Author Topic: The garden helpers,bless 'em (Read 2439 times)

Jeannine · « **on:** April 12, 2007, 09:34:39 »

In my house John and I have a great working relationship on the lottie.

I do the seeding ,the potting and the planting out of stuff that goes in the raised beds.I also do the weeding in the raised beds.

John does the digging,the tilling,the weeding of the flat ground and the planting out of stuff in the flat ground, as I hand him the plants and tell him how far apart etc.

Recently he crossed over and helped me when I was planting shallotts and he took over when I ran out of time and had to leave for some reason,when weeding my strawberry raised bed

Last week, I was tidying up a few things and noticed an odd thing in the shallot bed,the half I planted were growing,the half John planted were not. I didn't give it a lot of thought as he planted a different type to me,but yesterday I looked again,his were all planted upside down. Bless him!

I then went over to my strawberry bed, the half I tided was growing nicely as I had removed all the buttercups that had seeded them selves in among the strawberry plants. The half John tidied was also growing nicely but he had removed all the strawberry plants,the buttercups looked good though.Bless him

I still love him to bits though

XX Jeannine

triffid · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2007, 10:00:15 »

;D
... but oh I weep for your poor strawbs. Don't suppose the weeded ones were in a retrievable state on the compost heap, were they?

sally_cinnamon · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2007, 10:49:52 »

You are lucky he actually helps - whilst I do the digging, raking, hoeing, weeding, sowing repotting, planting, watering, etc, my garden "helper" sunbathes and gives unwanted "advice about how to build my shed and where it should go!! Still love him too - the things they get away with!! Having said all that I think I would get a bit tetchy if he started getting involved 'cause it's mine, ALL MINE!!!! Plus the moral support in the form of a sunbather is usually quite welcome.

theothermarg · « **Reply #3 on:** April 12, 2007, 11:17:40 »

my helper once weeded a row of radishes trouble was they were just there to
grow inbetween the parsnips!! which got weeded out :'( i have to be careful as he gets a bit touchy ( polite for p word) and won,t help at all if he feels got at
he has been very good this year and has planted all the spuds as i am indisposed
(caste off in 2 weeks 5 days i hope) and can,t dig bless him :-*
marg

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #4 on:** April 12, 2007, 12:28:12 »

Mine is a star when it comes to construction and dragging sack fulls of manure from the stables to the plot. He admits to not knowing one end of plant from the other, but come harvesting time, him and the children certainly know what ripe strawberrys, raspberrys and peas look like, leaving hardly any for me!! ;D

Hyacinth · « **Reply #5 on:** April 12, 2007, 12:31:26 »

I don't need helpers to plant things upside down and get things wrong...manage all by myself v. nicely thanks 8)

Like my first rhubarb crown....didn't really amount to much until the 2nd year when someone told me to reverse it.... :o

;D

tim · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2007, 13:24:09 »

Like our 15'x10' patch of own sown Asparagus - due for its first pick that year?

Our 'chap' proudly announced that he had just turned over that patch for good measure......................*****

Twospot Ladybird · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2007, 13:38:59 »

My helper is a bit like yours sally_cinnamon, he doesn't sunbathe though but supervises me when he's supposed to be supervising our young daughter, which I find very irritating.

A couple of years ago, I was moving a Hebe to a spot about two feet away from where it was. Boyfriend was standing a few feet away watching me instead of supervising our 3year old daughter. I turned and said to him "I don't need to be supervised!" His reply was "I'm trying to work out why you need to make the hole bigger when it's obvious that the plant will fit in it now". My answer "You obviously don't pay much attention to the gardening programs you watch otherwise you'd realise that you don't use a shoehorn to get them in!" Unfortunately he still supervises me if he's meant to be keeping an eye on our daughter.

My daughter (whose now 5) on the other hand, loves helping but she still sometimes pulls off flowerheads ::)

emmy1978 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2007, 16:34:54 »

Can't bless mine, must praise him for being totally into it all. He doesn't do the sowing or care of baby plants, but loves everything else. He is also ex chippie so will be building marvellous stuff like coldframes etc for me.
He just said, looking over my shoulder: you better not be slating me to that lot! The cheek. :)

Emagggie · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2007, 20:45:57 »

Quote from: sally_cinnamon on April 12, 2007, 10:49:52

I think I would get a bit tetchy if he started getting involved 'cause it's mine, ALL MINE!!!!

Oh yes, how I agree. The Bearded Wonder will do anything I ask even if he doesn't really want to but not gardening. He put my shed up and made shelves, and it's MINE, ALL MINE (I do leave him in peace with Sky sports in return)

Tin Shed · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2007, 22:12:54 »

Mine started out being in charge of the raspberries and cutting the grass...... now he just eats the raspberries and stands on the grass! i usually get complaints about my 'straight' rows, but I point out that I am just copying nature - it doesn't do straight rows either. He is quite good at helping to put up a shed or greenhouse, but it would be a very brave man to interfere as he knows that it is my space!!!!!!

mc55 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 13, 2007, 10:01:17 »

it takes a while to encourage my helper to make a visit. He's pretty good at demolishing things (burnt down the rattie shed) and moving heavy paving slabs etc, but he's also very distracting - every 5 mins - 'look at this', 'whats that', why this, why that, is there anything to eat / drink ... bless

theothermarg · « **Reply #12 on:** April 13, 2007, 12:37:03 »

yes OH has the macho job of useing the petrol strimmer i don,t have clue! left to my own devices i,d just snip awa y little and often but thats one job i, 100% glad to pass over. he does tend to comment on things he knows nothing about and he worries about being straight and tidy (he thinks brassica,s ars untidy) at the moment he,s debating on weather he will go on the allotment trip to wisley, we visit a different place each year and he gets bored and would rather be out fishing
i,d rather go on my own as i know lots of people mix and chat with just trying not to sound too eager it,s tricky any advise
marg :-\

bennettsleg · « **Reply #13 on:** April 13, 2007, 14:08:18 »

Tim - the horror! how soul destroying! Was anything salvegable?

Emaggie - I think we're married to the same man.

My short-term helper (wanted his own plot for the peace & quiet away from the kids so I offered him some work on mine, stopped coming after a few fortnights, bless 'im!) was quite capable but just learning and it was tricky not keeping an eye on him, letting him get on with it (and he did a good job, too) to make sure that he did things the way this particular control freak (who? moi?) wanted them.

Dig deeper! Garlic goes in THIS bed!

MINE ALL MINE indeed! :-[ ;D ::)

norfolklass · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2007, 14:24:28 »

OH and I had previously discussed driving out to the coast, or going kayaking on the Broads, and I'd agreed not to spend the whole of the easter weekend at my allotment, so when he actually suggested that we both go to the plot on Easter Monday to do some digging I was gobsmacked :o :o :o

needless to say he double-dug a whole bed to my half a bed (think there was a bit of male ego involved: "don't understand why she's making such a fuss", etc, etc.) and couldn't understand why it was only 3 o'clock when it felt like 6! doesn't time fly when you're having "fun" ;D he did end up with some beautiful blisters which I feel quite bad about – hope it doesn't put him off offering again. I did say that if he kept digging he'd have callouses like mine rather than blisters but he didn't look too convinced...

when we'd finished he stood in the middle of the plot and uttered the immortal words: "It's going to take aaaaaaaaages to sort this lot out!" ::)

Suzanne · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2007, 19:51:41 »

My garden helper doesn't - he plays golf!

Actually this works out well as I have found I quite enjoy digging. And when I cook up a feast from veg I grew I can quite smugly point out that for £10 a year (my family kindly buy me seeds and garden equipment for birthdays and Christmas), I have a hobby that not only keeps me fit and fed, but also keeps my bank manager happy.

Smug Sue ;D

caroline7758 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2007, 20:06:09 »

Interesting, isn't it, how few of us who have an OH actually work the plot together. I get a bit depressed sometimes when mine never shows much interest and only joins me under duress when the strimming needs doing, but like others here, I do get a bit territorial and irritated when he does come!Glad to know I'm not the only one!

manicscousers · « **Reply #17 on:** April 13, 2007, 20:26:18 »

I feel quite the odd one out, ray does all the hard work, I look after the plants, watering, etc..he prefers to build things, plant spuds, work ways for us to do things easily
I must admit, he planted some onions upside down..he likes to find new ways of doing things, we've planted 3 different types of potatoes, three different ways, to see which does best..
but he's a great asset to me, i couldn't do it without him :)

Jeannine · « **Reply #18 on:** April 13, 2007, 20:36:33 »

No you are not the odd one out, John and I have the same partnership but he does forget things now Xx Jeannine

manicscousers · « **Reply #19 on:** April 13, 2007, 20:56:51 »

yes, ray's going through the same thing, waiting on tests :)

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Author Topic: The garden helpers,bless 'em (Read 2439 times)