (in this case, like many others here on the blog), I've adopted Paul Graham's advice and wrote things out.  The act of *writing this list* ta...

Gardening advice is literally a cottage industry.  YouTube creators.  Bloggers.  Botanical Gardens.  Everybody has advice and recommendations.  And, I take A LOT of them - as I'm a total novice and learn a little bit more everyday in the garden.  I've covered some of this advice, but I came across something recently that stopped me in my tracks.   From Fine Gardening - Lisa O'Donnell in a piece titled "Conifers Should Come First" - says this:  Instead of adding them as an afterthought...let evergreens drive the design .   I *totally* feel seen. I started on the wrong foot. Did I start with conifers? Nope. I've added some over the years.   I planted a number of conifers that didn't survive - from a Japanese White Pine , Weeping Cedar , dwarf Alberta Spruce and a small Fraser Fir .  All planted.  All dead.  One early bright (conifer) spot is the Canadian Hemlocks .  They're still (some of them) around...

Back in late April, I brought home two Prairie Dropseeds - a native grass - from the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  I first 'got to know' Prairie Dropseed from Roy Diblik's YouTube videos where he calls it both by the trade name (Prairie Dropseed) but also the formal name of Sporobolus heterolepis.  I decided to NOT plant the two grasses together - despite knowing that's one of the 'gardening mistakes' that I've made over time.  I decided to stick one in the front yard (more on that later) and one in the backyard bed that you can see below.  I planted it between the border and the urn in a spot that is mostly bare right now. I'd like to plant MORE of these in a little colony here, but my thought is to try with one, see how it responds to this bed this Spring/early Summer and then buy more (hopefully...in plug form) up at Northwind this Summer.   I'm considering this as a version of groundcover, so that helps me continue to check the box on...

I came across this video from Erin, the Impatient Gardener where she (and Alexandra from the "middle sized garden") talk about five gardening mistakes . And...the first one on their list - Buying just ONE of a plant - really hits home hard for me.   Why does it hit home hard?  Let me count the ways. One , two , three .  For starters.  In all three instances there, I *should* have both more.  Lesson learned. Go watch the whole video .