Busted! Top 5 Gardening Myths

With the development of the internet, it’s actually very easy to find quick and helpful tips for everything even gardening online, however, due to the increased availability of knowledge some misconceptions are easily produced and propagated. Here are some gardening misconceptions that are totally based on misinformation and/or outdated approaches

1) Composting Smells Terrible

This is the most common gardening fallacy that exists out there while composting is being discussed. The reality however is that if your compost pile smells like anything other than earthy soil, something is wrong i.e. it’s either too wet and acidic or something else. Make sure your compost pile has enough air as it’s one of the composting essentials that will help you keep that compost pile smelling fresh. Turning your compost on a regular basis introduces additional oxygen, allowing for a more equal decomposition of organic waste.

2) Potting Soil Needs to be Changed Regularly

People who actually have windowsill gardens or container gardens might think it’s very necessary to replace the soil to recharge it with the needed nutrients however replacing it once a year is more than enough.

3) Watering Plants on a Bright Day Will Cause Them to Burn Because Water Droplets Intensify The Sun's Beams.

According to this pseudoscience (yes its pseudo-science) and according to it, we all should have died due to burns after getting out of a bath and into the sun or if we bathed on the beach, or if we water our garden on a bright day, the water droplets will behave as small magnifying glasses, concentrating the sun's beams into your garden and burning the foliage. This is just incorrect and has been disproven several times. However, there is a risk that by watering during the warmest part of the day, most of that wonderful water may evaporate into the air rather than feed your crops. As a result, irrigation in the morning or late afternoon may be preferable.

4) Crushed eggshells are Excellent for Adding Calcium to the Soil

It takes years for eggshells to degrade before their calcium can be valuable to nearby plants. It may not hurt your vegetable garden and may have benefits such as regulating the pH of the soil, but the calcium may not help the soil for a time until you add a lot of eggshells.

5) I may use as much Organic Fertiliser or Pesticide as I like

Whether the fertilizer is organic or conventional more is not necessarily better. In fact, employing too much organic insecticide or fertilizer might harm your vegetable garden and the root structure of each plant. The trick is to follow the guidelines and, if in doubt, use less than the amount specified to begin.