Home Gardener: 6 Common Gardening Myths

As I drive around the Saucon Valley I see things going on in people’s yards and I hear stuff, too. Some of what people fervently believe about gardening and growing plants/trees/bushes is actually quite wrong. So I decided to tackle a few of these garden myths and give you some thoughts on them. I didn’t want to do too many in one posting, because you would overload and not remember a thing! So here are six garden myths you might want to reconsider.

1. Veggies must have full sun. Not true; just try to find a spot with the most sun for certain things like peppers and tomatoes. Some veggies can make due with less—onions, broccoli, radishes, carrots, peas, leeks, beans and cauliflower. Although I have never had much success at some of them (cauliflower comes to mind). And, I swear there is a carrot curse over my garden.

2. Change the potting soil in your outdoor pots every year. I think that as long as you add some new dirt or compost and work it in when you plant in the spring, that is enough. You could dump out the dirt and remix it with a bit of fresh compost to pump it up for new plantings. This is for the less affluent of us who want to economize. If it is a rare or cherished plant you might want to be more free with the new dirt whenever you repot! And if you keep using that same dirt year after year, yes...it is going to run out of steam and your plants will become feeble. But don’t feel you must replace it all every year.

3. Planting things under trees is bad. Not so. Just try to plant things that won’t interfere with the tree roots. Perennial flowers are a good choice. And they take less water than grass does. Just be careful not to add a lot of soil—use what soil you have under the tree. You don’t want to drastically change the depth of soil around the tree’s trunk and roots. I suggest a gradual adding of flowers; see how they do before adding more.

4. Sunshine all day long is needed for flowers that say “full sun” on their label. Not really so. Do give them the sunnier spots in your yard, but they can often make due with less than optimal conditions. You may have slightly fewer blooms or smaller ones, but if your yard is shady you will be happy to have risked putting in some semi-shade flower plants as they will brighten up the yard immeasurably.

5. Ladybugs are the only beneficial pest choice for your yard. They are great, but you can buy lacewings or other beneficial insects. They might stick around longer than those ladybugs tend to do when you sprinkle the new arrivals in your gardens.

6. Trees need to be planted deeply and love a mound of mulch around them. Wow, this is sure wrong. A new tree should be placed at the same depth as it had been before; the spot on the trunk where it entered the ground before needs to still be where the soil ends. Its roots need to be at the right level to get nutrients. Bury it too deep and it will struggle to try to get back up to where the roots belong. And mounding mulch around the trunk—particularly bark mulch—will lead to insects and other pests killing your tree by girdling it. Trees do not belong in raised beds, either. People seem to like to mound mulch around trees; landscapers do it all the time. It is not the least bit good for a tree. Raised beds are for veggies! Not trees and shrubs. Not if you want them to grow and be healthy....

So, please rethink some of the ways you grow plants and trees in your yard. Don’t just do what you see others doing in their yards. Or what you did in the past. Be bold and put things in that might be able to cope with your slightly shady spots and don’t go crazy with the mulch around your trees. They will thank you for it and reward you with not croaking prematurely due to your ingrained and inaccurate gardening habits!