Topic: Why Do We Bother?

[sunloving]

I bother becuase gardening is ace, i don't think this year has been so bad - the winter was a mild one so all the jobs could get done early everything bar the beans has romped away and i've been having strawberries for breakfast and fresh savoy cabbage and broadbeans and garlic in my tea.

And there is so much to look forward to, months of roast tomatoes, sweetcorn raspberries and delicious meals. Its summer and im brown as a bean becuase there have actually been many days of sunshine. The flowers i planted two years ago are looking fabulous and everywhere new ones open to delight.

Long may it continue.
x sunloving

[martin godliman]

Is there sun in Lancashire then.............sunloving ?  ;D

I too am disappointed with this years weather related failures it's not so much all that prep and work resulting in nothing. I could perhaps be sanguine about that if I could just repeat and try again but the season has moved on it has become too late to grow those things and ground and time is wasted until next year.

[goodlife]

There is always something to sow and grow..and summer is still young..plenty of crops can be still started and harvested this year..or over wintered for next spring.
I refuce to give up for the doom and gloom..even if it is pouring down while I'm typing this message.. ::)

[martin godliman]

There is always something to sow and grow..and summer is still young..plenty of crops can be still started and harvested this year..or over wintered for next spring.
I refuce to give up for the doom and gloom..even if it is pouring down while I'm typing this message.. ::)

That's no good if those crops are not what you wanted to grow in the first place I'm sure I could grow no end of fast maturing stuff that I don't want to eat, one can't grow everything.

That's no compensation for those crops that take a whole spring, summer and autumn that I have invested all my effort into, since March. I try to grow what I choose to because I want those varieties of food plants, growing brussel sprouts  is no way a worthy replacement for the loss of tomatoes.

Being disappointed is a perfectly valid feeling  :P  ;)

[galina]

There is always something to sow and grow..and summer is still young..plenty of crops can be still started and harvested this year..or over wintered for next spring.
I refuce to give up for the doom and gloom..even if it is pouring down while I'm typing this message.. ::)

I agree with that very much.  As usual the answer is - diversity.  sow/plant small patches of many different crops and within crops, it possible, several varieties.  Accept that some of the garden will be a loss every year and enjoy what works.  I find I need to sow a lot and plant a lot to get a lot - so that we have plenty and can forget about the losses.

There often isn't much rhyme or reason why something just doesn't work one year and works wonderfully the next.  But it doesn't mean that it isn't worth sowing again next year.  Every variety deserves at least 2 goes before it goes in the archives as 'did not do well'.

A big plus is adaptability of seeds and plants.  Plants grown from my own seeds are always fairly tough and can take quite well the conditions in this garden.  Commercial plants often may yield more if everything is just so, but in an average year, in a windy garden with cold, clayey soil, they often don't do so well the first time round.  However seed saved by other home gardeners is often very good in this respect.  I love growing swapped seeds - in many cases somebody else has provided a useful 'hardening' short cut.  Many commercial seeds are grown where labour costs are very cheap - usually in hot countries.  Is it any wonder these seeds struggle here with the first bit of 'weather'?

Why do we bother?  You can't get depressed as a gardener.  Years ago I was grumbling to myself  'why do the weeds grow like crazy, but I can't seem to get lettuce going?'  The answer was to start much earlier, so the lettuce is out when things start growing again.  Now lettuce grows like 'weeds' here.  Ditto peas.  I still need to learn about a lot of other crops which can be a problem (for example carrots, which will germinate in July for a late crop but usually fail in spring).  

This year isn't a write off - maybe we will get really good runnerbeans with all that moisture around, the French beans are struggling a bit and many things are late.  Still time though  ;D

[picman]

We have a 8x8 plot for local nursery kids, they planted strawberries, the slugs got them , the planted pots [late] the rain got them, the peas never showed and yesterday they put in some cabbage.... the pigeons got them...
Unfortunately the teachers don't have much of a clue and don't ask advice... seems wrong to tell than what they should be doing ?

[galina]

Martin, you have to be realistic.  The UK is marginal for so-called warm weather crops.  Outdoor tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, most squashes are actually marginal.  We are at the most northern place that you can grow these things at all.  And this means that some years they will be a write-off and, if you placed all your eggs into the 'marginal' basket, then you have to allow for failures.

How marginal some crops are (and it is generally those crops that cannot take frost) was brought home to me when a Scottish gardener swapped her pea for my bean seeds.  She wanted to try many different beans, because French beans are marginal in many areas of Scotland, but peas usually work.  She discovered that my beans weren't very good either, and that in her climate broad beans and peas give much better yields.  Britain as a country is actually located far north and there are consequences for what we can grow always, most times or sometimes.  

What you can do is improve their chances by sowing early, hardening off well and by crop protection.  

[antipodes]

Martin, you have to be realistic. 
Britain as a country is actually located far north and there are consequences for what we can grow always, most times or sometimes. 

This is true. I am in Southern Britanny and actually I am almost 600km south of Cardiff and about 900 south of Leeds! 
So in truth the temperatures I get here can be vastly different to yours, even if we have a mild maritime climate that does not run to many extremes. In general I am two weeks ahead of the UK schedule. I have no greenhouse or shelter so everything is outdoors, and I have a large patch of aubergine, peppers and tomatoes and successfully grow all kinds of squash and pumpkin with little or no shelter. My toms and peppers are already flowering quite prolifically, although the aubergines are a little slower.

SO don't be disheartened, the more you grow things suited to your climate, the better it is. It is a little too hot here for rhubarb, although this year it has been great as it too has been very wet here, and often by June it is getting too hot and dry to successfuly grow other things that you Poms grow all thru summer, like radish, lettuce and later peas.

[Digeroo]

I am with Galina about diversity.  Somethings do well and somethings fail.  It is also worth making several sowings sometimes one batch fail for no apparent reason.

I had been feeling rather despondant and then the sun came out yesterday.

When I was young it was normal to grow marrow on a compost heap for the extra warmth.  Growing peppers was almost unheard of and tomatoes were for posh people with green houses.  I had never heard of courgettes or squash.

[martin godliman]

I've tried variety of crops but it doesn't suit me, I find it tedious to have little bits of this and that, rather I've over the years cut it down to what I really like  to grow and want to eat. I would be perfectly happy with three or four crops out of five or six to be successful.

The very nature of gardening enthusiasm is also various and encompasses people like me.

Galina is right I'm in the margins for the things I want, that's my biggest problem.

[KittyKatt]

I'm so depressed right now, it just won't stop raining. I'm tired of being cold and wet all the time. Everything is late, the plot is slug and snail central, and jobs have been backing up so much I've ended up doing some jobs like taking down my broad beans, in the pouring rain. To add insult to injury I took this week as holiday so I could catch up on some of the outstanding jobs. I'm writing this with the rain lashing down outside and the central heating on.

KittyKatt

[strawberry1]

I am just back from more damage limitation.

Strawberries did a lot better lying on shredded cardboard,

phacelia sown instead of beetroot on ex shallot bed after last shallots dug up yesterday

aquadulce bought for sowing in root trainers, I will be bringing them on as long as possible before planting out and they will go on the dug in phacelia

No point sowing more beetroot seeds as usual, nothing much is germinating on the allotment

I may well have the start of blight on my kestrel spuds, I am not sure as they are small brown patches like rust and it is only the kestrels.

I am realistic about my squash, it may well have been a waste of time, effort and money. Same for outdoor cucs. However I spotted a marrow  :) and I almost never grew it

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

Two more weeks and the nights will be pulling in.



It's being so cheerful that keeps me going  ;D

[RenishawPhil]

I'm so depressed right now, it just won't stop raining. I'm tired of being cold and wet all the time. Everything is late, the plot is slug and snail central, and jobs have been backing up so much I've ended up doing some jobs like taking down my broad beans, in the pouring rain. To add insult to injury I took this week as holiday so I could catch up on some of the outstanding jobs. I'm writing this with the rain lashing down outside and the central heating on.

KittyKatt

thats the main problem , the coldness of the weather !

The wind has damaged some of our sweetcorn so covering them up tonight for next two days, they have got frayed edges from the wind

[martin godliman]

To be fair to myself for minute I haven't had any failures just yet, true stuff is behind but I got my first flower on a courgette plant today. My runner beans and climbing french beans are just starting to flower even thought they are only half way up the canes, and the mange tout looks OK.
I had my first crop of chard yesterday though some of it is trying to go to seed already !! and I've eaten my cavalo nero thinnings, I may yet still do OK.
One thing I've have never failed at is chilis but my poor old stunted plants are way behind it's hard to believe in them.

[Jeannine]

Oh Dear, it is so  to hear such  hard stories and I feel for everyone.

We are on flood watch right now and after going through that in Hull I don't fancy it.

We have a third day of good weather but still the river is at it's peak and is still getting highter from run off higher in the mountains.

I totally agree wuth Galina but also recognise it is hard when one can't grow the choices we want when we want them.

I try to compare to other regions where they are battling severe dorught or buds we have never heard of.

 The way our weather in West Canada is now, and I swear it is duffernt from 20 years ago, it is getting difficult to grw many things I used to.

In the UK you can get your spuds out much earlier than I can, we are warmer than you but our rainfall is the killer.

 Regarding the school kids, my only advice I can come up witj is to do a bit if gardening in large pots, there are many mini varieties of veggies you can grow that the slugs would not be able to get at easily. The children would still enjoy it and you would geta harvest.

I can help you with a list on suitable veggies of you want to have a go.

XX Jeannine

[BoardStupid]

Why do we bother ?

Fresh air, exercise, taste, learning, science, friendship

:)

[Gordonmull]

^^ what he said and:

Because what DOES get to harvest is fresh, tasty, nearby and doesn't involve a soul-destroying trip to a supermarket.

[Nigel B]

I suppose I could take heart from others' experiences, but that wouldn't  feel right.
Thing is, I'm losing varieties I have been freely given by people on here, and have promised to return as seed.
French Beans of several varieties seem to be so late they are missing. Other Beans are getting hammered by slugs.
 Sweetcorn is on its second sowing and not doing well at all.
All the Garlic is covered in rust.
Some Giant Swede plants have gone straight to seed. Pumpkin and Courgette plants are literally shrinking before my eyes.

On the bright side.
There's a Pea glut coming. Mange Tout, tout.
The Brassica I saved from the aphids are romping away now.
The Potatoes are waist-high at one end and almost all are flowering now. (The first earlies are mysteriously small and late though)
The strawberries, the ones I can manage to beat the slugs, pigeons, small birds and other varied fauna to, are big, red and juicy. One of them took two whole bites to eat today.
My Onions are great too. Fair doo's.
And Carrots. Yum. Another big handful of baby Carrots came home with me today. I must order Carrot seeds by the pound next year.

Next year....  That's why we do it.   8)

[Ninnyscrops.]

It's because us gardeners, flower and/or veg ones, love a challenge. We do it year in year out and we take what we get with what we put in and what the weather throws at us and soldier on. De facto  ::)

Ninny