Lessons from the Noob gardener

[StevePots]

There are three kinds of men (people). The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves

Took some liberties with this Will Rogers quote.

Okay so I'm making lots of mistakes. I'm a noob and that is the way of the world. Noobs make mistakes. If you are a noob too maybe I can spare you from making the same mistakes I made and maybe you can spare me the mistakes you made.

Mistake 1.0 I apparently forgot that I live in a swamp.
Yes I live in Florida, Zone 10A
It's hot and humid here during summer. Here nobody hangs their washing out to dry because it won't dry. Even if it does (it won't) the afternoon rain will get it.
I forgot that the US offers many different types of regions. Some Hot and wet other cold and dry and everything in between. I forgot that I live in a swamp and that some of the tips and tricks I read or videos I watched were for gardens in other regions.

Mistake 1.1 Using Peat Moss (or anything that holds water)
Yes... swamp, humidity and a lot of rain so,I did not need to add peat moss to my containers.
First of all I learned that peat moss is acidic. I also learned that it is not sustainable and some claim it is chock full of pests. (not sure) Ya coco fiber would be better but still unnecessary.

What I did in my container garden was to put lava rocks at the bottom of the containers then layer on peat moss and then add my soil. What happened was, the soil and peat moss got wet and the peat moss expanded and blocked the water from getting to the drain holes. This cause my containers to become water logged. If you don't know I'll tell you. Funguses, viruses and bacteria love warm wet conditions. my containers, sitting in the hot sun not drying, became breeding grounds for all that could possibly ale plants. Sick plants with root rot attract bugs so it was not long before the majority of the plants died or were eaten.

Remedy - learn to garden in your region and think twice before you fix problems you might not even have in your soil. Before you even plant one plant set your garden up and check your soil PH and moisture content. Most home and garden stores cary meters for moisture and PH.
Fix problems you do have with your soil. Do not try to prevent problems by preemptively fixing your soil. Fixing problems that don't exist cause actual problems. Also, don't use peat moss. If you need to keep moisture in your soil look into coco fiber. It has a neutral PH and it is sustainable.
I'll add more mistakes (I have a lot more now and will probably make more as I go)

[Phreckless]

Good tip on the soil meters.

You learned quickly. Sorry if the lessons were painful. Where do you buy your coco fiber? The bricks online still seem kind of pricey to me.

[StevePots]

Where do you buy your coco fiber? The bricks online still seem kind of pricey to me.

I used Peat Moss that I got at the home store.

[StevePots]

Steve, may I add another caveat? Don't listen to the "experienced" gardeners--they planted something back in 1979 and it died, therefore that plant will not grow here.

Believe me if I listened to the local experts here in South Florida all I would be growing now would be coconut trees while wearing alligator hide boots.
The way I see it Florida is like a giant greenhouse 365 days of the year. I just have to make the plants comfortable, keep them healthy and keep the bugs off them and I should be fine.

[imafan26]

Steve I live in zone 12 a, not a swamp but hot and humid and sunny most of the time. Where I live, it normally would rain a little bit every night, however not in an El Nino year. I understand the laundry dilemna. If I hang the laundry out in my patio in the morning on a sunny day (HOA does not allow clotheslines to be 'visible') I have to make sure I take it in before nightfall because it can dry in that time, but if I leave it overnight it will be wet again by morning.

I don't use coir, it holds too much water for me, more thatn peat moss.

I do use peat moss, but I make a very well drained mix 50% peat moss 50% perlite. I can and do water that everyday and it will dry. I also make sure the pot has lots of holes on the bottoms and the sides. I stopped using rocks for drainage years ago. I sometimes use a screen to keep the media from falling out of the pot, but also to block slugs from going in the drain holes to eat the plant roots.l

Layering does not work. Water and roots pass or do not pass through the different layers at different rates. If you have a layer blocking the drainholes below, like rocks or styrofoam packed to tightly and a water holding layer like peat moss on top, you will have a mini swamp. You can get the same layering effect if you mix your media dry and you do not wet it when you put it in your pots. Peat moss is especially hard to wet when it is very dry and the center will stay dry, your plant will float away and the water will pool on top. Sometimes and with some plants I will use cinder instead of perlite with the peat moss, it works better to have larger particles. When you mix peat mos and perlite wet the mix when they are combined until they are evenly damp but not soggy, that way they will let the water through and your plants won't be floaters.

On plants that need really good air circulation, I plant in pure cinders. Most of my potted citrus are planted in large 20 inch pots in pure cinder. They need to be fertilized and watered often because the cinder holds neither water or fertilizer well, but I have not had to repot one citrus tree for 18 years and probably it will stay in the same pot until they die.

[StevePots]

Lessons from the Noob Gardener update:

Apparently plants take time to grow. As a noob gardener I found myself fidgeting with things all the time because I thought my plants were not growing fast enough or were not looking right.
Okay so my plants did have problems in the beginning because of the way I set up my containers but after that... I was the cause of some plant deaths. I over watered, over fed, treated for bugs too much, touched, prodded and basically fidgeted with my plants all the time. The more I tried to make my plants grow the worse they were doing.
I took a break to think about it all and a funny thing happened.
When I let the plants just do what they do they did a lot better.

Some time back I was posting here about troubles growing Swiss Chard. I stopped messing with the Chard and look what happened. They gew!

[imafan26]

Yes, it is true it is easy to over do things
Get a soil test add only what you need. More is not better. Sometimes more can cause issues
Good soil has these qualities
Holds on to nutrients, but not in extreme quantities, holds on to water, but drains well. Constains life ( bacteria, worms, bugs, and fungi) .
Build an ecosystem not just a garden. Keep things in balance
Learn from your mistakes. Realize you will keep making new ones so just keep learning.
Learn how to read your garden. Check the soil moisture (friability test, finger test), Research the best times and cultivars for your area, start slow and expand with your experience.
Keep talking to the plants. The like the CO2, monitor for pests and disease, and set a threshold for tolerance. A few holes are tolerable if you want to let the garden patrol do the work, you can't kill or starve them.
As far as fungal diseases go, prevention is worth a $100 of cure.
Know what diseases your plants are prone to and the conditions like muggy, wet weather that will bring them on. Know when to treat to keep ahead of the problem and know when to give up and pull the plants rather than spread the spores.
Certain pests will be around at predictable times of the year
June bugs, SVB , Caterpillars , Japanese beetles, Chinese Rose beetles = late Spring and Summer
Aphids, mealy bugs, scale = new growth on plants usually in the early spring
slugs and snails = all the time but especially after a rain or on cloudy days so that is the best time to go on a snail hunt and put out traps.
Birds and other crtitters= will be there to harvest your ripe fruit, so get there first or cover them.
Cutworms and other caterpillars = emerging seedlings, and favorite plants

Recognize and nurture the good bugs especially in the larvae stages (not so cute kids of lady bugs, lacewings, wasps, and flies).

For those in zone 10 and up you have a long growing season, and can avoid a lot of the pests by planting slightly out of season to avoid the worst of the problems.

[Mr green]

I know my self that over doing things is one of the no 1 classic begginer mistakes.

There are three kinds of men (people). The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves

Took some liberties with this Will Rogers quote.

I learn alot from both Observation that serves me best, but sincereading is more available I'm a bit forced to go that route. I don't really wanna observe my neighbours using roundup strenghtening the weeds so that now we have huge problem with them instead of the small issue they were to begin with. (This is what happends when people wanna be the rulers of the(ir) world, only that they create bigger mess for themselves and other people wich is even worse. Neither wanna watch the conventional mono culture farmers (organic or not) they have nothing to teach me except what not to do.

I'm sorry what I really wanted to say is that when gardening is made simple (meaning that is less work for the gardener) It also works and produces best. Mimic nature you so my tips if you wanna learn something new (if you don't have controll of it yet) Is looking into inter relationship between plants and plant such plants toghether example nitrogen fixers, plants grown partly or only for their mulch and so on. Composting

And talking to plants is great, but also has to be with love! Its more important than you think, if you swear to them and play deathmetal to them all day long you will have sad looking plants this is a proven fact. While at the same time harmonical classical music make plants grow better. It all comes down to vibrations and if they are negative loaded or not.
So talking to your plants is always beneficial, unless you hate them