“The first trees I ever planted were 50 bare root Douglas Fir’s that we got for 84 cents a piece. I loved the idea of growing our own Christmas trees and found a way to grow new trees from live stumps, which spoke to the conservationist in me. I let my boys (ages 6 & 4 at the time) help using a 6” drill bit auger. We ended up planting too deep, and didn’t loosen the soil wide enough to allow the tree roots to grow horizontally.”

@sweetwater.orchard lost 45 of the 50 trees. “What you see here is the result... a dead tree with roots forced straight down. Lesson learned.”

“A garden fail that comes to mind for me was allowing moss to grow up along the rocks of my large pond. It looks sensational, but now I am forever raking the moss out of the water...It may be better than algae, however, man it loves to swim freely in the water!”

@loadofshrubbery has found that keeping the moss at least two feet away from the water is the sweet spot to prevent it from spreading. “If this has happened to you, get out a wire leaf rake and start digging it out. There are chemicals you can buy, but who wants to do that?”

“It’s the second time I bought a plant from another plant owner. That day it was really cold outside so I hurried up and didn’t check the package. When I arrived home I saw that the plant was unhealthy, it had really weak roots and the leaves were damaged. I quickly realized the importance of checking out the health of a newly purchased plant!”

@les.jardins.hudson took on the challenge to nourish her adopted plant. She’s pleased that patience has paid off & her plant is slowly on the way back to full health! 

“First thing that comes to my mind mistake wise, is poor planning. I continually plant too close together in my garden which causes overcrowding. I love to grow native plants I’ve never grown before. For some reason I always think that they won’t get as big as the plant tag states! So I would often end up having to dig some plants up to rearrange them or move them to another location.”

@friendlynativegardens_htx simplifies this challenge by always “drawing out a rough picture of my garden space with measurements, as well as plant sizes. This allows me to organize their placement prior to planting them in my garden!”