Mistakes were made – What I’ve learned 3 years in

Learn from me and save yourself some headaches

Expect things to get trampled (or run over by a mystery neighbor). Even the nice sign you buy will get run over by the lawn maintenance guys. Or the wind will rip a hole in it.

The experience of being unexpectedly social since there isn’t a time of day when someone isn’t walking a dog or themselves and stops for a word.

And part of everyone stopping by is opinions. On adding dirt. Or removing grass. How your plants spread out are and how you border the space. The flip side is that people contribute. Soil, metal sticks, regular sticks, plants, seeds. People want to engage.

Rabbits will eat it all and that’s okay.

How would you like dogs to interact with your space? Do you want them to sniff it, eat the sticks surrounding it, pee on it? You might want to install a boulder for peeing on. Yes that’s a real thing

Tall plants towards the center because they will flop over into the street and the sidewalk.

You will have to carry over more water than you think so have a plan. 

You will look a bit crazy because you’ll find yourself standing there staring at a plant or a bumble bee.

There will be a frustrating amount of trash. Some of it is unintentional as your plants will catch trash, the wind is blowing and some of it will be cigarette butts because some people suck

Trial and error. In what plants succeed. In what signage will last. Putting glass jars over small plants to protect them from bunnies. Permanent markers on dollar store signs don’t work, but maybe fancy garden markers do? (Fingers crossed for spring 2025)

Your camera roll will be full of blurry bumble bees or 32 angles of one particular flower.

It can be tough to tell what is a native plant that you aren’t familiar with and what is a weed. There are apps for that, and kind neighbors like Jared who have been through it before. 

You’ll feel a bit superior when it’s dry and hot (or a drought) and everything else looks parched while your space is buzzing with pollinators visiting blooms. Don’t be an ass about it. You will still have to water plants that are still being established.

You’ll have to put your expectations aside. Created a butterfly garden specific for milkweed for monarchs. None of the milkweed has survived. Never spotted a butterfly. Two kinds of moths though. Also, you can plan until you are blue in the face, it all changes when you actually interact with the mud. Buying the fancy plant signs that rust after one season.

Be gentle with yourself and your learning curve. Buying cultivars because you didn’t know that there was a type of plant between native and cultivated. Or plants that aren’t suited for the space’s conditions. 

Invest in a good shovel and gloves. And a larger capacity watering can. Don’t break the bank. But also, don’t use an aluminum kid’s toy. 

I am not capable of growing things from seeds. I now know this about myself and plan accordingly.

Be kind to your knees. Bring something to cushion them. Just throw it in a trash bag so it doesn’t get dirty.

There are always more pieces of cement. Or asphalt. Or broken bricks.

I probably should have checked for utility lines before I started digging.

Hold onto all of the plant signs that come with them. They’ll help you figure out what they are in the spring.

Sigh. The wet newspaper attempt.

Some of the strong-looking plants will die unexpectedly. Sometimes you’ll take home a free twig, and it will grow a tree. Sometimes you’ll crush up some seed pods in March to “see if anything happens” and grow so much hyssop that you must give it away.

Volunteer plants will show up. Some you’ll keep like blanketflower and common evening primrose. Some you’ll trash like catmint and regular mint. 

There will be math involved. And you’ll still underestimate the amount of free mulch to get. But leaves will do more to improve the soil quality than anything else. You just need to trap them (if you have windy conditions). Trying to install the solar irrigation kit. My high school geometry teacher told me it would be important. She was right but I remember none of it.

Supplies: blanket to kneel on, scissors, garden marker, cotton kitchen twine, shovel, hand trowel, watering can, bag for trash, garden signs. Burlap (more than you think), landscaping staples, garden Velcro (for flopping plants)