This past Saturday, I finally ticked off something that was long pending on my to-do list of being a Local Guide - hosting a meet up! yay! And I absolutely love the whole experience. I chose a topic that has become a new found passion - Gardening! So I thought of putting together a list of all the mistakes beginners like me make when they get into gardening. I had the whole set up ready and wanted to host the meet up in my garden but due to Murphy’s law, my internet dongle refused to connect! So I had to hurry back into my room carrying all the pots and I hosted this meet up there! Perhaps next time will be an outdoor one! This meet up wouldn’t have run smoothly without the help @NareshDarji . His calm and peaceful attitude actually calmed my nerves! lol So thanks once again Naresh for helping out and for recording this session!
As the title of the post suggests, the purpose of this meet up was to educate newbie gardeners about common mistakes they must avoid when they begin gardening. It was also a list of all the mistakes that I made when I began gardening about a year and a half back. The meet up kick started with a round of introductions and I was so happy to learn that there were so many gardeners in the groups! Another passion united all of us in addition to our love for Mapping! We had a total of 31 people attend the meet up at one point and then it ranged between 22 and 28 people.
I’ll quickly summarize the points that we discussed. I am also sharing a link of the recording for those of you who are curious/couldn’t attend! 
(fast forwarded 41 mins to skip intros). I have included a time stamp to each of these points discussed in case you just want to just dive straight to those points.
These are the top mistakes beginners make:
- Over watering or under watering of the plant: 42:32
- Sowing seeds too close to each other or all at once: 48:40
- Not researching about plants you are growing: 54:20
- Not choosing the right pot size: 58:12
- Not sowing seeds at the right depth: 1:00:18
- Lack of knowledge about pests and weeds: 1:02:24
- Not understanding soil (pH level): 1:13:41
- Not understanding soil (type): 1:19:05
- Lack of patience and perseverance: 1:29:04
A few highlights from the meet up.
- @Avinash_SD - quit his job and is a full time farmer! He shared some helpful info. E.g Water + few drops of neem oil can be used as a pesticide/fungicide during the seed planting stage itself.
- @Anil6969 - These 5 popular plants/trees produces oxygen 24/7 (unlike other plants). Neem tree, Tulsi plant, Peepal tree, Banyan tree and Pakad/Pilkhan tree. Plant these trees/plant if you have space!
- @karan_iclickthese : Was part of an eco battalion team of 400+ people who planted 11,000 trees in Aurangabad in 1 hr and set a world record!
- Reena Patel (don’t know her connect id): shared many useful tips such as using a seedling tray instead of potting directly into the soil, to sun dry the residue of sugar cane and mix with soil to use as potting mix so that it retains moisture. (not to use it directly without drying as it produces heat/gas which is not good for the plant.
In addition to these the chat box during the meet up was also very active where people asked many questions and local guides shared tips. E.g.
- @KashifMisidia planted a neem plant in the pot and after a while it stopped growing and died. He wanted to know why? Afroz Khan ( @afroznk ) replied: it could be because of the pot size. “Neem plants usually require more space to grow”. Depends on the depth of soil as neem tree/or any tree’s roots go very deep.
- Raj Patel @RoshanPatel : Which type of pot is more preferable - plastic or mud? Afroz Khan: “Mud pot is good for plants as it absorbs water and make the soil cool, evaporation of water takes place which is better in a mud pot”. @FalguniP : Plastic is not good for the plants (for long term usage).
- Raj Patel: What time is the best to water the plant? Afroz Khan: It doesn’t matter when you give water to plants, but make sure you follow a water cycle. Like how we humans follow timings to have food, we can us a similar approach for plants too - keep a fixed timing for watering plants.
- @IshantHP_ig suggested to mix the residue of vegetables in soil, to make the soil healthy. (Can be used for creating compost).
A big thank you to everyone who attended this meet up! I am so glad that I got to know so many people who love gardening. If you would like to add a few more details to what I have shared during the ppt, please feel free to add and even correct me if I have made a mistake.
Please share what mistakes you made when you started gardening? We’d love to learn from you.
