A couple of weeks ago I looked at the buddleja plants in my boyfriend's garden, and saw they were covered in aphids. Not to worry, I thought, there's some bio-insect spray in the garage. Sprayed the affected plants, pottered about a bit more & went home. Thought nothing more of it, until a few days ago this yellow patch appeared in the lawn, close to the plants I sprayed. The grass was dead, as in Dodo.... On closer examination, all the plants in that corner, including the ones I sprayed, were/are dying. Usually, when I fill containers with something other than it says on the label, I clearly mark them. This time, however, it appears I must have forgotten: the spray turned out to be weedkiller, not insect spray. All I can do now is wait for the "killing" effect to wear off, and assess the damage. Must be one of the silliest things I've ever done in my "gardening career". Looking on the bright side: there will be a whole patch of garden to fill with new plants this autumn
Ouch!! I can't say I have used the wrong spray, wrong fertilizer? Yes. Well, I hope some of the plants survive. Perhaps the roots, if the foliage is trimmed back? Good luck with the recovery process. Jerry
Thanks, Jerry. Luckily none of the plants affected are very special (still have the buddleja motherplant, plenty of hosta to divide, and the grass I hated anyway), so not much is lost. The whole thing just makes me laugh every time I look at the result. Good job my boyfriend is very easy going, since it's his garden that's ruined, and not mine. In fact, he feels sorry for me. I just feel sorry for those poor plants I killed :'(
Thank goodness there were no sentimental or very rare plants in that section of the garden. We all make mistakes now and then and, thankfully, yours wasn't as serious as it could have been. Fingers crossed that some of the plants survive but if they don't then you have exactly the right attitude to deal with the situation. Start planning that autumn list of goodies just incase you need it. If you do then please let us all see what you have decided to plant won't you?
Ouch indeed, that's a shame Gardenelf. Maybe you had the label all written up but got distracted at the last moment and forgot to attach it?
Eileen, I have a little confession to make: I take lots of pictures of my garden, but forget to share them with you guys. Shame on me. Once that mishap-corner is under construction, I'll share a few photo's, promise! Frank, what I usually do is write on the bottle itself with a markerpen. Somehow I forgot that crucial step...
Dh did that once. Not with weed killer. But bug spray. Didn't read info-said to (lightly) spray plants. But maybe some will come back for you.
Thought I'd add a picture to illustrate. Maybe a bit superfluous, but here it is anyway. Oops..... ( photo / image / picture from gardenelf's Garden )
Bummer...bummer. I like your attitude though. In our house, our recurrent phrase is "a memory is a terrible thing to lose". I wish we didn't have to use it with the frequency that we do!
Did anyone by chance see the story on yahoo yesterday about the man in Minnesota who destroyed 40,000 square feet of his lawn by accident by using the wrong spray? Just type in "man destroys lawn". He was preparing for a charity event and had to cancel. I felt so bad for him.. I also like your attitude!!!
ouch, that is really sad. Definitely sounds like something I would do... I hope you can fix this. yes, I did see the story about the man and his lawn! OMG
Oh my, Hummerbum, just read that story! At first I thought it was very funny, but on reading the whole story I was no longer laughing. So tragic... Thanks for sharing, this puts things even more in perspective. At least my silly mistake is one I can truly giggle about. (and thank goodness I don't have to wait 6 months before re-sowing!)
Stuff happens. At least you didn't spray your whole garden. I assume you fixed the labeling so this doesn't happen again, right?
