8 Things I Will Never Do In My Garden (Again)

Let's face it, I'm still pretty new to gardening. A "noob", so to speak. While I admittedly do not have all the answers (to gardening, that is) I do know a couple things I will not be doing ever again. Some are a "duh" response, and some just come with experience, but hopefully this will help any other fellow "noobs" in their gardening journey. This list is kind of one of those lists where you should hold your left hand up and have your right hand on a Bible and speak the words written. If you're not one of those people, just read on and skip the solemnly swear bit--but at least keep it in the back of your thinking when your out among the beds.

1. I will not avoid weeding the garden. This is number one, and I thought to myself last year these exact words: "The beds are deep, there's no way a bunch of tiny weeds and grasses can suck that much life out of my plants." Lies, people. Lies. What am I doing to combat this? Taking things in stride. I'm not out there every day 24/7 picking weeds, but I do break it up into sections. I weed one section a day so I'm not feeling like a slave to weeds and it gets the job done in between my busy schedule. Also, You might see on my tomato plant picture below that I laid paper bags down on the beds to cover up unused space. My irrigation system is underneath the bags so I don't have to worry about the soil getting too dry. 
2. I will not underestimate beetles (and bugs). I thought they were ok last year really only because I hate bugs and didn't want to touch them. The repercussions? ruined corn, beans, squash, watermelons, and potentially the cause of why my eggplant didn't boom. The solution? You got it, simple soap and water mixture, and maybe even a dash of vinegar in a spray bottle to ward off vicious beasts. It's worked amazingly with the giant nasty spider I encountered on my strawberry plants. In addition to the soap mix, I've dusted the beds with cornmeal to take care of the insane numbers of ants and to ward off broccoli worms. Crushed up egg shells alongside tomato plants were also another way of me taking down any potential hazards.
3. I will not "turn a blind eye" to the soil. While I still need some more research on the pH levels of soil and what to do if it's too alkali or base, I'm definitely taking a look into it this year. In addition to this, using natural fertilizers and compost is another must, which leads me to number 4...
4. I will not go another year without compost. This is kind of one of those things that shouldn't ever have happened in the first place. I knew better than to not compost. Rich nutrients in broken down plants and scraps is the best thing for growing veggies. It's an age old nugget of common sense to compost. For some newbies, it's become a sort of taboo. But this year, things will be different. I'm getting back in touch with my "roots" and doing it the old way. Now if only rain barrels didn't attract a serious amount of mosquitos...
5. I will never ever ever EVER plant any vegetable upside down. If you have ever seen those sneaky Seen on TV growing containers that promise your tomatoes will grow heavy yields upside down, steer clear. Trust me. All the plants were confused when growing, as they all tried to grow right-side-up. Watering them was difficult since most of the water ended up on the leaves, and out of the 13 plants I planted, only 4 produced fruit. The crops were very tiny, perhaps giving me only 20 cherry tomatoes the entire season and one poorly sized "large" tomato. 
6. I will never automatically assume plants need to be spaced a full 2 feet from one another. And by that, I'm talking the tomato/pepper/eggplant family. I recently read that the suggestion was so that you could have space to work around the plant. But what I found last year, was that even though i planted my tomato plants about 1 foot apart, they did great and produced a ton of fruit. With adequate pruning and long arms, 6 plants could easily have grown in each of my 4'x3' sections. There is actually a blog that I have followed who plants easily 15 tomato plants in a 15' row and gets heavy yields of tomatoes. 
7. I will never use the compostable seed starting containers again. We all love being green, and no one wants to disturb the roots, but it is very difficult to plant something in these pots and expect them to keep their shape when watering. In my experience with this, the pots would soften, mold, fall over, and cause more harm than anything else. Not to mention it sucks the water out of the soil and requires a lot more watering than necessary. My solution: using plastic cups with holes punched in the bottom and letting them sit in a shallow bath of warm water and a bit of epsom salt solution.They grow like crazy, and the constant access to water and non-competitiveness of the plastic cup allows the seedlings to have the perfect environment for germination. As for it's recyclability, plastic is very much recyclable if you don't find other uses for it. 
8. I will never go the route of watering my plants by hand again. For a garden the size of mine, it would take about an hour to an hour and a half to water it, and doing so nearly every single day in the heat of the summer. I honestly began to resent it and would avoid doing it if I could. But, neglecting to water your garden is detrimental. In addition to its nuisance factor, the leaves of all my low-growing herbs began to sprout disease and were eventually unusable. This year I have opted for an irrigation system that sits on the soil and waters the plants right at the roots to avoid any splash up. And the best part? I can water my garden in the privacy of my own lawn chair without lifting a finger. Well, once I flipped the switch, that is.

Now you've seen my list of 8 things I will never do in my garden again. What about you? What have you taken oath to never do again?

I will never let my beds become "weed tolerant" again.