What are your main gardening challenges or problems?

[Kyla]

I'd like to compare notes about what we find the most challenging where we are gardening, and maybe share some tips for problem solving too.

Where I am there are several issues I am still struggling with.

One major one is that the area right in front of my trailer - I live in a small mobile home on some acreage - has been graveled. So there is no digging into the soil possible. The idea for the gravel was to control the mud and weeds but of course the grass grows up right through it as happy as you please. Still, it does keep the area from becoming a slog of mud in the wet season.

I have tried to solve this a couple of different ways. In the center I have put down a very thick layer of wood shavings after cutting the grass as short as I could (using shears!) I then placed a grouping of containers around the single plant that volunteered up through the gravel, a Buddleia. The containers have various herbs and a few perennials growing in them. So that area is doing rather nicely now. I still have to deal with the grass but I believe thick woodshaving mulch is helping to control it fairly well. Next year will tell the tale.

Along one side, next to a paved area, I have experimented with putting thick cardboard down over the gravel to discourage the grass, then a layer of soil and compost into which I planted plugs of several types of groundcovers which take foot traffic. Experimenting with which kinds do best, you see. Over this is a garden bench I got second hand, which is really nice there.

So, dealing with this gravel is a big challenge mostly solved!

What are some of the challenges you face where you garden? Anyone want to share?

 

[maddie]

My only challenge is I have too many plants in too small a space.. when they are over crowed I have no space to re-pot or divide them. I have to no more space for additional shelves in my three tired garden.. I have just one option to hang pots from hooks.. I need to get this done real fast.. I could also look at having a couple of tiers on my kitchen window or go in for window gardening with soda bottle... This is an option I really want to try at the moment.

 

[Tmann]

My biggest challenge is staying up on the weeds!

 

[Jed]

My challenge is the native wildlife. A possum or wallaby can totally destroy trees and plants.
Weeds only grow in the garden enclosures. Any that grow outside are eaten by the critters.

 

[Kyla]

Ah, Jed, I thought you must be in Oz, from another post about your growing season. Wallabies, eh? Here it's the deer that can eat small trees to death! But I've not had so much trouble with deer, though my landlord fusses about them endlessly and how they destroy things. In my little patch for some reason they only nibble.

Maddie, container gardening is, well, contained I guess! It would be challenging for sure to be so limited in space though. Have you ever looked into vertical gardening? I've been seeing a lot about that online lately, people growing stuff up the walls in all sorts of ways.

I have to say too, right now my challenge is getting out there at all. It is not terribly cold but it is so awful wet! and I do need to work with that compost sometime before spring.

 

[elyseb8787]

I would have to say that weeds are also my biggest challenge. Its super annoying when they start to interfere with your crops and plants. I have to find a better way to manage them.

 

[Kyla]

Yep, weeds are a problem for everyone I bet, unless you do all your growing in containers. And as I typed that I remembered when I was growing a lot of container plantings on a deck in a place I used to live, finding a weed in one of those big pots (probably one where I had glads planted) and grabbing hold to pull it out only to find it was a stinging nettle! Owie! No damage done of course but boy did that sting. I learned to recognize stinging nettle right away though.

Here the weed issue is mostly grass and it does get everywhere. But I don't bother with it too much, just pull it where I can and keep it under control as best I can. I do try to have very rich soil so that I can plant my chosen plant material very close together and so shade out most weeds. That sometimes works, a little.

 

[loopyloo]

My biggest challenge is getting all I want to grow in the space I have to work with. I think that the square foot gardening method might be a great option for us but I still have so much to learn. I want to grow as much as I can to fill our plates this year. my second biggest challenge is getting what I grow to thrive.

 

[Kyla]

Well, you're embarking on a fun journey of adventure, then, loopyloo. There is a ton of good information out there to be explored and I bet you are going to have a fabulous garden. My strongest suggestion for you is make sure your soil is well enriched with compost, has good drainage, and that you get the right amount of sun. Do that and you'll be surprised how much you can grow!

 

[dziomek]

I too agree weeds are the biggest challenge. Another challenge for me is the heavy clay soil. Our landlord told us we had great soil here, so I was quite happy when I found that out. What he failed to add was that he moved the topsoil to his new garden and left nothing but the clay. I planted a big garden a few years ago and we ended up with a very wet summer. It was a disaster! I left potatoes, carrots and beets out in the garden because I could not dig them out of the clay when it dried up.

From that point on I made garden beds, and have been trying to improve them with compost, alpaca pellets and making them deeper so they are easier to work.

 

[maddie]

Maddie, container gardening is, well, contained I guess! It would be challenging for sure to be so limited in space though. Have you ever looked into vertical gardening? I've been seeing a lot about that online lately, people growing stuff up the walls in all sorts of ways.

What I have right now is kind of vertical gardening and I have used almost all the space available to me in the balcony and on my window sills.. I also have indoor plants with grow lights. Now, all that is left to do is decide on what I need to donate

 

[claudine]

I think my main problem is my family. I have to share the garden with my parents because I currently live at their place - I hate it so much but for now I don't have any other choice. Fortunately I have my miniature roses to cheer me up

 

[DrCase]

The elusive mole that messes with my grass

 

[claudine]

We have moles here too. They annoy my dog because he sniffs them but he can't find them...so he looks for them everywhere, he digs all the time and he ruins my lawn

 

[ChanellG]

My biggest challenges are time and space. I would love to have a bigger garden, but I can barely manage the plants that I have. I don't own my own home either, so I'm not willing to invest the time (and money) in anything more permanent that the container garden I have now.