In an ideal gardening world, you will get a beautiful, huge harvest from every plant you put in your garden.
But you know that ideal world doesn’t exist, right?
Even with the best of intentions, constant care, proper watering, and a good amount of know-how, you’ll have plants that struggle or straight up die on you.
What do I mean by struggling? I mean more than just you forgot to water your garden today. Its leaves could be all brown, it could be completely wilted, it could have a ton of holes in it from a pest, or any other variety of issues. Generally, the plant looks really rough and you’re not sure it’s going to survive.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see a plant you started from seed or brought home from the nursery struggle. We put so much time and money into it! Our natural inclination is to keep pouring time, energy, and resources into that poor plant. But that’s not always the best way to approach vegetable gardening.
I want you to think through pulling the plant out of your garden. It’s harsh! But what do you think the odds are that your struggling plant will magically bounce back next week, turn bright green, and produce tons of veggies for you before the frost kills it in the fall?
Basically zero. Crazier things have happened, but as I’m here to help you make the best use of your garden time, I want to tell you that it’s just not worth it.
If you clear that plant out of your garden, you create space for another plant that has a better opportunity to thrive. If your pepper plant is struggling, pull it out and replace it with some bush beans or carrots. If your spring broccoli plant only has four leaves on it and it’s June, you’re not going to get broccoli out of it before the plant bolts in the summer heat. Pull it out and try again in the fall. And in the meantime, plant something else in that space so you can keep harvesting consistently.
Have you ever heard of the Sunk Cost Theory? It is the idea that you shouldn’t make future decisions based on how much time and effort (and cost) you’ve already committed. So while you may really want to harvest a big, beautiful beefsteak tomato this summer so you can add a slice to your burger, if your tomato plant just never grew much after you planted it in the spring and it’s now July, you’ll be better served by pulling it and trying something else. Plus, if you can get something else to flourish in that space (and I know you can!), you might be able to trade it for one of your neighbor’s extra beefsteak tomatoes.
So don’t be afraid to cut and run when the gardening going gets tough. You’ll end up ahead overall.
