Topic: How Disheartened Are You

[sawfish]

I'm not disheartened at all, when things dont work it just gives me something to think about for the next year.

Imagine if growing stuff was like this....

you put one seed in the ground and it grows exactly in its place to the right size,
you never ever get weeds,
nothing is ever diseased,
its always the same weather every year

.... whats the point, I wouldn't bother.

For me its the challenge of gardening thats interesting not the success and thats probably true of almost everybody.

[electric landlady]

Not disheartened at all; this is my first year so everything I've managed to grow has been a bonus. OK the onions look a bit pathetic, tomatoes are a goner and all the brassicas got eaten...but it's all good experience.

On the plus side, carrots, peas and blackcurrants are amazing, and it looks as though the beans will be good too.

I am mainly frustrated by the lack of opportunity to get down there....every free evening/weekend seems to coincide with a monsoon. This means that unfortunately my plot does not exactly resemble the lovely neat, sundrenched, weedfree pictures in my books...ah well....next year....  8) 

[Jeannine]

The ginger I grow is just the supermarket ginger that is used in cooking,I ma sorry I don't know the lily XX Jeannine

[Larkspur]

Though I havn't lost any crops yet (though the gherkins are looking grim) my plot is floodedyet again and there will soon be no hope of planting winter maturing crops. I am not disheartened as such I have been gardening too long for that but being retired a large chunk of my daily life has been removed since for the best part of the last three months there has been absolutely nothing I could do on the lottie :'(

[Barnowl]

I started ginger as described by Jeanne (cut into three pieces), but  during a tidy up in early May my OH put the pot outside, where it has remained ever since. Despite this, green shoots have now appeared so I'm hoping for a flower eventually. I think the tropical conditions (downpours and heat) suit it!

[Sparkly]

The ginger I grow is just the supermarket ginger that is used in cooking,I ma sorry I don't know the lily XX Jeannine

What volume of crop do you get from 1 plant? I always fancied growing ginger but would be put off if you only got 1 tiny root!

[nitiram]

Imagine if growing stuff was like this....

you put one seed in the ground and it grows exactly in its place to the right size,
you never ever get weeds,
nothing is ever diseased,
its always the same weather every year

.... whats the point, I wouldn't bother.

For me its the challenge of gardening thats interesting not the success and thats probably true of almost everybody.

This puts it all into perspective 'sawfish'..... wouldn't it be boring, but just once I would like my seeds to come up in a staright row, just where i had set them, for thema ll to grow tall and produce a bumper crop...just once. It never happens as i am absolutely useless at growing from seed

[Amazin]

Larkspur, is there anything you could start off in modules?

The reason I ask is that we started a thread on the Swap Shop specifically to offer seeds to peeps who'd lost their allotment/ garden produce due to the floods (and thanks to Irish Digger for reactivating the subject):

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33551.0.html

PM me if I have anything you can use.


And if you need a list of what you can still get growing -

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33549.0.html

[frogdoctor]

Jeannine, Thanks for the advice on growing ginger, I`m off to the supermarket tommorrow to buy some ginger.

[Jeannine]

I only grow ginger for the greennow but have grown tubers overseas ,  in the Asian veggie book I have it says:

Ginger can grow to 4 feet.

Leaves, shoots,flowers and tubers are edible.

How to grow. Gingers are tender deciduous perrenials that need long warm humid summers or a conservatory or greenhouse in a cooler climate.

They prefer bright light to hot sun so should be planted in a warm but shady position.

They need moist soil with good drainage as they will rot in cold wet soil., but keep well watered.

In cooler areas start in the house and only put outside when warmed up. Bring the pot inside if the weather turns cold.

It takes about 9 months to harvest tubers.

Buy them from Oriental markets preferably withgood growth buds visible.



The same book has instructions for growing waterchestnuts by the way and lemon grass.

XX Jeannine

[carolinej]

They prefer bright light to hot sun so should be planted in a warm but shady position.

So that's why mine is looking a bit brown and shrivelled on the edges. I'll get it out of the greenhouse now!

cj :)

[doris]

me too after battling my way on the tube and train I get an hour at home and its tending to be raining at the mo....I swear the slugs on my plot are the size of squirrels! :-\

[Old bird]

Cheer up everyone - anyone would think that summer was finished.  Being an optimist - hey there are lots of things that you can plant now for later crops!

Plan what you are going to do for next year!  You can move things around - dig the deep beds that you have been planning to do for years but never had the space because they have always been ful - Life is for living - yes some of you have had a really bad time - but you would probably be suicidal if you didn't have your lottie to go to! 

So Cheer up - It is not the end of the world - The sun will come out soon and we will all be more cheerful.!!!

Good luck to all who have lost stuff - but chin up and help someone worse off than yourselves - that always helps.

Old Bird

 ::)

[Fork]

Disheartened ?

Peas went yellow sitting in water

Blight on my potatoes,possibly now on my tomatoes

Mildew on my onions

Chocolate spot on my broad beans

Weeds everywhere!

Courgettes rot after growing only a few inches

Im not bitter or disheartened........just wish i could lay my hands on  a flame thrower  ;) ;D