Mistakes number 2, 3…

Ok, maybe not mistakes, but there are definitely things we are learning that we can do better next time. In the last post, I talked about not having the weed fabric properly secured and that caused issues when storm winds came, so we had to remove all the fabric. The intention had been to put all the fabric back down in the planting space to keep the weeds from growing until it was planting time. Well, the weather and life haven’t exactly cooperated with that plan. It feels like the theme to this spring is beautiful weather during the weekdays and rainy, crappy, cold or extremely hot and humid on the weekends. So, between the weather, full time jobs, and spending time with family and friends, which is always most important, we never redid the fabric. Enter mistake number 2. Four weeks the planting area remained uncovered, and weeds remained unchecked. It wasn’t pretty.

Garden space full of weeds

To make matters worse, the tiller we had used was borrowed, so the answer wasn’t as easy as just hooking the tiller back up to the tractor and re-tilling the plot, so on an extremely hot and humid Sunday afternoon, my hoe and I tackled what felt like a green jungle of weeds. Were there other ways to do this? Maybe, but I wasn’t sure what else to do, and we were already to the second weekend in May and several weeks past our last frost. I felt like I had to get this space ready for seeds, so, I cleared about 30’ x 20’ square. The next day we reflagged and staked where the wildflower meadow spaces would be along with the planting rows and walkways. We probably should have done that first, because I definitely cleared weeds in spaces where there would be walkways. But in my head, I had a sense of urgency to get this started, and just wanted to feel like I made forward progress before another weekend was checked off the calendar. Yet another lesson learned!

Keeping with our forward momentum, my husband laid weed fabric on the vertical walkways. He used the 12” staples and so far, they seem to be holding compared to our previous failure with the 6” staples. While he did that, I weeded the second 25’ x 15’ wildflower space. We are finally ready for some seeds.

Garden space reflagged and staked

I will not number each mistake as we continue down this garden path, but I think it is also important to say and acknowledge that for all the reading, planning, YouTube watching, workshops, and feeling like I couldn’t have prepared for this work with any more information, the best lessons are learned by doing. Things seem to go perfectly while sitting on the sofa surrounded by beautiful photos, ideas, and dreams, but it isn’t until you actually start doing the work that you realize just how hard some of this really is and how the best plans on paper, don’t always mean that’s what happens in the garden. However, I also know that this is what will make the blooms, when they come, that much more treasured!