9 Beginner Gardening Mistakes to Avoid 😱 ❌
Grab some raised beds to start your 2021 garden off right: https://growepic.co/3W3bnIB – there are so many mistakes that a new gardener can make that will result in poor harvests or even NO harvests. Here are 9 of the ones I think most beginners run into at some point or another!
IN THIS VIDEO
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
0:56 – #1: Inconvenient Location
1:42 – #2: Planting in Poor Light
3:09 – #3: Too Far From Water
4:34 – #4: Not Mulching
6:05 – #5: Not Preparing Soil
8:01 – #6: Planting Things You Hate To Eat
9:09 – #7: Planting Too Close Together
10:24 – #8: Planting At The Wrong Time
12:09 – #9: Not Asking For Help
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Biggest mistake I made was simply fussing with plants too much. Plants want to grow, they don’t need constant attention, just let them do their thing.
Thank you so much about the county extension office info! I did not know this existed!
I’m curious to know more about how to turn a seedling germinated from seed into a full, thriving plant. How does one pinch/prune to create fullness? Can you do a demo please?
My guy, reduce your use of the word “actually”
In a raised bed, if there are sections that are closed off so the soil doesn’t mix. Can things be planted together that way that normally wouldn’t be?
I physically have probably 11 out of 32 square meters of backyard to use that has sun, but I can only use them at specific times of day.
I want to pick food whenever I need to use it, can I do that or do I need to have one big harvest?
When we mulch , how can we fertilize the plant properly?
My very first garden was in 2020, and my basil tasted like peanut butter, don’t know why, don’t know how, but it did! I almost decided to never grow it again lol but last year was definitely a success and I will be growing it from now on, but definitely tasting before putting it into my food 😂
0:30 😂 glad to know im not the only one whos first harvest of cucumbers tasted like gasoline 😂😂😂 even the pros make mistakes and thats encouraging
5:25 if y’all are sourcing local straw dont be like me and forget to check if the seed heads are gone 😂😂 ended up with wheat straw and yes it did sprout EVERYWHERE
11:13 someone please let the stardew valley devs know this 😂
I Grow Corn and other things been having issues with the corn.. unknown what or why it wont gorw
Rather than planting only veggies I like to eat, I decided on plants I wanted to grow and then learned to like them. That’s how I learned to love radishes and asparagus.
Thanks for sharing
Very good advice. Thank you. And you’re always calm and respectful. Keep up the good work. I appreciate it.
As a child I put a seed in a pot and let it grow on it’s own(didn’t go well).
We can all Agree that this video qualifies with most gardens in 2025 🪴❤️
Soo cute
interesting that gardenstraw was not available in the US when you made this video. watching this in october 2024 and I know I’ve seen that specific brand of straw recently at a couple local nurseries. I had assumed it was locally produced, from straw that had been doused in pesticides and roundup, so I decided to avoid it because I don’t want that stuff in my organic garden….
do you have any info about this straw being better than I had assumed?
I have never managed to keep anything other than my cacti, mint, and aloe alive. I have killed many tomatoes, peppers, and lettuces over the past few years. This year I actually have a garden undead of an assortment of pots and I’m using companion planting.
Hoping to keep something alive long enough to eat it!
We must respect the power of the mulch.
He owns me a dollar fore internet and power 😂
Awesome video as always. I have a small plot a while away from my home here in Croatia and access to water was a bit of a nightmare, until I remembered about gravity fed irrigation. A large barrel about a meter off the ground and split throughout the plot with drip emitters is really one of the best ways to do it if you don’t have easy access to that sweet h2o. And if it’s set up right, it can be a real set and forget kind of system that can last a few days even. Maybe make a video about it if it’s something you think would be useful for folks.
The first plant I ever tried to grow was habanero plants, spent all this time and effort researching how to grow them, and (like most people) couldnt even eat them, haha. Was a fun learning experience and now im my friend groups "salsa guy" since salsa was the only thing i did with them. Growing tomatos this year and im taking what i learned and am doing better with them.
i wish i had discord lol
Hey thanks for the tips. Love the raised beds
Awesome video as always. I have a small plot a while away from my home here in Croatia and access to water was a bit of a nightmare, until I remembered about gravity fed irrigation. A large barrel about a meter off the ground and split throughout the plot with drip emitters is really one of the best ways to do it if you don’t have easy access to that sweet h2o. And if it’s set up right, it can be a real set and forget kind of system that can last a few days even. Maybe make a video about it if it’s something you think would be useful for folks.
I’ve been trying to garden for 3 years and I still haven’t hardly figured it out yet. I’ve learned some new things along the way but I literally have to study textbooks like it’s calculus just to figure this out, while other people had just started their garden about a year and a half ago and they have a lush paradise. I don’t know if it’s a missing Link in my brain, I don’t know if it’s God hindering me, but I’ve tried with all my might and giving up in just a few months ago I just gotten back into it. I finally was able to keep a rosemary and rose plant alive for the first time in my life .
I love that you mentioned not growing what you won’t eat. I just had this conversation with my husband the other day about how ridiculous the most recommended plants are. Most of the time it’s herbs that people rarely use on a regular basis. 😂
I’m 19. Always thought gardening was stupid honestly. Over this summer I have a new found love for it thought and idk why. Your videos have kept my garden alive though. Hoping to feed thousands one day
I would love to take one of Dr. Carr’s African American Studies classes.
I love your videos, and I have a small question. When I grow tomatoes they grow very long, so they are going to be very weak because of of. How do I grow a tomato so it doesn’t get to long? Maybe it’s because I live in Sweden, and there isn’t much sun
I’m in 9b in Florida and it has gotten sub-30’s hear the last few years. About 7 years ago, it almost got into the teens. Usually only for a few days to a week, then it’s usually 40’s-50’s. But it still gets cold here during the winter. Not usually, but it does.
Hi I moved my 2 broccoli plants from a pot to an in-ground bed but the leaves off it are dieing and I’m continuing to water but not working would U have some tips for me
This is an older video so not sure if this will be seen or not, but here it goes. I have watched tons of your videos now and love them all. You mention mulching a lot and I whole heartedly agree with your thought process. What are your thoughts on use landscaping fabric in place of mulch? I live in Wyoming where wind is a daily thing. lol I have tried straw before, but it just gets blown away after time. – Anyone and everyone can feel free to comment.
i’m a beginner and something i struggle with is stressing about my plants, just breathe man, everything will work out, you can solve your problems, but you gotta keep your head up and happy, it translates into the fruits of your labor!
I am looking to start my first little garden this weekend so I appreciate these videos. Hopefully I have a green thumb!
I’ve always thought that humans were more closely related to plants then we are to animals. But it just confirmed my suspicions even more when you said, "when you plant them too close together, they’ll grow and be healthy still but they’ll just be small. If you spread them out they’ll have more room to grow and bloom into bigger versions of themselves" ( not an exact quote). Makes you wonder why a mass majority of populations are conditioned to believe it’s so normal to live 5 feet away from your neighbor. Anyway, lol thanks for all your amazing content!! 🙏🏼🌱😊
this was so helpful thank you i just started gardening right now thanks😀
Hang out with more Epic Gardeners in our Discord server: https://discord.gg/UPNuGHBeYr
Thank you. 04/06/24
fantastic video like 30
"If it works, it works." We’d give you some of our midwest leaves if we could 😎
My grandma plants right into soil and then spends all fall complaining about how much she had to water her garden. And I keep telling her. Pay an arborist to drop off all the chippings from a load.
It’s like 100$, and saves her hundreds of gallons of water lol.
I will never not mulch again. I actually stack it quite thick now too, at least 2-3 inches. Mix of leaves, mulch, grass.
Also try some pickled beets. It’s my favorite way to eat them. I just pull out a nice few chunks to have with some roasted meat.
i’ve just started gardening in my backyard, any advice for small space?
This video is proof that disrespecting others will come back to haunt you!
8:40 – This is very true with varieties of plants. I was given a bonus tomato plant when I got flowers at a nursery. I still have no idea what variety it was, but after struggling to keep the plant alive I was very sad to find that the resulting medium-sized tomatoes had _the absolute worst_ flavor. (Now I’m still working up the courage to try growing larger tomatoes again instead of just sticking with cherry tomatoes for forever.)
Whenever we are apartment hunting my husband is frustrated coz I tell him constantly that “balcony is not south facing” 😂
The day someone knocks on my door to talk gardening, is the day I’ll be a happy man.
Tyvm for all the tips! This year was my first year doing real gardening and it was basically trial and error for me, though I did end up growing my plants and flowers pretty well. Seems a green thumb runs in my family since my grandmother, father, and I all have good luck with gardening. I’ve already collected tons of seeds for next year, so I’m doing all the research I can to make sure I’m prepared for next summer. I live in Montreal Canada where we get heavy snow, so unfortunately I’ll have to wait until spring to start up my garden again, but these tips really do help for beginners so thanks again 🙏 PS: I subscribed to your channel and plan to watch many videos since I really like the way you do your gardening videos. Please keep it up 👍
*laughs in community garden plot where I don’t have to worry about several of these problems*
In all seriousness, as a first-time gardener, thank you for the tips!