Allotments 4 All

i have no idea what i'm doing now! have stuff growing, have more stuff to go in but i'm worried i'll miss the right time to do an important job and mess everything up!

i'm a planning and list person and i just don't have time to sit and work it all out!

Hi legless - it takes a REAL effort to mess everything up!  There was something in the Watershed yesterday -

"12. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday" - sounds just about right!

Nothing wrong with a bit of procrastination - and even then the vegetables'll do their own thing when THEY are ready.

Bit like bee-keeping really - who actually does the keeping and the managing?  By golly, these "dumb" veg have got us well-trained!

All best - Gavin   :) :) :)

PS Your question - "does anyone else feel completely overwhelmed?" - Yup! :)

Yes - but not to worry. For instance, a tray blew onto my fennel seedlings today & flattened them. So - another week before they are ready to go out. If at all. So - what did I gain in starting when I did?  = Tim

Hi Legless,
              Can't do with lists too many if's in lottying to work to a list ..Like putting a tray of real nice leeks out to harden off and it was on the list to set them  the same weekend .BUT a cat decided to use them as a litter tray on the thursday so bang went that job on the list,,Half the fun is being in a spin re planting etc. Wouldn`t the hobby be boring if everything went to plan ..
I will stick it out and only pack it in when it gets me to the point that  I start planting the onion sets upside down ...cheers ..Jim.. :)

I'm sure we all do from time to time, then all of a sudden, everything goes along swimmingly, and lulls you into a false sense of security, cos WHAM, everything goes belly up again!  At this time of year, does it really matter if things are planted out this week or next, or the week after that to be honest.  Tis warm and lovely and things will catch up, and my current way of thinking is, if things go in really late, well I will enjoy tender baby veg instead!  ;D  I started the year with lists and plans....and I haven't looked at it since March, and you know, so far so good!  ;D

And Legless, of course you know what you are doing, you got it all growing didn't ya, thats more than some folk do, and mess up, on the allotment, only if you fall head first into the manure pile!  :P

took on a new allotment - totally overgrown this year after leaving last allotment for various reasons  absolutely huge plot and bindweed/horsetails to give you nightmares- lots to do in front and back gardens at home  and I mean lots - plus all that life has to throw at you in EVERY possible way - where you don't know what to do next or should you even take your next breath and then ------ within a minute good news can change your life,  

little seedlings start to grow sometimes against all odds,  seedlings you put in last year start to grow and show their true worth - and you realise how fantastic it is to be a part of life. take a deep breath and try to be accepting of what is happening - EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT THE RIGHT TIME AND PLACE- you don't aways have to know the reason why.

I am the sort of person who plans every part of my garden/allotment and I am so short of water on my allotment  just now I started to fear everything I had worked so hard for would die - but now I listen to the rain coming down after so long without water and I know EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT THE RIGHT TIME AND PLACE - everything will be ok - don't worry it will all sort itself out - we all get overwhelmed but just know everything is happening exactly the way it is meant to be.

Best wishes

PS  See you are also a Geordie - - we are made of strong stuff - you will be ok.  

thanks guys.

sorry to hear about your fennel Tim.

I just have visions of one day everything being harvested and then remembering i forgot to sow anything to follow on!  :D

it'll be ok. just wish it would rain here (except not for an hour cos i don't want to have to stand at the bus stop in the rain!) I give up temping next week and go 'full time' with the business so i should be able to fit in some sleeping and a bit more allotment!

p.s. I'm an import, not a real geordie but i have toughened up since i've been here!!!

Oh yes - constantly. When I was off work for three weeks nursing my sprained ankle, I managed to catch up with myself. But since going back to work, everything's over taken me again.

A few weeks back I wrote a list of everything I needed to do. It was HUGE. I threw it away.

I'm constantly missing when I should be sown. Then when I do finally sow them I don't have time to prick them out, so they are left two long. I then run out of compost, so can't do any of the above or have to ration myself. (We don't have a car, so I have to wait until I can get a lift to the garden centre.) Then I forget to plant things or pot them on so they get stunted.

I'm sure I was much more organised last year. But then I wasn't growing as much then.

Does it bother me? really - no. I just carry on bumbling through.

I'm not a list person I'm afraid, but I do sometimes use the ones you get in the back of veg. books to tell you what you should have sowed last minth :) .

By and large stuff seems to come up anyway -the plants don't seem to have read the books  ;D -my book says you can sow earlies now for Xmas, so you could presumeably have sowed them any time between March & now and would get a crop at some point.

Jeremy

Sufficient unto the day the evil thereof (or never do today what you can put off doing until tomorrow, or the next day)

Hi y'all - now I've got the paths under control I don't feel quite so overwhelmed - but then I'm ignoring No 2 plot (taming of which is going well slow...)

I've still got toms and peppers to put out - they'll do what they can despite my unkindness to them!  That's the brill thing about growing, don't you find - in the end, the plant will do its own thing to the best of its ability despite our input  8)

When it all gets too much and the plan (and lists) become a burden - I try and achieve just one small target which gives me a great psychological boost!  

And the smug satisfaction when you sit down the your own produce wipes out all the bad stuff, don't you find?!  :D


AC x

Dear Jo. Yes Yes and Yes!!  I am a great list writer.  It does help me organise my thoughts, but as long as I don't imagine I can do everthing on it or follow it to the letter I am okay.  I am gradually learning to be a little bit more laid back about gardening. Sometimes things are entirely out of my control, and I have found out that I am not always very efficient.  It is all about juggling and prioritising.  My husbands favourite saying is "We will be much better next year"! It is very comforting to hear other people feel the same way, and are not perfect either!  ;D busy_lizzie

i had a good day today down the plot and feel a bit better - the gaps are filling themselves as the plants grow and i still have plenty to go out. also got the marshalls autumn catalogue today and actually there's nothing in there that i would like to grow that i haven't thought of, so that's ok. and actually looking properly at all the green lush plots that i worry mine should be like - they're full of onions and cabbages and 1/2 plots of potatoes, i've got all those things but not in those quantities so its no wonder my baby lettuces and radishes don't look so impressive - yet!

3 days of resting and not being able to do anything apart from supervise watering sent me into a panic i think!!

its good to know other people feel the same!

well at least you've got 8" high sunflowers... mine are still in the packet !!  :-\
But dear old Monty Don did mention on GW a week or two ago that there was still time to sow them :)
mental note (again)...sunflower seeds to plant this weekend!

Debs ;D