Topic: crisis of faith - please help

[campanula]

Hi,

Well, where to begin? I got my lottie(s) last year and have spent most time digging and sortof getting ready. Now it is time to start, I fell strangely reluctant. Firstly, vegetables are newto me aprt from the odd tomato or herb bit. More noticeable, is my anxiety at planting in the ground -not something I have had much luck with. I have always grown flowers and always used Jiffy 7's or modules, even with annuals such as nasturtium.
Apart from stufflike strawberries, raspberries, currants and so on, which I planted last autumn, I have only got potatoes and some lettuces on the go. I have leeks (in Jiffies, along with tomatoes, peppers,melons, and aubergine - I have lights and a coldframe)
However, the 3.5m coldframe is full of flowers and there are annuals I planted out last autumn skulking round the edges of a few beds. Flowers, noproblem but veg..........and my pitch looks sorta bleak still as weeding takes forever. Even entertained bad thoughts of round-up but have even less faith there!

I planted broad beans last autumn which looked lovely till the last freeze (after I had taken the fleece off as they seemed a bit flattened). The lettuces are in a salad beds having been planted last week (germinated in Jiffy's) but look so fragile and limp.

Having many horrible anxious thoughts of failure and humiliation. Other plothoders very conservative - no flowers apart from theodd patchof nigella and a few sunflowers - i planted a rose and got very funny looks.
Is anyone else feeling a bit apprehensive just about now?

Also, feeling slightly guilty for being too busy to access site hardly -some people have hundreds/thousands of posts! Do these people never sleep.
cheers, clueless

[rosebud]

Hi Campanula  Hey cheer up you sound so fed up,look what marky said is right if it works it works don`t stress yourself about it ,and don`t worry about other people they all had to start somewhere.
They could start by helping you............I think it`s a bit cold for whatever goes out at the moment don`t despair spring is just around the corner.......light nights are heading our way.
  BE HAPPY DON`T WORRY love Rosebud x :) ;) ;D :) ;) :D ;D

[busy_lizzie]

Hi Campanula.  Feel like you sometimes, there is a little part of me who is a little bit intimidated, not by anybody from this site, just in my own confidence.  I have had my Plot for a year now.  We had quite a good year last year - I think sometimes by default, because the weather was so good.  We are cultivating more of the plot this year, and although I am excited and looking forward to our year, I think there is also a little part of me that feels slightly nervous we won't do so well this year.  I think that is why you don't see me giving any real advice yet, as I don't feel experienced enough at the moment.

Yet there is another part of me, that says gardening is not an exact science, and even if you do everything right, from your point of view, if the weather conditions are wrong or you have pest investations then the greatest expert can fail badly.  My husband always says gardening is simple really, all you do is plant something in the right soil and water it as required then it should grow - you know that old Bob Flowerdew saying "Plants want to grow"!  If they don't, then its not the end of the world, just another challenge for next year. The main thing is to enjoy it - there is something very fulfilling about even just being part of the process. It sounds to me as though you have quite a lot on the go at the moment.

I have decided to grow some flowers on my plot this year, there is no reason it can't look decorative and colourful and a pleasure for the eyes.  It makes no difference to anyone else what you grow, it is your plot and you have nobody to please but yourself, after all you do pay the rent.  No one would tell you what curtains to hang at the window of your house would they?

You have to life your life in the real world and if you are busy you have to do the things that have the most priority.  If you don't see a friend for a while she/he will understand when you can't get in touch and just be happy to see you when you have the time. Both my husband and I are retired, although both still under sixty (me just about), so we have time to please ourselves, but if you have to earn a living or have responsiblities then that must come first.  Hopefully, you give yourself some time off so you can relax and visit friends and dig your allotment.  We all just do the best we can. It sounds to me as though you could do with a a4a group hug.  busy_lizzie    
       

[gavin]

Campanula - a smile and a hug!

Go for it - once the veggies start poking their heads through, it'll feel different?  And if you do wait just a little bit behind the "early birds", you'll have a lovely warm feeling watching yours catch up and overtake!  :) :)

And do it your way!  The older lads on our site appeared very conservative our first year too - loads of advice and more raised eyebrows.  Mostly because they were concerned that we succeed - they didn't want another derelict plot next to theirs.

Second season was very different - then they were asking as much for our ideas as offering their own; became a completely different conversation.

Hope the sun shines today, and you get a good day doing what can be done!

All best - Gavin

[Ceri]

I know the feeling this feeling - all the winter planning and looking forward to the sunshine, now its here there is so much to do I could end up doing none of it!  But you have loads going on in your plot already - be proud!

If something big and noticeable doesn't work, you have to learn to be allotment blokey about it - suck your teeth and say something like, wilted broad beans? - oh yes that was deliberate, I'm growing them as a green manure and I was hoping a hard frost would save me the job of cutting them down!

[Mimi]

Hey Campy, I know that feeling so well.  Got my lottie last November and havent even got one thing in it yet.  Mind you, have loads of packets of seeds, everything else at the ready but due to inpenatrable soil had to wait for the man with the digger to break into it.  :-\Apart from tomatoes and a few cucumbers I havent grown any veggies before at all.  Like you, I have no trouble with the flowers but veggies is a whole new language.  Im sure with all the help and support here we will be ok.   :)
 Just off down there now to make a start on the raised beds then Im away.  Fingers crossed, best shovel forward and give it a go. ;)

[tim]

Flattened beans ? - did you leave plenty of 'slack' for them to grow to full height? = Tim

[allotment_chick]

Hi Campanula
I agree with everybody here and I'm sorry you are feeling anxious.
My advice:
- ignore the other plots - grow what you feel comfortable with in the way you are happiest with - that's what they are doing!

- go with raising your veg in modules and plant them out - I don't direct sow anything because it never seems to work for me either!

- I too grow flowers - have done for some time and I see a lot of other plotholders doing so now.  There is a lovely block of Sweet William on my plot that look as if it might be flowering soon.  In the unlikely event anybody challenges you about it, you could remind them that you are increasing the biodiversity on the site and are growing biomass for composting....so there!    :P

- look upon this as learning by experience.  I found that once the other plotholders see you are serious about growing it doesn't matter how you do it (probably because a lot of folks don't come back after the first season because it is too much effort)

- Don't overstretch yourself - go up and weed a patch - I'm willing to bet you get a geat buzz from seeing how much better even that small bit looks

As for the broad beans - the fact that they'e survived gales, snow and torrential rain means you must be doing something right!  Don't worry about them being flat - just get out a few bamboo canes and prop them up to get them off the ground!

AC x

[loopylizzie]

Hi campanula
Just wantad to send you a message of support.
 I took on my beloved lottie a couple of years ago, much to the ammusement of my fellow plotholders (mostly retired gentlemen and I'm a married woman with two children a part-time job and husband with interests of his own.)

My favourite helpful comment was "You will have to get your husband to dig that for you 'cos girls cant dig!"
Astonishment prevented comment at the time! but many have been thaught of since, mostly along the lines of :-
Not much chance of that!
The most frequently heard comment "Your late getting those in Liz!" and "I would get roundup on that if I were you" Thankyou!
I now have a plot that is annual weeds and too soggy to do much about it at the top and the bottom and solid twitch in the middle, but I have plans, lots of them!!

It sounds as if you have more than one plot so if you are asking for advice mine would be tackle a little at a time.
 Plant whatever you fancy whenever you have time, I'm sure you will be rewarded. I found beetroot very easy to grow, carrots if you cover them with fleece and parsnips if you direct sow them and all of the above sow thinly.
I sowed cabbage and cauliflower and lost the lables so couldnt tell what was where till later and then got black fly which I treated with washing up liquid but made the solution too strong and burnt the foliage.  ****!

Note to self weaker solution needed.

I planted peas which I failed to net soon enough and some small creature  lunched the tops off. I did get a crop but not great.

Note to self  protect peas early.

I planted leeks, loads of them but just as I was about to finish planting a kindly gardener pointed out that leeks need planting into a dibbered hole and watering in, that way you get longer usable stems. I got a good crop but it could have been better.

Note to self     plant leeks into a hole.

Despite these minor set backs I'm back for another season a little older and a little wizer and of course I have now found this website to help.

I wish you many happy hours lottying
love lizzie

[rosebud]

Morning Campy
  SENDING YOU A BIG CYBER HUG TO GET YOU GOING TODAY ;D
   go for it and just think we are all behind you  BOOOOO!!! ;D
let us know how you are getting on.
          love Rosebud. :D :D :D :D :D

[legless]

i know how you feel, i toyed with the idea of round up this morning until i came to and decoded to just bury the couch grass under 2 foot of strawy manure and some black plastic then "think about that another day" as scarlett o'hara would say.

it'll be worth the work and go with the flowers, my tulips and sweet williams are doing nicely, i have stocks as well to go in and sweet peas and night scented stocks and cornflowers and wild flowers - all because i can't grow them at home and the allotment is my garden to grow what i want. veg terrifies me but it seems to be going ok so far (must be magic)!

its my first full year too, there's loads of us in the same boat. keep smiling and keep weeding!

[Garden Manager]

I think we ALL  get crisis moments like this.  Personally i am quite inexperienced at veg growing and tend on occasions to get worried about doing it right.  This time of year is particularly daunting, so much to do and at the right time.

Whilst i try to do things properly it isnt always possible or practical to do do and a degree of improvisation is often required. My advice would be if you find the 'proper' way too daunting, cheat! Do it YOUR way, your plants will generaly forgive you and 9/10 times you will still get a good crop.

If this means planting something a little later than the books say, who cares? Who knows there may be an unexpected late frost which hits the crops others have put in at the 'right' time.  ;D Or it may mean getting the crop when you want it rather than say, at a time you might be away or dont want it then.

As i said dont worry:-

YOU ARE NOT ALONE  :) :) :) :)

[Hels_Bels]

Hi there

I can't agree with everyone more. I got my lottie last year and have started to really go for it since Christmas. I have times when I'm sick of digging couch and everyone else's onions are coming along fine etc.

But then..... I look at photos I took a while back and realise how much further along I am. I'm getting more confident with waiting until I think Im ready to plant stuff. And then you get nice comments from the people whose plots join yours and it's a good day again.

Keep on at it - I'm sure it will be worth it! Read these boards and post more if you need more support - GOOD LUCK  ;D ;D ;D

H_B

PS - Never tried flowers and very scared of them, so I guess it's probably experience!

[Dunc_n_Tricia]

Cyber Hugs and Mugs of Cocoa!

I'm impressed that you can grow flowers. My surname is Lawn (no giggling at the back) and my family can make anything grow. Not me. I could even kill cactus (ask my mum, she rescued the last one before I managed to kill it).

Then I tried tomatoes - and couldn't stop the dam*ed things. pinched them out and they still turned into triffid - sized monsters.

I'm really impressed with people who can grow flowers, and if you can grow flowers veggies will be a pushover!

On the subject of weekling plants, I think they all look a bit seven-stone-weakling at the moment. Give them another month or two though, and you will have a lottie full of mr-veggie-Universes.

Don't panic - Summer is on its way!

[Debs]

Campanula,

I can empathise with you!! I have only ever grown potatoes,
tomatoes and herbs - and that was first time last year. Have only ever been interested in flowers which I always grow from seed - cheaper and more exciting and satisfying.
I have a greenhouse in my garden and have started my veg off in there but I am SCARED of putting them into the open ground, as I dread all of the bugs/ flies and potential infestations.
HOWEVER,
Is that not part of the excitement and challenge... I think so!!

Good luck to all of us in the same (novice) vegetable boat ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D .

[Mrs Ava]

Campanula my lovely  :-*, fear not, we is all the same!  We all have successes and failures, wouldn't life be boring if we didn't!  And there will be things you will grow on your plot that won't be that great, and then some wise old gent will come over and say...oh yeah, onions don't do well here.....(in case you didn't guess, this is what I was told yesterday.  Coulda told me before I planted 8 rows of the blighters!)  and then there will be things that will grow soooooooo well you will be sick to death of them by the end of the summer  ;D.  And, you can grow flowers, well aren't veggies just flowers that you eat either before they start flowering or after they have flowered and set seed?

Little and often, half rows or small blocks (thats what I am doing), and then build it up as you go.  Most things seems to be able to be sown for months and months yet so time is on all of our side.  

Ava and me is sending you loads of happy lottie cyber thoughts and wishes, and hoping that by October we are all sick to the back teeth of runner beans, salad leaves and ONIONS!   ;D

[campanula]

A HUGE thank you for all your replies. I gave myself a day off today and dyed my hair instead _ always reliable although, one of these days, I will be rinsing the dye off and see my hair floating in the sink!
Even so, grey......out the window, virginia chestnut here we go.
Guiltlessly planted some more leeks and spring onions, in Jiffies and felt relieved that direct sowing wasn't necessarily the doddle i have been led to believe....fine tilths and all that!
I did bravely sow some cornflowers and calendula on Saturday so I will avoid the lottie for a few days so i am not continually peering anxiously at the minute seedlings.
Thank you all once again for a terrific boost to my flagging spirits - but, hoping for a good hair day tomorrow.
cheers, suzy