Gardening Lessons Learned

The end of the growing season is a good time to look back and reflect upon gardening lessons learned throughout the year. Albert Einstein is credited with this definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." While some people think we gardeners are insane to do what we do, there is little reason to prove them accurate by repeating actions in our gardens that we know will produce poor results.

Making a list of gardening successes, failures, and neutral actions helps identify the activities that may lead to insanity. By noting what hasn't worked, you can avoid pointless repetition and the rubber room. By noting what works and replicating it, you'll be perceived as another Einstein.

Starting tomatoes indoors was a great success

I recommend taking pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard and listing everything you noticed about your gardening that could prove useful for your next growing season. Ideally, you're keeping track of lessons learned throughout the season in a gardening journal. Try to be as specific and thorough as you can so the proper memory synapses fire when you read your list again in the future.

Dividing my daisies worked well

Here's a condensed version of my list:

- Buying seeds from heirloom seed companies online is cheaper than the little packets at box stores and provides many more choices.
- A meat thermometer works well as a soil temperature probe.
- Wall-o-water (and similar season extending products) really does work and gave a four-week head start on growing tomatoes.
- Starting seeds under a grow light isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
- Properly hardening off seedlings reduced my transplant loss rate to zero.
- Kale really grows well in my garden.
- An overhead sprinkler on a timer helped keep soil moist for seed germination.
- "Sweet 100" did better than any other tomatoes I planted.
- Of the many heirloom tomato varieties I tried, "Grace Lahman" did worst and "Caspian Pink" did best, but none of them produced much fruit before the first frost.
- Leeks do very well in my garden.
- Swiss chard does very well in my garden and doesn't taste bad at all.
- The germination of corn, squash, and green beans took almost four weeks.
- Butternut squash grew very well in my garden but needed a few more weeks to ripen when the frost hit.
- Deer found my garden and returned more than I expected.
- Even short-season melons didn't grow well in my garden.
- Every asparagus crown I planted grew; doing it right made a difference.
- Beets, carrots, and parsnips grow very well in my garden.
- Rabbit manure and used bedding take a long time to decompose.
- The wind was strong enough to rip the plastic on my mini-greenhouse hoops.
- Straw is an excellent mulch but drops seeds that require weeding of new straw plants.
- Hairy Vetch grows well as a green manure.

There are many more things I discovered this year. Some were confirmations of things I suspected, some were surprising results of experiments, some were serendipitous findings. I tried to make note of what I tried and what worked and what didn't. Most of it is documented for future articles.

Netting around a new plum tree kept the deer out

After you complete your list you can spent the off-season evaluating it. Decide if you want to repeat a planting that worked well. Decide if you want to try something again that didn't work, but with different preparation. Begin planning for new gardening efforts.

My list of gardening lessons learned will influence my gardening next year and every other. I've tried to grow melons in the past and never had any success; it's time to abandon that crop. "Sweet 100" is a tomato to grow more. I'll spend time next year starting seeds indoors and will use more wall-o-water-like plastic coverings to plant early. I think I can have success with corn, beans, and, squash if I cover the soil with plastic to heat it up days before I sow the seeds (this is where the signs of insanity begin to enter the picture).

There are some big garden projects ahead if I want to take them on. A deer-proof fence is needed if I want to avoid the damage they inflicted this year. My mini-greenhouse design is ideal for most areas but it doesn't stand up well to the 50, 60, and 70 mile-per-hour winds we get in late spring; a better plastic retention system is needed. Gophers broached my vegetable garden borders so I need to bury a barrier to keep them out.

Deer tracked right through the garden

By making a list and analyzing it, you can make your gardens better. I like to try new things and a list of gardening lessons learned helps me identify success and failure. There's nothing wrong with growing the same plants in the same plot year after year and by paying attention and noting your actions, even repetitive plantings can be improved upon.

If you're at the end of your season and the weather is getting colder, spend some time on a cold day to create your lessons learned list. If you're at the beginning of your season as the days grow warmer, keep track of things you try and what you learn along the way. Repeating this activity year after year is a nice way to avoid gardening insanity.

 

The end of the growing season is a good time to look back and reflect upon gardening lessons learned throughout the year. Albert Einstein is credited with this definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." While some people think we gardeners are insane to do what we do, there is little reason to prove them accurate by repeating actions in our gardens that we know will produce poor results.

Making a list of gardening successes, failures, and neutral actions helps identify the activities that may lead to insanity. By noting what hasn't worked, you can avoid pointless repetition and the rubber room. By noting what works and replicating it, you'll be perceived as another Einstein.

Starting tomatoes indoors was a great success

I recommend taking pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard and listing everything you noticed about your gardening that could prove useful for your next growing season. Ideally, you're keeping track of lessons learned throughout the season in a gardening journal. Try to be as specific and thorough as you can so the proper memory synapses fire when you read your list again in the future.

Dividing my daisies worked well

Here's a condensed version of my list:

- Buying seeds from heirloom seed companies online is cheaper than the little packets at box stores and provides many more choices.
- A meat thermometer works well as a soil temperature probe.
- Wall-o-water (and similar season extending products) really does work and gave a four-week head start on growing tomatoes.
- Starting seeds under a grow light isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
- Properly hardening off seedlings reduced my transplant loss rate to zero.
- Kale really grows well in my garden.
- An overhead sprinkler on a timer helped keep soil moist for seed germination.
- "Sweet 100" did better than any other tomatoes I planted.
- Of the many heirloom tomato varieties I tried, "Grace Lahman" did worst and "Caspian Pink" did best, but none of them produced much fruit before the first frost.
- Leeks do very well in my garden.
- Swiss chard does very well in my garden and doesn't taste bad at all.
- The germination of corn, squash, and green beans took almost four weeks.
- Butternut squash grew very well in my garden but needed a few more weeks to ripen when the frost hit.
- Deer found my garden and returned more than I expected.
- Even short-season melons didn't grow well in my garden.
- Every asparagus crown I planted grew; doing it right made a difference.
- Beets, carrots, and parsnips grow very well in my garden.
- Rabbit manure and used bedding take a long time to decompose.
- The wind was strong enough to rip the plastic on my mini-greenhouse hoops.
- Straw is an excellent mulch but drops seeds that require weeding of new straw plants.
- Hairy Vetch grows well as a green manure.

There are many more things I discovered this year. Some were confirmations of things I suspected, some were surprising results of experiments, some were serendipitous findings. I tried to make note of what I tried and what worked and what didn't. Most of it is documented for future articles.

Netting around a new plum tree kept the deer out

After you complete your list you can spent the off-season evaluating it. Decide if you want to repeat a planting that worked well. Decide if you want to try something again that didn't work, but with different preparation. Begin planning for new gardening efforts.

My list of gardening lessons learned will influence my gardening next year and every other. I've tried to grow melons in the past and never had any success; it's time to abandon that crop. "Sweet 100" is a tomato to grow more. I'll spend time next year starting seeds indoors and will use more wall-o-water-like plastic coverings to plant early. I think I can have success with corn, beans, and, squash if I cover the soil with plastic to heat it up days before I sow the seeds (this is where the signs of insanity begin to enter the picture).

There are some big garden projects ahead if I want to take them on. A deer-proof fence is needed if I want to avoid the damage they inflicted this year. My mini-greenhouse design is ideal for most areas but it doesn't stand up well to the 50, 60, and 70 mile-per-hour winds we get in late spring; a better plastic retention system is needed. Gophers broached my vegetable garden borders so I need to bury a barrier to keep them out.

Deer tracked right through the garden

By making a list and analyzing it, you can make your gardens better. I like to try new things and a list of gardening lessons learned helps me identify success and failure. There's nothing wrong with growing the same plants in the same plot year after year and by paying attention and noting your actions, even repetitive plantings can be improved upon.

If you're at the end of your season and the weather is getting colder, spend some time on a cold day to create your lessons learned list. If you're at the beginning of your season as the days grow warmer, keep track of things you try and what you learn along the way. Repeating this activity year after year is a nice way to avoid gardening insanity.