Allotments 4 All
General => News => Topic started by: Borlotti on June 09, 2012, 19:44:11
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Anyone else fed up with their allotment this year. I think I may give it up. Really, really, pssed off today. Only thing I picked was some everlasting spinach.
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It's too effing cold and dark, nothing is growing but the weeds, I feel your pain.
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Spent the morning weeding........frigging couch grass! >:(
It's just so wet - it's disheartening!
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Haven't been- dread to think what I'll find! :( Just checked the forecast and it's going to get colder over the next few days.
Still, at least it's not flooded!
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Hi Borlotti I am also seriously considering giving up my allotment :-\
I don't drive & have recently moved a very long & painful walk away from my plot (needed to move to ground floor flat due to arthritis in knees & not managing stairs etc). I used to live a 2 minute walk away from the plot.
The terrible weather/growing conditions this year are making me think I was being very unrealistic in thinking I could keep it going. If the weather is hot I can't get there every day to water & the hose pipe ban means it takes many hours to water sufficiently with a can (very heavy clay soil). When it rains heavily I can't nip down every night to catch the slugs.
I guess I have given up already as I'm in the process of taking down 13 raised beds on my plot & transferring them to my tiny garden at the flat (they are the plastic ones that can be stacked 2 or 3 high if required). I haven't bought the black membrane I had planned to lay down before planting Winter squash so the weeds are starting to invade. I've had terrible germination of the squash seeds for the first year ever so my plans to use the plot for the fruits & squash growing aren't really happening.
All the stuff that should have kept going until April/May went to seed in March as we had a mini heatwave in Kent. It has been so wet lately that it hasn't been worth sowing anything directly. I have only grown a couple of lettuces this year ::) which is so not like me at all.
I used to truly love my lotty, it was my haven, a place that always relaxed me but now it is giving me so much worry I am feeling very disheartened. Last year I had huge problems with foxes as the ground was so dry the only dirt they could find to bury their kills in was my raised beds! That nearly made me give up - when 40 leeks were destroyed by the foxes a day after I had transplanted them. But as I was still living so nearby I persevered (had to take a bucket with my sons urine in it to spread around the plot to keep the foxes away in the end as nothing else worked).
I definitely can't walk 2 miles with buckets of urine :o if the weather dries up & the foxes come back.
I think after the fruits have been harvested I really will be handing my keys back :'( I know it will deeply upset me but I want my serenity back so pottering around in my small back garden tending easy to look after raised bed seems the way forward for me.
x Jane
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So sorry to hear this, have along hard think about it before you give up your plot,
June
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I'm disabled too and there comes a time when reality has to sink in. I don't have a lottie any more and frankly have a struggle even in my garden. Is there a friend or someone closer who might share a bit of their garden for you to grow some stuff when you feel up to it?
Some areas are starting shared allotments with several people on one plot. Would you be allowed to share yours with someone on the waiting list? It would be a lot less worry and maybe an extra friendship or even some lifts.
I do hope downsizing actually gives you a boost rather than feeling demoralised. Chin-up at least here in the east haven't been washed away like mid Wales.. ::)
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Better being pssed off than pssed on!
Or. . . when you're up to your chin in ordure and you think you can manage, someone roars past in a motorboat!
Just done my back in clearing (hopefully) the last of the jerusalem artichokes. We've moved them to a better site.
The soil is in fabulous condition for the B/nut and Uki Duki [sic] squashes.
Keep your chin up. Cheers, Tony.
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Folks, I feel your pain, it has been raining here since forever..but.. remember the weather can change at any moment and what is this year may well not be what is next year. I think we are all at a real low ebb here, most of the gardeners round me are the same and much of our growing ground is flooded. Mnay of us here have not planted anything much at all.
Hang in there, don't do anything hasty, there could be a turnaround withoiut warning .
Crystalmoon, for you I send my love and agree maybe the raised beds at home are the best option. You will know when the time is right.I doubt very much if I could manage without John so good luck with your new garden. John made one for me the year before we returned to Canada as I was not able to dig aroiund in the lottie there.
It more than satisfied my wish to grow stuff and I think you will enjoy it very much.
To everyone else, my Mum used to say to me...never make a serious decision when things are not so good, and it applies now. Hnag in there folks, maybe we can support each other till the Good Lord sends us the sun back.
XX Jeannine
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Keep you peckers up Borlottie and Crystalmoon. I was so cheesed off last week I felt like packing it in. This is the first year all my beans failed to germinate and just rotted and also most of my pumpkins. Dunno what is up with everything as its never happened before. Had lovely rows of spuds coming up but they were the volunteers from last year so had to pull them out. Not one single stick of asparagus and this was the 5th year from growing from seed. It is very disheartening. Funnily enough others on my site who had pristine plots etc have failed to turn up and so are all overgrown as well. The sun has got to come out sooner or later.
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I too had the same thoughts today, I looked at my patch and still haven't planted out my green beans or outdoor cucumbers, Have not thinned out root crop. I have no enthusiasm for anything gardening due to the wet, windy and cold. twenty years ago I would have worked in these conditions with no qualms. I may be able to finish everything but in the mean time the weeds are overtaking the patch. This is the fourth year according to my gardening diary that the weather is a washout. Depression has set in and all I seem to be doing is wandering around wringing my hands. I have washing drying on all the radiators, I need a dryer!!!
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I have only just sown my climbing beans.Its only the beginning of June. Fortunately we have sandy soil on our plots so its not so bad when we get loads of rain.Broad beans doing ok. Beetroot a bit slow, onions gone to seed now. lettuce ok.I always grow flowers on my plot to cheer me up when other things are not doing so well.
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We got a non rainy day today although it was cool abd the weather forecast is rain for the next 13 days.
We were ankle deep in water again but my raised beds were doing much better than I expected. It was miserable working there but amazingly all the beans had popped through as had the spinach and spring onions. What is morw amazing is my outdoor tomatoes were OK..
So altrhough we came home cold , muddy and wet we did achieve something
XX Jeannine
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I seem to be spending long hours at my plot with not much to show for it. The alternating hot and cold weather and the frequent heavy rain seems to be favouring weed growth at the expense of "crop" growth. Slugs and snails are abundant. I still haven't planted any of the outdoor "summer" crops like French beans and courgettes.
On the plus side I built a new raised bed the other day, I've weeded the path between it and my shed and added fresh wood chips and I've lined one of my planters, filled it with soil and planted it with salvia "hot lips" and sweet peas.
There just aren't enough hours in the day!
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Here's some flower sunshine for everybody who needs cheering up! :)
http://flightplot.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/this-one/
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The weeds are going great guns on my lottie. But I got something of a bonus yesterday. I had some russian kale which self seeded and germinated in Feb. There is now loads of it and it has started sprouting - lovely. Rhubarb also doing well. Delicious. Mangetout doing well too.
But the beans are being eaten by slugs. I am onto my third sowing of beetroot and it is disappearing and I have very few carrots.
Last year not enough rain, this year far too much.
As far back as I can remember there have been different challenges every year. In 1986-7 we hardly had any summer at all, the warmest day was in October.
Surely facing the challenges is part of the joy of vegetable growing. Remember the farmers are also facing these challenges and prices will reflect this.
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There just aren't enough hours in the day!
This is the feeling I get about this time of year. The weather IS frustrating, my boots are literally sodden so I squelch around the plot, but everywhere is so VERDANT ! The weeds are thick and fast, but that is more potential compost to harvest ... possibly the biggest task at this time is keeping hedges tidy, so I try to do a bit every day to minimise the exhaustion. The sun is out as I type, so I will be down there after a bit more coffee, to enjoy it while I can ... not long now to the first potatoes, I have already picked a few onions and garlic ...
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So sad to hear folk are thinking of giving up :(
I'm fortunate the OH does all the heavy stuff,and while we've had failures,first peas in pots rotted,second sowing two rows have produced about six plants.Beetroot is sparse.The wind blew over the shuttering OH had put round the toms and flattened a whole row of romensco( secretly planned no doubt as he hates the stuff ;) ) and one of our courgettes was blown completely out of the ground :o
That said we dug the first of the spuds yeterday.Had them for lunch with salad with our lettuce (no sign of radish which used to grow like weeds) So we'll carry on. :)
For me we love to grow stuff but the friendships and the occupation is the motivation. :)
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I must admit I've been getting fed up with the lottie lately, not just the weather because even when we had a few perfect lottie days I just couldn't be bothered, we have to work longer hours at work and I just feel knackered all the time, but digging up my first spuds yesterday and having pulled a dozen or so onions with 50+ ready to come out and a nibble on a few strawberrys today seems to have made it worth while for the time being. ;D ::) :-\ ???
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We got home from holiday on Friday evening, after a look around the garden we thought oh!!! no the weeds had taken over the garden :o :o :o, some of them MARESTAIL, were taller than some of the plants, it will take a week or more to clear the garden of weeds we must do the onions first then just keep going till it is clear done 2 sacks just today well my OH has. I think we shall go away Sept, next year to much hard work when we come back each year & after all the rain i think the weeds were in competion with one & another ;D.
If i planted my Garlic, last November, when will it be ready can someone tell me please thank you.
Try not to give up your lotties , ladies the bleeding weather has to pick up sometime soon.
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Might downsize next year, granddaughter said I shouldn't give it up as when we walked into Enfield yesterday morning she had to drag me away from the road that leads to the allotment, and when she had gone home I rushed up there to see if anything had grown in the night. The marestail is getting me down this year, and I thought I had learnt to live with it. Will pull up my 100 a day but it makes no difference. Raining again today, but at least I didn't leave my 8 year old in the pub (not that I have an 8 year old). :o :o :o
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Hi everyone, when I went to my allotment at the weekend I got the awful news that we had been broken into yet again :'( tools stolen, sheds broken into, veg that is growing vandalised. So all in all I have decided to give my keys back after my fruit has been harvested. I'm not going to sow anything more this year at the plot & will concentrate my energies on building the raised beds in my back garden. Thank you all for your encouraging words. I hope those of you who are feeling fed up will be able to regain your enthusiasm soon & that the weather improves for us all very quickly. x Jane
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Yep me too...not giving up though.
We've been having building work done, between the 3 of us we've just about had a hospital appointment every week since January, or I'm waiting in for a delivery or tradesman and they seem to take up the fine days when i get an opportunity to get to the allotment it doesn't just rain it pours (yes i know I wanted rain it just keeps choosing the wrong days!!!)
Plus i'm supposed to be going around local businesses raising sponsorship for our next Flower and Produce Show but I'm left with the ones who say....'come back on Xday when the boss will be in' they say choosing a day when I can't get back due to one of the above!
Oh and the remaining car needs servicing...that takes out a day I'm studying the weather forecast trying to work out a very wet day for that knowing I'll get it wrong. The other car has been in twice...two of the only fine days for weeks. >:( >:( >:( >:(
I have got stuff growing...couch grass, docks etc
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Really, really, pssed off today.
It's too effing cold and dark,
Spent the morning weeding........frigging couch grass! >:(
(https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRcl4UyQUCRgWWqtPahEDbaLgXF2c_beyqRBFZFyxaDKvBj6qWt2w)
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:) I didn't resort to saying I was so effing pssed at the frigging weather so I must be the above ;D
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Oh! Jane (Crystalmoon = love the name btw :-*) this is a real kick while you're down, isn't it? :'(......there again p'raps it's the final push you need as your circs change and you face the current reality of a different way of living for possibly the rest of your life. Good Plan = harvest the fruits/whatever you have at the lottie whilst concentrating your energies on the Future - building those raised beds. (Link-a-bord?)
2 miles is a LONG way to walk with a bucket of urine ::) - never thort of having a Lager-Party on-site??? but the walk back from your lottie with soft fruits + a bucket of left-over horsemuck/enriched soil/whatever for your new home-based Little Eden? That's a Positive 8)
Turning Negatives into Positives is where I'm at, atm. but by God it's hard. Failing health forces a move, a downshift, AND I DO'T WANT TO DO IT! ( and no, I'm not shouting - I'm screaming ;D ;D ;D ) But reality won't go away. And so I must leave my brill garden, created by me (yes, ME folks 8) :D ) out of sterile barren ground where not even an 'umble garden worm chose to visit, into this productive patch I've had so much enjoyment - and sustenance - out of gardening.
X to all - Lish
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I didn't either, so I'm prolly DED.......
hmm.......just checked my pulse.............
"does anyone there want to talk rood veggie talk with anyone here?"
Knock twice if you do.......
hours of the knocking shop - 24hrs availablity............"We Never Close"
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I didn't either, so I'm prolly DED.......
hmm.......just checked my pulse.............
"does anyone there want to talk rood veggie talk with anyone here?"
Knock twice if you do.......
hours of the knocking shop - 24hrs availablity............"We Never Close"
;D ;D ;D
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Hiya Manics, me ole mate! Tried to link my last post to the fabbo ones above by HelenK Louise, Borlotti etc. 8) posted while I was writin' a Serious one. Modern technology dunt marry with old-fashioned Heritage Veggies like me, obv......... :D
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One of the great things about this disgusting weather....... (flooding here right now) and all the dry early warmth followed by wet, dull cold and now...Noah selling tickets in the High Street...
the great thing about this growing season is next year, by the law of averages, just has to be better!! ;D
Yours, truly and soggily, dampened at the moment!! :(
But it could be worse. ;)
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The sun is out, the sky is blue, and my lovely strawberries will get ripe, and tomorrow is going to be sunny too, so not too pssed off today. What a difference the weather makes, after the rain and if we get some sun everything will grow well, I hope. ;D ;D ;D
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No rain here today... lawns dry enough to walk over and a very slight sight of the sun - getting ready for tomorrow's downpours.
The fox has dug up one bean plant and trampled everywhere.... I'm now not so sorry the flipping thing got washed out the other day!
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Phew, this whole thread has made me feel better! (strange but true!).
It's my first growing season with a plot and I was thinking I was just being a total failure as an allotmenteer! My squash, butternut and courgettes are planted out (they couldn't stay in pots any longer) but they have got wind-damaged, slug-eaten and are looking VERY sad. The sweetcorn I resowed (sowed the first lot too early) are out too but some have snapped/uprooted in the winds. I've rebuilt my cane brassica cage twice (and wholly expect to do it all again tomorrow!).
Spuds, shallots and onions are looking fine and dandy and lettuce is loving the conditions. Have munched on half-strawberries (the other half having been eaten/rotting in the wet).
At least I know I'm not alone. It's not me being useless. PHEW!
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Phew, this whole thread has made me feel better! (strange but true!).
It's my first growing season with a plot and I was thinking I was just being a total failure as an allotmenteer! My squash, butternut and courgettes are planted out (they couldn't stay in pots any longer) but they have got wind-damaged, slug-eaten and are looking VERY sad. The sweetcorn I resowed (sowed the first lot too early) are out too but some have snapped/uprooted in the winds. I've rebuilt my cane brassica cage twice (and wholly expect to do it all again tomorrow!).
Spuds, shallots and onions are looking fine and dandy and lettuce is loving the conditions. Have munched on half-strawberries (the other half having been eaten/rotting in the wet).
At least I know I'm not alone. It's not me being useless. PHEW!
You certainly are not alone!! This season (so far) has been a damp, cold disappointment all round it seems. We are several weeks behind here but, as you say, the strawberries appear to be loving it on the whole.
Here's wishing you some good growing weather to come in your first growing season.
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I am feeling rather guilty as I am obviously not having the same problems as you guys! Yes here it has been rainy and pretty cool and miserable but not so much as to completely destroy the plot. I am lifting the early spuds and they are the best I have ever had. I have just harvested my garlic as I wanted the space, maybe still a bit too green on the stems but it's now drying in my laundry.
Ok teh squash, aubergines and peppers are very displeased but the tomatoes are tall and very lush. Usually it gets too dry here but this year I have had wonderful lettuce, peas and rhubarb.
There are always some things that don't work, and in any case we can't help the weather. Maybe cloches or some plastic shelter might help for some plants? Stay optimistic, I have had times when I thought I should give up but after a while, it gets better ;)
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Antipodes:
Reading of people who are having a successful growing season keeps the rest of us living in hope!! SO... keep telling us when things go well for you. ;)
As you say it's a bit swings and roundabouts....some things working better and others not so.
Unfortunately for many people here it's mostly "not so" good this year....so far. A very slow start with some plants going backwards but we'll keep trying. I think. ???