What's your worst gardening disaster? Might cheer up Clueless!

Mine has to be years ago, I had a a large glass house and in it had about 20 stonking Tomatoes plants and 3 or 4 Cucumber plants plus quite a few Corgettes in full production.

1 night I noticed a small infestation of greenfly so thought I'd spray with insecticide before the matter got worse.Gaily sprayed everything and departed for bed. The next morning everything in the glass house was looking terrible and I hadn't a clue why.Then it twigged I hadn't been that thorough washing out the sprayer and had used it to do some weedkilling a few days previous. Lost the lot and I could have wept. Lesson learnt and now have 2 sprayers, 1 for weedkilling and 1 for everything else. Sure others will have some hellish stories too!!!

 

Not me personally, but I did take it personally, I was gutted and it still REALLY annoys me today!

My previous garden to the one I have now, spent lots of time and effort on it, it was beautiful. Raised decking area with balustrades, steps, lighting, raised planters. Climbing roses over the garage, full herbaceous borders, acers, magnolias, camellias, euphorbias, rhododendrons, etc...packed to bursting. It really was stunning. Years were put in to get it the way I wanted it.

New owners who bought the house commented on the garden and I said it was really low maintenance, everything you see grows year on year. They were retired. Everything was to be left except the stuff in moveable planters that we were taking with us.

Anyway, the guy who did replaced the windows in this house, his mother in law lived next door to where we sold the house. The new retired owners ripped THE LOT out, all the plants, all the decking, the steps, the lights, all the climbing roses, Passion flowers, the raised plantes, EVERYTHING!!! I went to have a look, the decking was replaced with the most awful street paving, and that was it, as bare a as bare thing on bare day in baresville! No plants, no climbers, absolutely nowt! If I knew they were going to do that I would of taken everything with me I could of or gave away to the neighbours. I felt gutted!

 

Can feel your bitter pain from here Al. What absolute PLEBS,
Jenny

 

Philistine's al n
Our current next door neighbours have done the same thing!
Our previous neighbours like yourself spent loads of money and hours tending there lovely garden.
Now it's covered in horrible paving and tacky orniments from the £1 shop
The only decent thing left is a 12 foot sango kaku acer on the back and a magnolia Susan on the front.
We still keep in touch with our old neighbour and she's says it breaks her heart that its in that state!

 

I just don't understand some people. Ok, not everyone likes gardening but why buy a house with a nice garden?? And rip everything out?
Talking with my ex neighbour they DID skip the lot. She was as gutted as I was. Felt like giving them a slap!

 

I planted 100 trees without protection from rabbits and deer once.

 

It did for the rabbits and deer

 

I've got to admit no one on earth would want my garden, so, when I move it will be gone.
Its mine, and its how I like it, but I doubt anyone else would.

As to mistakes, I once planted a fence with sweet peas, I then planted Datura and castor oil plants under them.
The petals from the sweet peas stuck to the leaves of the datura and castor oil plants and then rotted, it turned out a total mess.
Refuse to grow sweetpeas for that reason, they drop dead petals that stick like glue in wet weather.

 

The day I went off to work, leaving the gate to the chicken run open. Not good.

Take 6 hungry chickens, one garden full of tasty vegetables, add a dash of stupidity and simmer for 8 hours.

End result.......devastation.

 

Bet there were some pretty tasty eggs that followed

 

My attitude too!

Worst ever? I got some Deppea splendens seeds from a contact in the States. Bear in mind that Deppea splendens is as rare as rocking horse doo doo. Anyway, 25 plus had germinated when I went away on holiday and left my Dad to pop in and water everything. Everything except the Deppea that is - these tiny seedlings were to get just the water in the jar that I left after seven days. Dad (bless him) got confused, water 'em every day (really well too) and the lot rotted!

Worst of my own doing was forgetting to bring my Salvia discolor in on the first mildly frosty night of 2012

 

Being a beginner I haven't had too many disasters (yet!) but the worst was when my plastic "blowaway" greenhouse well, blew away. I thought I'd secured it with a heavy paving stone on the bottom shelf but didn't account for a gust of wind moving the whole frame sideways so the said paving stone and bottom shelf fell to the floor.

The greenhouse keeled over at the next gust of wind and so did everything inside. Fortunately, I was hardening off most of my plants outside it but still lost some seedlings. Well, you win some, you lose some and it's all part of the learning curve to me.

 

I think my first disaster is happening in front of me. My lovely raised beds, my first attempt at a wood work project appears to be coming apart at the seams! Any ideas how I can fix this without removing all the plants and soil?!