... because I really can't face the sheer amount of work to be done :-\
It's a beautiful day, but I'm so sick of digging and there's nothing else to be done. Someone give me a kick please
gentle nudge rather than kick as I'm in the same boat :)
my plot neighbour said he got his plot dug by digging four rows a day, every day, no more and no less until it was done... needless to say he has the best plot on the site ::)
so, why not say you're only going to dig X number of rows, then you're going to do something else/better/more enjoyable as a reward?
is there no one you could go with, that always make it more fun for me and with an extra pair of hands the area would get dug faster.
I take a flask of tea and some bickies as a reward and this always manages to get a volunteer.
Not unless you count my small daughter :)
I'm going, anyway. I'll do 5ft and then come home, if I'm fed up by that point. At least the house won't get any more untidy while we're out ;)
I take my 7 year old son who has a fasination with digging holes, big holes and then planting sprouts so when I dig that area over all i find is sprouts. have you got a radio to take up with you, you could then say you will dig for 3 songs and have a break (used to do this when exercising, or housework as I suffer from depression I now have short attention span and find it very easy to walk away from jobs half done, have done this while cooking and oh has had to remind me of what I was doing!)
good luck with digging and try to amke it fun, not a chore. ;D
It's too cold! That's my excuse today. Although got loads of housework to do now I'm in so drew short straw there! Maybe you could try doing the ironing and see how much more attractive digging seems!
Definately got to have tea and biccies, helps you keep going, or get started. ::)
Think of sowing seeds in your lovely soil and watching all the lovely plants grow..nice isn't it?
Well, it won't happen if you don't get down there, now go, go on, go! ;D
Quote from: spaf69 on March 16, 2007, 11:03:54
I take my 7 year old son who has a fasination with digging holes, big holes and then planting sprouts so when I dig that area over all i find is sprouts. have you got a radio to take up with you, you could then say you will dig for 3 songs and have a break (used to do this when exercising, or housework as I suffer from depression I now have short attention span and find it very easy to walk away from jobs half done, have done this while cooking and oh has had to remind me of what I was doing!)
good luck with digging and try to amke it fun, not a chore. ;D
That made me chuckle - I too have a 7 year old with a love of digging holes! Place is like a flipping deathtrap!
Louise
Quote from: LauraB on March 16, 2007, 10:30:59
... because I really can't face the sheer amount of work to be done :-\
It's a beautiful day, but I'm so sick of digging and there's nothing else to be done. Someone give me a kick please
Awww... I do feel for you! as I have been there too!
Try setting limits, that way you can see what you have achieved! Then plant something - anything - as long as something is growing it somehoe doesn't seem too bad! Remember that it's not a race and you will get there in the end!
Louise
i have a couple of excuses
... soils to wet to dig
... no top soil to back fill the raised beds
.... 2 tired
..... mother in law is down
my solutiuon
go to plot sunday when it might be dry enough to dig beds and back fill with a little horse manure which might get dug in by the worms until the following weekend when the top soil can be dug in after work friday.
Start seedlings at home in mean time.
but of course if it rains 8)
Quote from: louise stella on March 16, 2007, 11:18:16
That made me chuckle - I too have a 7 year old with a love of digging holes! Place is like a flipping deathtrap!
Louise
[/quote]
true the problem I have is that sometimes he will dig 2 holes near each other and then burrow out a tunnel between the two, when he has finished he will fill in the 2 holes but not the tunnel so when you stand on the area another hole appears and you fall over :)
Quote from: cambourne7 on March 16, 2007, 11:22:54
i have a couple of excuses
... soils to wet to dig
... no top soil to back fill the raised beds
.... 2 tired
..... mother in law is down
my solutiuon
go to plot sunday when it might be dry enough to dig beds and back fill with a little horse manure which might get dug in by the worms until the following weekend when the top soil can be dug in after work friday.
Start seedlings at home in mean time.
but of course if it rains 8)
the MIL being down would be my excuse to go!!!
no i like my MIL
don't get me wrong I like my MIL as well, it just means when she comes round, she will be too interested in the kids so I can escape to the allotment to have some peace and quiet.
:D
here's a kick my hubby same as you, where as i can't wait to get started. got my 7 year old to motavate hubby by getting her to ask him to start planting things in pots to get them started before they go into lotty.
this seems to of work every night this week they had been planting seeds in pots and trays, well done daughter. this weekend all going over to lotty even hubby to get started and lots of digging. i have been doing it on my own but we have two lottys and one is weed city thats why he's lost interest, the longer you leave it the harder it will be. go on go for it, think of peace and quiet
It could be worse, ive got 150 square yards of clumpy grass to clear!
A little often is the answer I think!
I tend to go down for no more than two hours at a time and do what is required if anything.
I've just taken on a really weedy and dirty plot and have lots of work to do also, so know how you feel! My neighbours keep telling me to just do "enough" so that you have made a bit of progress but not too much that you ache or are bored. So far it's worked for me and I've also done what norfolklass suggests - I say I'll dig a strip then do something else or have my brew and biccies, and before I realise I've done about three strips! My iPod helps too... (not with the digging, with the boredom!)
:)
This is not a long term solution - but might help this year.
Get a big ball of brightly coloured string and some short lengths of cane/wood to act as corner markers. Measure out each bed, lets say 8x4 and mark this area with the string.
Just dig out the area you plan to plant and then plant in it (althought wait for the forecast cold snap to pass) Then mark, dig and plant another bed and so on.
Now I know that will leave you with weedy paths, but that will give you an alternate job - sharpen hoe and chop of weeds head (V satisfying ;D)
Then next year, your dug beds will be much easier to turn over, leaving you to concentrate on the weedy paths, which will be much smaller areas requiring intensive digging.
HTH - its all about setting yourself achievable goals and not beating yourself up if things don't quite go to plan.
All sage advice.
As previously mentioned, mark your bed out first. Have a think if you want permanent plants (globe artichokes, fruit trees etc) and allocate beds for them too.
I've found that it helps enormously to mentally prepare yourself before you go. Decide on what you are going to achieve (ie: half a bed) and when you get to the plot focus on only what you have decided to work on.
So what if another area that worries you catches your eye, ignore it. That area goes on the list for another time.
Always be sure to turn around and look at what you have done in previous trips as well as the current trip. Congratulate yourself for achieving such good work - even if it's just clearing 1ft of land from weeds and rocks. It all adds up.
Invest in some weed suppressing fabric so that as soon as you have cleared a strip (particularly a whole bed) it gets covered over (& weighed down). This is to ensure that come the real growing season, weed seeds don't germinate, cover all your hard work and batter your confidence.
Some spring cabbages are ok to sow now (or so my packet says) and some garden centres may have some vegetable plug plants and fruit trees to buy for immediate planting - just provide some protection for the plug plants.
The sooner you get something in, the sooner it will start to feel like an allotment.
I can empathise utterly with your feelings having been there in the past and can recommend a book called "The Half Hour Allotment" which helped me develop a working (coping!) method.
Like Tee Gee I think the answer is little and often. I noramally go at least five times a week, rarely for more than an hour and I never dig for more than half an hour. I've only been up once this week (to turn a compost heap) because apart from the seeds I have going at home I have absolutely nothing to do on the lotty at the moment. Sorry ;)
thanks for good advice on here. when we took on our first lotty it was full of weeds we went mad and cleared the whole lot in a weekend, ached like i don't know what but we really enjoyed it, we got it april last year which was a bit late that's why we went mad on it, we got crops in and enjoyed what had been grown, since the warmer weather i have been going over on my own while my daughter at school and son in nursery (mornings only) i'm only over there for abour 1 hour and have really enjoyed it. The first lotty what we have isn't too bad got some weeds and grass which i'm trying to get rid of.
i really would agree to little and often i seem to have enjoyed this more than last year going full on, now i've got (we've) got to get started on the other one which is depressing if you see it, but looking a some of the pictures on here it isn't really that bad.
You have to make your plot suit your lifestyle. When you have kiddies I think you are better to have small beds for planting. My daughter Bunjy has 8x3 beds and she iis putting straw paths around them. Our plot is next to hers and we have full rows but have straw paths. the kids know that they can walk on the straw and they love it. My hubbie shouts out to them "Hey you keep off the black stuff", They soon learn. She has 3 babbies under 5 so she can't spend all day up the plot digging, As she finishes a bed she tries to plant it. This has encouraged her to do the next one. Don't push yourself too much or you will get disheartened and that will defeat the object. Allotments are supposed to be enjoyable
can you cover up some of the area you're not working on, makes it look less and helps weaken the weeds and grass, as bennettsleg says, also cover any area you've dug, if you're not going to plant straight away..you'll get there, little and often,
spaf69, i sympathise, my oh also has the dreaded depression ..the plot's helped him so much :)
As already said, little and often, and look back on the rows already dug over for insparation. ;D ;D ;D
Rather than a flask, I went and bought a little camping stove (gas), and a little kettle to make my coffee, I even bought a little camping toaster to go on it (£3.99) and a little pan - now i can have coffee n beans on toast when i'm cold hungry and fed up! Life is good!
Well, I go to the allotment for a couple of hours, and look how the thread has grown ;)
Brilliant advice (is there any other sort here?) as usual. I went, I dug, I managed my 5 feet and I feel much better about it all. It was encouraging to see that the bits I've dug already haven't sprouted any new growth in the month I've been away (the rest of the lottie has!) so pulling up all of the perrenial roots must be worth it.
We're away this weekend, but I'm definitely goingto be back on Monday now that I'm re-motivated ;D
Must take biccies next time though...and tea!
Hey LauraB, well done girl! Little and often and you will get there in the end, don't forget though, there's no need to dig the whole thing at once, just dig enough to get your crops in & you'll feel like real progress is being made. ;)
Camping stove & kettle sounds like the way to go, OH will be dead chuffed i've found yet more lottie related stuff to spend our hard earned dosh on ::)
Beat excuse, can't go down I am too busy on Allotments 4 all XX Jeannine
I have got to get a life
Hi LaraB
I felt like you did, I got my lottie at the end of October, it was a right mess. I wish I knew how to post pictures then I could show you.
Anyway, digging is all I seem to do as well, friends laugh at me, but I keep going cos the thought of summer, harvesting my crops and their jealous faces when I have all my lovely home grown stuff and save money will be ample reward! Plus, I'll be dead fit and energetic by summer...I hope!
I always take a radio & snacks & drinks. Keep going!
xx
Quote from: Jeannine on March 16, 2007, 23:03:10
Beat excuse, can't go down I am too busy on Allotments 4 all XX Jeannine
I have got to get a life
my life this morning has been out in the shed for the past hour pricking out toms !
the rest of the world is asleep (apart from those on A4A). ;D
just popped in for a f*g, a cuppa and some more seedlings.
our lives ain't bad.
;D
Ok - where you've dug... rake over to a fine tilth and plant/sow something - potatos. peas whatever... then start diggin on your next section.. take a walk with a bucket and zig zag over your plot pulling the biggest weeds out... then go home and have a cuppa!
feeling mega guilty that i have not made it up to the allotment this weekend. But with the high wind and snow its just not going to happen.
I have managed to get all my seed pots filled and the propigators ready and there warming in my makeshift mini greenhouse but i am going away for a few days soon and with the high winds i darnt plant anything other then the few peas i have already started but at least the soil will warm up and i can plant them up when i get back.
I have been contemplating paying someone to do the last 3 beds for me he charges £10 an hour but I think that to get back on track it maybe worth it as my back is playing up. It means i can come back and just plant my beds and seed pots up.... I dont know what to do.... Help
How long does he reckon it would take ?
Got to be worth considering.
don't suppose it would be a problem, helps your back, helps him, provided he does as he says, wins all round ;D
its about 3-4 hours work, hes got an allotment so i do trust him to do it right.
If you can afford it, it's got to be worth it, just to get back on top again !
;D
I've just been up, but its so cold and flippin windy that I've come home. Had another snow shower (sneeze and you'd miss it) but managed to prick out some seeds in the greenhouse, then a quick stomp around the plot to see if any enthusiasm might overtake me for digging or planting potatoes, but no, just cold. :-\ is the weather going to improve this week or is this as good as it gets ?
Quote from: mc55 on March 20, 2007, 12:00:33
I've just been up, but its so cold and flippin windy that I've come home. Had another snow shower (sneeze and you'd miss it) but managed to prick out some seeds in the greenhouse, then a quick stomp around the plot to see if any enthusiasm might overtake me for digging or planting potatoes, but no, just cold. :-\ is the weather going to improve this week or is this as good as it gets ?
Blimey, that's exactly what i did yesterday. Was so cold and icy wind, but went down anyway, just coz so much to do, virtually turned straight round when I got there! Still, nice exercise coming back up the giant hill!
I'm looking forward to the switch to BST next weekend - at the moment can only get to the allotment in daylight at the w.e.'s.
Roll on BST - can't wait! 8)
I usually plan to do some other jobs in between bouts of digging. Last time I dug for 1/2 an hour then emptied out my rat infested compost bin (after banging on the side a few times before I started digging!) put wire mesh under bin and secured to ground with tent pegs. Did some weeding of the area where I'm planting more raspberries, the soil here is sandy loam unlike the rest of my plot which is heavy clay....just doesn't make sense I wish the rest of my plot had this easy to dig soil.
Then another burst of digging the clay.
My non gardening OH helped me plant my damson at the weekend. It was a lovely day and he started talking about taking a week off work to come and help me dig because he enjoyed himself so much. Has the bug bitten?
isn,t life funny you put off doing something by making excuses and the moment you can,t you desperatley want to wella t least i got it dug before breaking my ankle
the greater purple footed marg
well what a difference a day makes - gorgeous sunshine all day. Managed to plant 41 potatoes (10 charlotte and 31 rocket), get a bit of digging / weeding done and some sowed some melons too.
BST almost here... my lotties are over the back fence so I'm able to potter for half an hour after work but soon proper light not just at the weekends. You have my sympathy Purple footed Marge, can I have some as I have pulled muscles in my back. At leats my OH likes digging!
:)