Specialty Gardening: Gardening is hard, 0 by gardenerme

gardenerme wrote:
Wow! I really identified with this thread. I think there should be a sticky about container watering, as it can be very complex. Anyway, I started gardening really seriously (obsessively?) about 10 years ago. I thought about putting a sign on the gate saying "gardening lab" as everything was an experiment for me. I killed a lot of plants before I got some of it right and now, I only kill a few a year, usually by overwatering (if a little is good, a lot is better?) So I try to look at each plant as an experiment. If I just garden to achieve an end-result, then I miss all the fun of experimenting and trying new things. Each day that I can, I wander the garden, studying each plant, making mental notes of what needs pruning, what is finished for now and needs cutting back, what needs to be moved the next time it goes dormant, what has issues, etc. I use this forum for a lot of the issues. Then, when it looks good or works, I give myself a pat on the back. And when something flops and dies, I look at it as an opportunity to free up the space for another "experiment". I enjoy my gardening much more that way.