David Domoney, celebrity gardener, reveals what he claims to be some of the most common mistakes you can make when gardening.
As we prepare to welcome the warmer months, there's no better time than the present to start indulging your green thumb. Whether that be learning how to grow your own fruit and vegetables, or following David's advice on the best thing to plant in April, gardening is a hobby that he encourages everyone to get stuck into.
As with any hobby, there will always be a learning curve, but David reveals that out of every mistake you could make, not even trying is the biggest of them all.
The worst mistakes you can make when gardening
We asked David Domoney, Britain's only Chartered Horticulturist presenter on TV, what he believes to be the most common mistake people make when it comes to gardening.
1. Lack of ambition
'In many cases, it's the lack of ambition. Everybody thinks it's too difficult and then never gets started.' This is a much different ballpark to garden design mistakes or even herb garden mistakes, but rather, about one's attitude towards gardening.
'The secret of sowing a seed and watching it germinate initiates a relationship between human and plant, and as you follow its journey and show interest through curiosity, you realise the simple pleasures of seeing something grow.'
Whether it's growing peppers in pots, growing potatoes in bags, or growing geraniums, David encourages us to oversee this process in a more intentional light.
'It's not a mobile phone, it's not a tablet or a plasma screen, it's a living thing that's growing right in front of your eyes – thanks to you sowing it and watching it germinate.'
2. Letting houseplants sit in water
Aside from our attitude towards gardening, David also touches on the huge gardening error of leaving houseplants to sit in water. Considering how often we see the likes of living room houseplant ideas, too many people are still making the same mistake.
If you want success with your houseplants, he says this is 'the ultimate thing' to avoid.
'You have success with houseplants when you know what you're buying. There are many houseplants that are sold as houseplants that don't actually last as houseplants,' he warns.
'For example, during Mother's Day, buying roses and azaleas to keep indoors – but they're actually outside plants. So it's about knowing what you buy.'
If you're after additional houseplant and garden advice, David Domoney's bestselling book, My House Plant Changed My Life, available to buy for £8.99 on Amazon, focuses on knowing what plants you're meant to keep for a long time and which plants are just on the windowsill for a short period of time.
Did you learn something new from the celebrity gardener today?
