l had to laugh at Kathy Chencharik’s Broken Trowel story, “Ain’t Gonna Mow No Mower!” in the Spring 2022 issue. My own mowing experience was all too similar.

Last year, I moved with great sadness to Minnesota from West Montana. The one plus to our relocation was that my husband gave me my own riding lawnmower to cut our new, large yard. One day while he was busy elsewhere, I decided there was no way I would ask him for instruction on how to operate my mower. So I got it started, went out, and cut away. I’d done half the yard—a big area—when I saw my husband standing at the house watching me.

Feeling very smug, I drove it up to him, put the parking brake on, and smiled, fully expecting to hear, “Wow, good job.”

What he’d say instead?

“You might want to go back over the grass with the blade down.”

Oops.

What’s your worst gardening mistake? Send it to GreenPrints, Broken Trowel Award, P.O. Box 1537, Attleboro, MA 02703. If we print it, you’ll get a free one-year subscription and our GreenPrints Companion CD!