Admit it: You’ve had at least one, maybe more, landscaping projects go terribly wrong, haven’t you? It happens to every gardener eventually.
What’s important is having a good sense of humour about it. Like the hair on your head that you cut too short or dyed an unflattering colour, even the most complicated landscaping projects can be undone, redone or seeded over.
Whether the plants all died because you put too much of something in the soil, they fell over because you didn’t secure them in the ground or they simply looked much less appealing than you were expecting, making mistakes is part of the Australian gardening experience.
Have you ever planted garlic bulbs thinking they were flower bulbs? That’s what Arianne, one of the members of the Gardening Channel forum did. Another person in the forum mentions being surprised that her bulbs never came up until she found that her son had planted them all upside down.
Really, though, a few misplaced bulbs is nothing compared to some of the landscaping mistakes people make.
Associated Content writer Philip Theibert suggests that landscaping with old cars and not mowing your grass so you can establish a natural prairie are two of the biggest landscaping mistakes. He doesn’t like pet cemeteries or old political campaigns signs in otherwise perfectly nice gardens either. Who does?
Big mistakes give you big credentials, however, perhaps proving you’re a fully qualified experimental garden or maybe even a modern artist if things turn out just right.
Landscaping, after all, is a creative process. Like with science and baking, though, too much creativity dramatically lessens the chances of a successful outcome.
Still, even making mistakes is fun, isn’t it? As long as you don’t have to call the fire brigade or a psychotherapist, you’re well within the bounds of reasonable behaviour.