Learning from Mistakes

In my February 25 post, I wrote about my friend, Diana, teaching me to knit. She is the kindest teacher I’ve had. She praises me even when I make mistakes. She says I’m doing well. She says we learn by making mistakes. Having been raised by a perfectionist and morphing into one myself, that’s a new concept for me.

Well, yesterday I made a lollapalooza of a mistake.

I’ve been posting on Facebook about my pollinator garden … and how excited I was to find Mexican sunflowers. I put a fence around it and planted my sunflowers.

I sprinkled cayenne pepper around the perimeter to protect them from bunny rabbits.

I put netting over the top to protect them from the deer.

Then I posted pictures with “Not going down without a fight!”

I received some good luck wishes along with suggestions for protecting plants from rabbits and deer.

• Irish Spring Soap shavings
• Blood Meal
• 50-50 Water and Peppermint Oil
• Mongolian Fire Oil
• Human Hair

Thanks for all the support!

Did I mention that for most of my life I’ve been an indoor kinda gal. I have never done gardening. I don’t know what I’m doing.

It was nice to work in the shade yesterday morning. Then, I waited for the sun to shine on my garden. Oh no, how could I have missed this. Very little sun until late afternoon. Mexican sunflowers need FULL sun.

We learn by making mistakes. ~Diana Spiegel

And so what could I do.

• I removed the netting.
• I dug holes in my milkweed garden.
• I transplanted those sunflowers.
• I put a little fence I had from last year around them.
•  I sprinkled cayenne all around.
• I covered them with netting.

I hope once they get established, the deer and bunnies will no longer be interested. At some point, the netting has to be removed.

They are still there this morning.

IN MY DREAMS

Now, what to plant in that shaded garden? I have a list of deer and bunny resistant plants. I need to check to see how much sun they need.

Sigh!

What about you?