So far, I’ve been sharing mistakes that I made years ago with you. But to show that you never stop learning and that mistakes are nothing to be afraid of, here’s one I made last fall (and only discovered this spring).

At first glance, there’s nothing amiss here, right?

I had a lovely time last fall, planting a couple hundred of these little bulbs in the grass pathway (hint, hint) between driveway and back yard. I had at least as much fun imagining how all these flowers would look dotting the lawn as I did nestling the bulbs into place.

But here’s what I failed to consider.

Recycling Bin and Glory of the Snow

(I promise, I won’t be showing you a lot of pictures of our recycling bin, but it does exist and it does matter to this story. And yes, I’d love to have it in a garage or somewhere out of sight. Maybe someday! 😊)

Every couple of weeks, we have to get the bin turned around from its parking place and wheeled to the curbside for collection. And a fair number of those pretty little flowers are smack-dab in the middle of the path we have to take to do that.

As careful as we may try to be (ahem!), in all likelihood, some of them are going to end up smooshed.

Now, that’s not the end of the world. The sky isn’t going to fall down.

It’s just a little oops.

But it’s still worth learning from.

What I Could Have Done Instead

So in the interest of saving you from making the same mistake, here’s what I could have done differently:

  • Think about practicalities before ever touching hand to spade. Had I only stopped to think about it to begin with, this would have been an easy mistake to avoid.
  • Use a length of clothesline or something similarly flexible to mark out the space needed to comfortably get the bin turned around. Don’t plant there.
  • Mark out a path wide enough for our garden cart to traverse, as well. Don’t plant there, either.

I’ve gotten so much better over the years. But clearly, I sometimes still forget the practical in pursuit of the pretty. Oh, well. Noted down for future reference!

But enough about me – I really want to hear from you!

Does it bother you when you make a mistake like this? Or are you more of an, “Oh, well; I’ll do better next time” sort of a person?