Gardening Tip: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!

Here’s a principle about laidback gardening that I don’t emphasize nearly enough: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

When a plant performs well for you or a gardening technique works in your case, even though experts say it shouldn’t, don’t change anything. And that applies even if I’m the so-called expert!

Plants and gardening are full of surprises and often things that shouldn’t work do. For example, I’ve seen:

• Roses blooming quite nicely in a woodland even though “everybody knows” that they need to be planted in full sun.
• Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) positively thriving in zone 3, whereas in theory it’s not reliably hardy beyond zone 5.
• African violets full of flowers that their owners claimed were fertilized with…birth control pills!

The gardening world is jam-packed with these exceptions. Sometimes really good overall garden conditions can compensate for a weak point, for example, but other times the result is simply a total mystery. However, if it works, does it matter? Just keep on trucking!

He Said, She Said

Of course, sometimes conflicting gardening advice is simply due to two different points of view on how things should be done and both methods work. Here’s one example.

It’s easy enough to prove that softwood cuttings root significantly better when rooted in potting soil under high humidity (under a plastic dome or inside a clear plastic bag) then when placed in a glass of water. Try a side-by-side experiment at home with cuttings from the same plant and you’ll see: soil-grown plants started “under glass” (the term used for starting them inside a mini-greenhouse) inevitably grow faster with greater vigor and are less subject to rot than cuttings rooted in water. But cuttings rooted in water often do well enough too, especially easy-to-root plants, like philodendrons and coleus. So, if it works for you, keep at it!

Just Don’t Poison Anybody

I have a hard time, however, stomaching home remedies that could have serious consequences… and there are a surprising number of them. Yes, they often work, but the risks just aren’t worth taking.

For example, homemade nicotine insecticides, popularly made from tobacco or cigarette butts, are just too toxic to be used safely. Imagine! A spoonful of many of these homemade concoctions could easily to kill a child! Yet there are still many people who use such nicotine pesticides without even wearing protective clothing. If that’s your case, may I suggest you stop immediately?

Another example is the popular technique of placing mothballs in the garden to keep away cats, groundhogs, deer, etc. Yes, it may sometimes be effective and you may be pleased with the result… until your dog eats them and dies. And young children in the neighborhood could mistake them for candy! No, the risk is just too great!

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When you garden, no, you shouldn’t mess with success. As long as you’re pleased with the results, just keep at it… but do make sure what you’re doing is safe!