Worst Mistakes?

Aw, you can't bribe one of the guys (or gals) in the HD woodworking department with some homebaked goodies? I bet you could. Just wander over there with your chunk of birch on a slow day...

Gita, LOL You certainly are a self sufficient woman and should be proud of it. I don't think you could take classes at the senior center, your barely out of your teens. LOL
Make that a chunk of Birch and a plate of Brownies. LOL
Critter, I'll save you some wood.
Yea, back to worst gardening mistakes. I think my very biggest mistake was not buying the property behind me when I had the chance. I was in my early twenty's a stay at home mom with 3 young children and thought it would be an extravagance to buy it. Which it would have been, but Oh how I wish I had.

This message was edited Aug 8, 2008 8:36 AM

Gita- you're a prize

I think I often make the mistake of leaving something to struggle along in poor health rather than weed/cut it out, thus perpetuating problems and wasting space.

Holly... now I just have to convince you to come down for one of the next swaps! I've been thinking Sept 20 might be a good day for a gathering at my place, and I've already promised Doc we'll do another midwinter party (just cleared it with the sweet lady at the Chinese buffet, too -- she says our group is welcome any time!)...

OK, back on topic... I'm starting to think the obedience plant was an error, although I believe I can dig/pull it back to a reasonable size patch next spring. (I started to do so this spring, but I didn't want to just trash it, and it got to big to easily pot up or box up/send out.)

Wow! I see this thread hit home! I'll try to catch up, quickly:

As far as I know, ALL birches are weak. We have mainly river birches, and many just broke in half under ice this past winter. I'm with the 'take off the 2 bent trunks' vote, for what it's worth.

We have not had too much trouble with trees we planted, but some of the ones that were here when we bought the 'farmette' actually grow into the outbuildings! My husband had some kind of phobia about cutting down large trees, so I guess we'll just wait until the outbuildings fall down. : -)

An addition to my 'invasives' errors: Silver Beacon lamium. Gads, the stuff is taking over!

HollyAnn, a question: What is behind your house now? Did someone build on it?

One of the most beneficial techniques for landscape and garden is the use of Mycorrhiza. Many upscale landscapers use it to insure success when they plant.

Nothing too bad just missed opportunity and a bit of an eyesore. There is an acre of land behind us and my garden is just aching to go there. The back of the property goes into woodland and I can see a beautiful woodland garden at the back edge. Last year with permission we planted a row of Leland Cypress down the one side to give some extra privacy and block the view of the other neighbor’s garage. But I can see some beautiful flowering shrubs planted in front of those Cypress. My flower beds along my back property line really want to expand. I can just see the small grove of old dying trees he has, coming to new life with a few new additions.
Shortly after I bought this property and moved here in 1975 the piece behind us went up for sale. There was no way I could buy it. It sold for back taxes and even that was something I just couldn't do. After all I was a young stay at home mother with 3 children and a house to build.
Here is one of the views from my patio. That is the neighbors garage to the right and the Leland Cypresses are planted along that side. Not quite big enough yet but they will be in a few years. That's Ric out there getting the canoe ready to take out fishing tonight and you can see a couple of my son's boats sitting out there as well. You can see the woods starting at the back of the property. My property line ends about 10ft behind the gazebo. The old trailer sits sideways to our back yard and his shed blocks it somewhat. I live in an interesting area of old and new. The house on the other side of us is huge and expensive.
He is a good neighbor, the son of the man that bought the property back 30 years ago, Jerry. That's the same mobile home that was there then. Ric mows the back section of his property and he lets us use it to park the boats on.



This message was edited Aug 9, 2008 8:43 PM

I love the ... ugh, cannot think of the word - the 'tent' for lack of a better choice.
It's tough to see an opportunity go by, but that's life. And, at least you have a nice neighbor!

We were away for a week and the blankety-blank HOUTTUYNIA are back! They even pop up through heavy cardboard.

Sissystars, Yes, he really is a good neighbor. He's a bit of a recluse, a bachelor that does very little entertaining. Friendly enough when you talk to him but if you didn't see his truck parked out front of the house you wouldn't even know that he was there.
I call that my Gazebo, Ric just put in the brick floor last week before our company came to visit. We put the Gazebo up last year but have been looking for used brick for the floor. We picked that up a couple of months ago. Sometime later, maybe not until next spring, we will expand the floor about 3 ft beyond the existing edge. It will be a step down to ground level, more Railroad ties and brick with flower beds on all 4 corners.

Oh what a great plan! Can you leave the canvas up year round?

P.S. Still pulling stinky houtynnia out by the handful. Ugh.

My neighbor has a structure like that on his back deck. Last winter, he left the framework up but took the canvas down. We put up one of our own this spring, and I think we'll follow his example. We've been very pleased with how sturdy the frame is! We did bolt the feet to the floor of the deck, and it has barely even quivered in the worst storms of the summer. That's a good thing, as one of the (metal framed) corners of the roof is just a few inches from a family room window... :-)

Last year's "mistake" was thinking a pop-up variety could deal with the winds that we sometimes get. Even after we lashed additional supports to all 4 sides of the roof, we lost the whole frame in a late summer storm. :-(

Yes, We take the canvas down in the fall before chance of snow and don't put it back up until spring. It gives a nice structure to the yard in the winter too. Mine has shelves in the corners and a buffet bar that runs down one side, I take those in too.
Critter, I have a friend that bolted hers to her deck and it is very nice.