Of course, gardeners learn from their mistakes. As Monty Don <\/a>told us: “I’m not somebody who ever has regrets – I’m a great believer in doing things with the best of intentions, and then you learn rather than regret. There are lots of things I’ve learned by doing the wrong thing, but I don’t regret them.”\u00a0Charles Dowding<\/a> told us: “I still make mistakes and still learn. But I never try new things on too big a scale.”<\/p> Here are some experts’ gardening mistakes we can all learn from.<\/p> The garden I have now was made from a field 33 years ago and I planted far too many\u00a0trees<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0hedges<\/a>\u00a0close together. This was a very open, windblown site, but now that the trees and hedges have grown, the ventilation is very poor and there are all kinds of fungal problems. An experienced garden designer plants 10,15, 20 or 30 years ahead, but I tackled the bare field with huge enthusiasm and couldn’t wait for the trees to grow.<\/p> When we moved here, our\u00a0children<\/a>\u00a0were very little and I made a play area about 50 yards from the back door. I thought it was brilliant, and it had all kinds of things in it. And of course, they never touched it. They wanted to play within five yards of the back door. If you’re going to make an area for children to play, they want to run in and out of the house, they want to see you and hear you and they want you to hear and see them. I modified it later, but it was a classic mistake.<\/p> Also, every single year I am late ordering\u00a0seed<\/a>\u00a0or plants or\u00a0bulbs<\/a>. Invariably there are some varieties I can’t get because they\u2019ve all sold out.<\/p> Read the full interview with Monty<\/a><\/p> Read the full interview with Carol Klein<\/a><\/p> My biggest failure is not keeping up with the\u00a0trees<\/a>. We\u2019ve been here for 46 years and my major thing at the moment is trying to accommodate the mature trees. My Mum gave me a\u00a0Cercis<\/em><\/a>\u00a0more than 40 years ago, which she grew from (and here\u2019s a nice bit of alliteration for you) a pod that she picked up from the pavement in Portugal. And, of course, it\u2019s grown bigger and bigger. While it\u2019s still flowering well, it looks a little drawn.<\/p> I’m also guilty of not pricking out\u00a0seedlings<\/a>\u00a0promptly. This year I was out of action for a few weeks, but it\u2019s something I always struggle with. The answer is to limit the number of things you grow from seed and then limit the number of seeds that you sow. Sow more sparsely!<\/p> I\u2019ve still not cracked the common pitfall of\u00a0sowing too much\u00a0<\/a>in one go and producing more\u00a0than we can eat<\/a>. I love growing courgettes and aim to pick them small. But work commitments invariably take me away for several days at the wrong moment and I return to find they\u2019ve swelled to the size of a mammoth marrow. I\u2019m always chasing my tail. Seed and bulb orders go in late and so sowing and planting is often delayed.\u00a0My record for tardy tulip planting<\/a>\u00a0is February. I had to discard a few, but most flowered surprisingly well.<\/p> Read our full interview with Rachel de Thame<\/a><\/p> To date, I am unable to grow\u00a0Papaver bracteatum<\/em>, or the great scarlet\u00a0poppy<\/a>.<\/p> Read the full interview with Jamaica Kincaid<\/a><\/p> My friend Rupert built my\u00a0greenhouse<\/a>\u00a0out of old windows. He came with two magnificent pub windows that were 2.4m and 1.8m across. I put it in a sunny spot so it warmed up but as it was wider than I\u2019d anticipated, it created a tiny little corridor at the far end of the garden, in the sunniest corner, that\u2019s almost unusable. I\u2019m trying to turn it into a little nook of a suntrap. I\u2019ve slowly put some tiles on the floor, and a\u00a0deckchair<\/a>, and maybe a\u00a0hammock<\/a>. But it is classic mistake \u2013 you should never create a wasted space in any garden. Especially in a small garden, and especially in the sunniest part.<\/p> Read the full article with Frances Tophill<\/a><\/p> Leaving two mature\u00a0Aloe polyphylla<\/em>\u00a0outside knowing that we were going to have heavy snow \u2013 I lost them both. A lesson learned \u2013 even plants accustomed to snow and cold in their native environments may not fare well in the same conditions in a different location.<\/p> Read our full interview with Manoj Malde<\/a><\/p> Getting too ambitious back in the 1980s. I had seven-and-a-half acres of no-dig raised beds and was asked by a wholesaler in London to grow an extra acre of carrots. I borrowed a\u00a0rotavator<\/a>\u00a0and paid a contractor to drill the carrots. All I got coming up was chickweed \u2013 I didn\u2019t harvest a single carrot. That was a sharp lesson in not overextending. It was also a real reinforcement of no dig<\/a>, as it\u2019s such a brilliant way of controlling\u00a0weeds<\/a>. I still make mistakes and still learn. But I never try new things on too big a scale.<\/p> Read our full interview with Charles Dowding<\/a><\/p> I didn\u2019t look after the\u00a0fruit trees\u00a0<\/a>when I first planted them. I had young children and I was super busy. I should have cleared the grass from around them and\u00a0mulched<\/a>\u00a0more. And I didn\u2019t\u00a0prune<\/a>\u00a0them soon enough. Next time I\u2019ll get it right, the kids can look after themselves and pruning will be the priority.<\/p> Monty Don, TV presenter and author<\/h3>
Carol Klein, TV presenter and author<\/h3>
![\"Garden](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/12\/Author-image-credit-Neil-Klein-2_preview-1-edited-1.jpg\")
Rachel de Thame, TV presenter and author<\/h3>
![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/12\/RacheldeThame_preview-edited-1-scaled.jpg\")
Jamaica Kincaid, writer, author and teacher<\/h3>
![\"Jamaica](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/09\/Jamaica-Kincaid-copyright-Kenneth-Noland_preview-edited.jpg\")
Frances Tophill, TV presenter, gardener and author<\/h3>
![\"Frances](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/12\/tophillhero-edited.jpg\")
Manoj Malde, garden designer and TV presenter<\/h3>
![\"Manoj](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/12\/MANOJ-Credit-Paul-Madeley_grey_preview-edited-1.jpg\")
Charles Dowding, no-dig expert<\/h3>
![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/10\/Charles-Dowding-3-photo-credit-Nicola-Smith-edited-scaled.jpg\")
Caroline Quentin, actress<\/h3>
![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/12\/Caroline-Quentin-edited.jpg\")