Whenever I find a bargain, I buy and plant rain lilies all through my garden. Slowly but surely, I have these unexpected (well, they ARE expected) bursts of rain lily color after a downpour. Problem is, sometimes I have planted them in areas that are infested with wild onions and whenever I weed, I will invariably pull a RL bulb, which I think is detrimental to their blooming schedule. If I choose to not disturb the clump, I invariable end up with a stronger than ever patch of the danged onions. I wished I had been more selective about where I planted the RLs, or kept them potted.
Any mistakes you're not too proud to share?
Too early to talk about mistakes? Not for me!
I don't look at them as mistakes, it's called research and development.
My garden is studded with NOID tags. Well so are a multitude of pots. Then come the dogs and tags disappear or the writing fades. Of course in my infinite wisdom I replace them because I KNOW what is really there. Then the fun starts.
I view it as magic and wonder. A couple years ago I took a supposedly water tight box of seeds up to the new 50 x 50 garden. It started raining before I got much more done than raking a couple beds and I hightailed it. Weather was bad for several days and it was at least a week before I got back up there to plant. When I opened the box it exploded with tons of green sprouts and super long stems all twisted together. Understand I had a multitude of packets of different veggies and flowers. After I quit stomping and kicking I decided to make the best of it. We called it my mystery garden. Multiple varieties ofsquash, eggplants, melons, cukes, herbs, gourds, and more all got planted next to each other in big beds with reckless abandon. Many perished, but many thrived and it was weeks before I could figure out what was what. No staking, trellising, containing of any kind. What a season long adventure it was.
A few years back I planted out a lovely bed of watermelon. I had always had marginal success with watermelon up in Illinois so I expected about the same here in Texas. But I really wanted a number of watermelon to share with new friends, etc. so I planted out way more seeds than I needed.
Well all the seeds sprouted and after thinning I though I would have a nice patch. Then the vines grew and grew, reaching out in all directions. I tried to contain them in their own ample bed by staking and moving them back but I would leave work in the morning with a fairly organized watermelon patch and come home in the evening to kaos! Finally one evening I came home and the watermelon vines had reached the fence and my new bed of climbing and rambling roses. By then the melons were starting to develop. I decided to leave the vines alone as once the melons start to develop the vines would stop growing, right? Well, no. In a week's time the watermelon vines had engulfed the baby roses and their developing melons were everywhere! I ended up cutting vines away from the roses just to help the roses survive. I was giving watermelon away that year like most people give away zucchini.
I had an amazing watermelon crop that year and the roses did survive and grow on to make the start of a nice fence row. But what a sorry sight all of this made for one growing season. So lesson learned. When growing watermelons in the South, give them twice as much room as a Yankee gardener would think to give them. And if you plant anything near the watermelon bed make sure you won't mind a little invasion!
And don't get me started on the Cushaw Pumpkin adventure! The chickens are still clucking about that one...
That was a mistake, lol. Good one Terri
Vossner what color are your rain lilies? I have a lot of white ones I can send you and a few pink ones. LMK
I make a lot of mistakes. I was out in the yard a little over a month ago and noticed several plants I really love got over looked to be put in the hoop house. :( Now they are no more :( Also a few years back I put a light on my plumerias as I was too sick to do anything else. Well lets just say they froze and when I looked at the light bulb it was a CFL that puts out no heat. I lost all of them.