Avoid a gardening method that leaves plants a week away from death at all times – my ‘3 strikes rule’ is one to live by
A GARDENER revealed the method they avoided that leaves plants a week away from death at all times.
Instead, they lived by a “three strikes” rule that saved time and energy.
The Redditor u/jelliknight shared their gardening tips and tricks with beginners.
For those worried about failing, they explained that failure was inevitable but valuable nevertheless.
“Every failure is a lesson,” they said.
Their advice to use big self-watering pots hoped to mitigate rookie mistakes.
“When you see pictures in magazines and on the internet of heaps of foliage coming out of smallish pots, those are lies,” they explained.
“Or rarities anyway. Assume the underground part of your plant is about as big as the above-ground part.”
Jelliknight added that gardening was a numbers game and to always err on the side of caution if you want to bear fruit.
Instead of experiencing disappointment when store-bought seedlings die, they planted as many seeds as possible for a greater chance of success.
“Start from seeds. It’s the cheapest way to suck at gardening. And suck you will, for many years to come,” they said.
“Those seedlings from garden centers have been pampered, shaded, hardened, fertilized, watered multiple times a day, and watched with an expert eye; they’re not at all prepared for the harsh realities of life in a noob’s garden.
“Four dollars for one seedling that will definitely die or $2 for 100 seeds is not a hard choice to make.”
One season, the gardener planted over 60 tomato seeds but was only rewarded with two seedlings.
“Another year I got about two dozen seedlings, I only got fruit off about four plants. Assume that you’re going to fail and be pleasantly surprised when you don’t,” they said.
To set their plants up for success, they also avoided planting them in containers as it can be limiting compared to ground planting.
“Growing in containers sucks. It just does. In the ground, you’ve got water stored, nutrients just hanging around, good bugs and worms, in a container you only have exactly what you put in,” they explained.
“Everything’s about a week away from death all the time and the few tomatoes I’ve gotten from containers never taste as good as the ones from the ground.”
Easy gardening tips to save money, maximize space, and repel pests
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- Banana peels, vinegar, and coffee grounds are often recommended as natural fertilizers.
- Dollar Tree sells four packs of seeds for $1.25.
- Try a vertical planter like Amazon’s Mr. Stacky 5 Tier Stackable Planter, $35 to make more use of a small space.
- Use netting like the Garden Netting Pest Barrier, $8, from Amazon to keep away bugs that eat your vegetables.
- Try sacrificial planting to reduce the use of pesticides and keep pests away from your garden. Deliberately growing certain plants to attract agricultural pests can keep them away from the plants you want to protect. Examples include marigolds, lavender, catnip, and chives.
- For pesky weeds in your garden, the Grampa’s Weeder – The Original Stand-Up Weed Puller Tool with Long Handles, $45, from Amazon is a helpful tool you can use without having to bend over.
Other tips, like growing smaller fruits, finding out what grows best locally, and growing only what you can eat, boosted their rates of success and reduced waste.
Even when things get tough, Jelliknight wasn’t above giving up.
“I have a three-strikes rule. If I try to grow something three times and fail, I give up and try something else,” they revealed.
“There are some things my neighbors can grow that I just can’t. There’s no point pushing s**t uphill, find something that wants to grow in your patch.”