Garden sins and misdemeanours

Plantslaughter
“A negligent act that leads to plant death.” This garden sin covers everything from planting seedlings in the wrong season, so they die from the heat or frost, to buying a plant you saw in another climate that you suspect cannot cope with your local conditions.

Daylight robbery
“Failure to give a helpless plant the light it needs.” Planting a shade lover in the sun is as much a criminal act as sentencing a sun-loving shrub to the dim, dark confines of a shady spot, where it will be condemned to leggy growth and probable pest attack.

Perverting the course of nature
“Obstructing nature from doing its thing.” Seeds come in different sizes and the general rule is to plant them twice as deep as their width. If you bury them much further than that, they are unlikely ever to see the light of day and will eventually give up and turn themselves into compost.

Photo of Phil Dudman by Photography by Natsky