The things we got wrong
This page is not a list of triumphs. It is a log of corrections—what we missed, what we got wrong, and how we fixed it. The reader gets a way to judge the work: if we publish our mistakes, we must keep them.
Most gardening sites talk about what they do right. We talk about what we got wrong first, because the soil remembers. A wrong plant in the wrong place, a season missed, a tip that failed in real light—those are the things that matter.
Three we had to fix
The first three mistakes were the worst. They were the ones that stayed out long enough to take root.
The wrong planting dates
- 1Zones were off by one
The first planting guide listed USDA Zone 6 for every region in the Pacific Northwest. It was wrong—Oregon and Washington are mostly 7 and 8, with microclimates that shift by valley. A reader in Portland sent a photo of their dead tomatoes, and the mistake stood for six months before we noticed. We rewrote the zone map and added a note: *‘Check your local extension office.’* Cecilia Iverson fixed it.
- 2Succulents called perennials
The care guide for ‘easy houseplants’ listed sedum and echeveria as ‘hardy perennials for shade.’ They’re succulents, not perennials, and they *hate* shade. A reader in Seattle sent a photo of their crispy, sunburned leaves. We replaced the section with a checklist: *‘Light, water, soil—pick one or all three will fail.’* Cecilia Iverson fixed it.
- 3The ‘no-dig’ myth went viral
A post claimed no-dig gardening ‘never requires turning soil.’ It did—for compacted clay, at least. A reader in Michigan wrote in: *‘My carrots look like question marks.’* We updated the guide to say *‘No-dig works best in loose, amended soil,’* and added a troubleshooting section. Cecilia Iverson fixed it.
What those three changed
They taught us that gardening advice is only as good as the worst case it survives. The fixes became rules.
Rules that came from mistakes
- Double-check zones with a local extension office (from *Zones were off by one*).
- Never call a succulent a perennial (from *Succulents called perennials*).
- No-dig gardening requires prep—amend compacted soil first (from *The ‘no-dig’ myth went viral*).
The people behind this
Cecilia Iverson runs *Plant Sprout*. She’s the one who signs the corrections, because the log is how you meet her: not as a gardening expert, but as someone who still gets it wrong—and then fixes it.
That’s the only way to earn trust in a field where one bad tip can kill a season.
Keeping a log like this is uncomfortable. It means admitting that the work isn’t perfect, and that the people behind it aren’t either. But the alternative—pretending we never got it wrong—would be worse. A garden that hides its failures is one that won’t grow.
There’s a small mistake Cecilia won’t admit to publicly: the time she planted basil upside-down, thinking it would ‘root better.’ It didn’t. The plant lived, but the shame didn’t. She still checks the seed packet before digging.
If you find something we got wrong, tell us. The contact page is where to do it.
There will be a next one
This log isn’t finished. There will be more mistakes, and we’ll publish them the same way. If you spot one before we do, the contact page is where to send it. No email address—just the page.
The guides are grouped by category: Advice, Aphids, Blooming, Companion Plants, Container Gardens and Diseases.