9 Gardening Failures We’ve Learned From This Year

Whether you’re a brand new gardener or someone who’s had their hands in the dirt for decades, one thing is 100% true—mistakes will be made. I’m a firm believer that the perfect season doesn’t exist. No matter how experienced you are, there are always ways things can go wrong.

To reflect on the year, we’ve rounded up our biggest gardening failures, from trying to predict the weather to missing harvests and more.

Hopefully, this shows beginners that gardening failures are inevitable, so there’s no reason to be discouraged when mistakes happen. These are also great warnings for all gardeners not to make the same mistakes we did this year.

Skipping Weeding

I’m going to kick us off with my biggest failure for the year—skipping weeding. Rookie mistake, I know. But there’s more to the story than you may think.

I started a massive compost heap toward the end of 2022 and finally had the opportunity to use it this year. I set up two brand-new raised beds packed with homemade compost and sprinkled a mix of flower seeds for an overflowing cottage garden look. Unfortunately, my compost was full of weed seeds and didn’t heat up enough to kill them off.

A few of my seeds germinated, along with masses of weeds. I decided to wait until the seedlings developed their true leaves before weeding to ensure I didn’t pull out any of my planted seeds by accident. Big mistake.

The weeds shot up after a long weekend of rain, and their roots really settled in. It took me days to remove them all, during which time they successfully managed to crowd out some of the slower-germinating seeds.

Fortunately, not all was lost (except my time and lack of back pain). The tougher seeds—cosmos, zinnias, nasturtiums, and California poppies—all survived the weed onslaught. After that first extensive weeding session, I made sure no weeds had a second to grow before I picked them out.

Ignoring the Seasons

The next gardening failure comes from Epic’s Director of Paid, Kyle Pate. And it’s one I’m sure most gardeners can relate to.

We’ve all wished we could control the seasons and make whatever crops that we want to grow at any time of the year. Why can’t we have summer crops outdoors in winter? Well, Kyle learned why from first-hand experience after planting tomatoes and summer squash that simply refused to grow.

As much as it’s tempting to challenge nature and manage conditions as best you can to grow year-round, stick to plants designed for the season and make sure you plant at the right time. You can push it slightly with some adjustments, but clearly not as far as growing tomatoes in the middle of winter.

Misjudging the Weather

Another member of the Epic team tested nature too, but this time in reading the weather. Content Strategist and Staff Researcher Sarah Jay’s gardening failure this year was misjudging the warm fall weather, only to be humbled by a sudden frost that ruined all that hard work.

“I tried to capitalize on our warm fall weather and planted scarlet runner beans, which did nicely for a while and then were promptly obliterated in a late frost.” This is a failure you can’t really predict unless you spend your days researching weather patterns. But luckily, it is possible to adapt! Sarah Jay’s plan is simple—planting peas in their place.

Moving Warm-Season Crops Indoors

It’s tough to leave your summer crops outdoors in the cold to die slowly. But it’s part of the natural cycle of life in the garden. This year, Staff Writer Jerad Bryant decided he would ignore this cycle.

Jerad brought his eggplants and peppers indoors to continue producing in fall and winter. No surprise—the eggplant promptly died. The peppers are surviving, but only just. His takeaway? “I’ll stick to starting them from seeds in early spring.”

Sarah Jay also has experience in this area. “Pretty sure I do this once per year, too. I always try to cultivate an indoor tomato or pepper. I can’t let it go, it seems.”

Planting Full Sun Plants in the Shade

Shady spots can be tough to fill in the garden, especially when you’re growing edibles. There are only a select few plants that perform well in shady areas, with most requiring full sun to produce an abundant harvest.

With limited full-sun space in his garden, Director of Search Jason Wilson decided to plant squash in the bed that gets the least amount of sun. Despite squash’s reputation for growing vigorously and taking over entire beds, the performance was less than satisfactory. “I think we pulled out six squash the whole season.”

Before planting your seeds, ensure the location has enough light to keep your crops happy. In shady areas, stick to plants that still flower or fruit with less sunlight to avoid disappointment.

Harvesting Too Late

The next gardening failure comes from Head Horticulturist Lorin Nielsen. This mistake was somewhat out of her control but just as disappointing.

“When you have a lovely-looking watermelon that, by all indications, seems ripe and ready to harvest, don’t say, ‘Oh, I’ll harvest it later’ and forget about it for a week. Because if you do that, someone might steal the beautiful, ripe watermelon out of your front yard garden.”

Luckily, there were many more fruits to harvest. Lorin said, “I still pulled about 90 pounds of watermelon out of the front yard after that.” But it’s a good lesson to keep in mind if you’re waiting patiently to harvest the fruits of your labor—harvest as soon as the plants are ready.

Ruining Your Harvest

Epic Gardening founder Kevin Espiritu also lost his harvest this year, but for a very different reason. This loss was not caused by garden critters or nosy neighbors, but a dangerous gardening mistake—overwatering.

Leaving your root crops in the ground over winter is an effective storage method to extend their life span and prolong your harvesting time. That’s what Kevin decided to do this year for his potatoes and garlic. Unfortunately, he then proceeded to overwater them, causing them all to rot.

If you are going to leave your crops in the ground rather than pulling them for storage, make sure you manage soil moisture carefully. If a period of heavy rain is coming up, harvest beforehand to avoid ruining your entire hard-earned harvest.

Letting Kids Go Wild

Not all gardening failures are harvest-ruining or season-ending. Some are just happy accidents, like in the case of Epic’s Managing Editor Danielle Sherwood.

We’ve covered a lot on gardening with kids in the past year, and Danielle decided to apply those tips in her own garden. But she also uncovered the ‘downsides’ pretty quickly. “I learned to supervise my kids with the yarrow seeds. I basically have a yarrow farm, now.” Thankfully, not the worst outcome, particularly for the pollinators in her garden.

Using Bone Meal Indoors

Bone meal is a great soil amendment to boost phosphorus in soil and improve plant growth. With an NPK around 3-15-0, it’s a wonderful fertilizer for bulbs and flowering plants. Bone meal is made from animal bones (typically beef), sterilized, and ground to form a powder that is mixed into soil.

If your flowering plants need a little help, bone meal is a great solution. But it’s not without its downsides, particularly when it comes to smell. The scent is described as similar to rotten eggs or an animal farm, which is why dogs and other creatures find it so quickly outdoors.

Usually, the smell stays far away from you under the soil, so it’s not an issue. But, Systems Project Administrator Lee Woody summed up her biggest gardening failure in one sentence that needs no more explanation: “Do not use bone meal inside”.