1. Not giving the plants enough space. Make sure to check out the plant ID tag before planting. Looking at the mature width will tell you how far to plant the shrub or tree away from any structure. This will allow the plant plenty of room to grow and will help you avoid having issues down the road.
  2. Applying mulch to thick/ making a mulch volcano around the base of a tree. Mulch is a great thing to have in your garden. Mulch helps the plants root system retain water and provides insulation in the winter. But over-mulching can suffocate the root system and can cause the plant to die. Aim to have a 2inch layer of mulch over bare ground.
  3. Scenario: You see an amazing plant at the garden center, and you plant without reading the plant tag. This happens to all of us, we get swept away by the blooms and think how pretty it would be in your yard. Reading the plant tag tells us what the light requirements are needed for that specific plant. You may want to plant it in a certain area that receives full sun but the plant is a full shade plant and can only take four hours of light. Planting a shrub in an area where the light requirements are wrong will cause the plant to decline.
  4. Letting the weeds take control of your garden beds. Anyone who has a landscape bed understands the struggle of fighting the weeds. And, it can seem to happen overnight, all your hard work weeding on the weekend only to come home Tuesday to see more weeds pop up. While it’s a big task to tackle, you have a couple options. If you have room in your landscape beds spray the weeds with a weed killer, just be mindful of the wind and overspray. Next is to manually pull the weeds and all the roots. Lastly, cut the weeds flower heads off so they don’t drop seeds into your bed.