Nicole Johnsey Burke ranks seven gardening mistakes from most to least critical. Poor soil quality is the biggest problem, followed by planting out of season. Fertilizer creates dependency, mulch wastes space by tying up nitrogen, and monoculture invites pests.
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Using mulch. Mulch is such a waste of space in the garden, and it ties up nitrogen. Mulch is a 3. Using fertilizer. I'm gonna call it a 4. Fertilizer basically makes your plants really reliant on it, and it's like a nonstop cycle. Not planting with the seasons. Timing is so important. Can I rank everyone a 1 here? If you plant the right plant in the right place at the wrong time, it won't do anything. I'm going to give this a 2. Planting without a plan. I love planting plans, but you can still have success even if you, you know, totally mess it up, so we'll put that one as a 7. Planting annual veggies in the ground. You could still have success, but it's going to be limited, so I would put this as a 6. Planting one type of plant in one bed. I'm going to give this a 5. You're going to still get a lot of production, but you're probably going to have a lot of pest pressure. Ignoring your soil. Ah! Is that number 1? You can You can forget the raised beds, the trellises, the planting plans. If your soil is not good, your garden will not grow.