The things we got wrong
This page is a log of corrections—not a list of successes. It exists because the best way to prove a site is honest is to show where it failed, and how it fixed it.
Every gardening guide has a first tomato that split in the heat, a seed packet that misled, or a soil test that turned out wrong. Here, we name ours.
You’ll find three mistakes that shaped this site: errors that slipped past us, methods that didn’t hold up in real dirt, and pages that should never have gone live. No excuses, no spin. Just the facts, and who had to own them.
Three we had to fix
The log starts with the worst. These are the failures that changed how we work—and the people who caught them.
The wrong planting dates
- 1Zone 5 frost dates were off by two weeks
Our first frost chart for Zone 5 said to plant tomatoes after May 15, but the real frost came May 30. Three readers sent photos of blackened seedlings before we noticed. We pulled the chart, recalculated with local weather data, and added a note: *‘Check your USDA zone AND your county’s 10-year average.’* Perry Kowalczyk fixed it.
- 2The ‘soil-less’ basil guide failed
We told readers to grow basil in coconut coir instead of soil, calling it ‘low-maintenance.’ It worked in our hydroponic setup—but readers’ plants wilted within a week. The fix? A full rewrite with soil pH ranges, drainage tips, and a warning: *‘Coir dries faster. Water twice daily in summer.’* Perry Kowalczyk caught the feedback and rewrote it.
- 3The ‘no-till’ squash page had a typo
Our guide to planting winter squash said to bury seeds *‘3 inches deep’*—but the correct depth is 1 inch. A reader in Ohio emailed with a photo of their rotting seeds. We corrected it, added a ‘double-check’ checklist, and kept the reader’s name in the revision notes. Perry Kowalczyk spotted the error after the fact and updated it.
What those three changed
These mistakes rewrote our rules. No more guessing zones, no more ‘one-size-fits-all’ soil advice, and no more silent fixes. Every correction became a new rule—written down, tested again, and linked to the original error.
Rules that came from mistakes
- 1. Never trust a frost date without local data (from the Zone 5 error). Now we pull county averages and mark *‘your mileage may vary.’*
- 2. Test ‘soil-less’ methods in real dirt first (from the basil failure). Hydroponic tips now say *‘adjust for clay/sand.’*
- 3. Typos in depth/spacing kill plants faster than bad advice (from the squash typo). Every measurement now has a reader-verification note.
The people behind this
Perry Kowalczyk is the founder and editor of *When To Plant At Home*. You’ve just met them through their mistakes—which is the only way to introduce someone who keeps a log of their own failures.
This is how they work: by fixing what they break, then writing it down so it doesn’t happen again.
Keeping this list is uncomfortable. It means admitting when the site was wrong *before* the reader noticed—and sometimes, the reader noticed first. But a garden doesn’t grow from perfection; it grows from corrections.
Perry’s mom still jokes about the ‘jungle’ they turned the backyard into at 10, but that’s where the green thumb came from: trial, error, and learning which plants actually thrive in their climate.
One mistake not in this log? The time Perry swore their tomato seeds were ‘dormant’ when they were actually moldy. They replanted them anyway, and the seedlings emerged three weeks late—twisted and weak.
Lesson learned: *‘When in doubt, soak a few seeds in water first.’* Now they check every packet twice.
If you find something we got wrong, the contact page is where to tell us. No shame, no silence—just the next correction in the log.
There will be a next one
This list isn’t finished. The next mistake might be in the compost guide, the pruning calendar, or the ‘easy’ herbs section. If you spot it, tell us. The best gardens improve with every season—and so does this site.
The guides are grouped by category: Advice, Companion Plants, Container Gardens, Flowers, How To and Pests.