count your blessings

Gardening to 'grow your own food' from square foot to half an acre !!
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lancashire lass
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count your blessings

Post by lancashire lass »

I share an allotment plot with a friend who always sees disaster, doom & gloom in everything he does. It can get very depressing, but to be fair, he does seem to have had his fair share of onion rot, clubroot and blight. But so have others, including myself. It can be disheartening to find some plants are not doing so well, having to dig up blight infested potatoes that are nowhere near ready for harvest, comparing this time with last year etc etc, and with all this rain day in and day out, many gardening jobs are not getting done. It can get you down.

The other evening (when the sun was shining!), I thought it would be wise to go to the greenhouse to water some of my plants (you tend to forget those still under cover when it is constantly raining outside!) I strode down the lawn which had not seen a mower in a long while, the grass was going to seed and the dog suddenly looked very small in the tall grass.

After I had completed that task, I thought it was perhaps a good idea to check out the rest of the garden. Most of the apple trees are okay, the Charles Ross looking more productive than it has ever, the Bramley seedlings have got a few proper BIG apples (instant visualisation of apple pies!), conference pears look so-so. Then I got to the Discovery apple tree and horror of horrors, it looked like it had decided to have a June drop in July. But then I looked closely at the ones still on the tree, picked one and bit into it - it was ripe! I looked at the hazelnut and for the first time since I planted it, there are nuts (admittedly only 4 - quickly scan the horizon for Mr Squirrel!) My fault for not netting them, but unfortunately the birds had managed to get to the Morello cherries when they were still in the bright red stage, but OMG! I can see great bunches of ripe blueberries half hidden in the long grass.

The moral of this story is that it is not always a disaster when things do not turn out the way we wanted it. In spring, I had planned and counted on a good vegetable harvest, but my fruit trees and bushes in the garden had got a bit forgotten and they in the end had exceeded any expectations
AnnaB
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count your blessings

Post by AnnaB »

LL
What a lovely post. We are having the same kind of thing here - its a good job we have some tomatoes in the greenhouse this year (usually they are all put outside) so we will get some.

The peppers are also safely in there and we've still lots and lots of onions!
Last edited by AnnaB on 27 Jul 2007, 20:29, edited 3 times in total.
PK
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Post by PK »

Absolutely the right attitude LL!
In my experience it is never a complete disaster. If a particular plant or crop does not do well, others more than likely will. In my garden, which is quite dry soil, some plants that don't usually do all that well but I am reluctant to give up on, are doing famously this year with the extra moisture. On the vegeatble front, the broad bean this year were badly affected by black fly, but he runner beans are cropping beautifully. :)
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Mo
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Post by Mo »

Anna, I thought spam came in tins????
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wendy
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Post by wendy »

ha ha Mo....so did I.
Wendy
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you will just have to be a horrible warning
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Post by bettysue »

was feeling a bit depressed myself earlier in the week was thinking of packing in my allotment i didn't think it would ever stop raining. Not much of my veg have survived, might get some spinach later and courgettes might pick up. But today the sun did shine and i've got a freezer full of fruit and gerkins and tomatoes so all is not lost and i might keep it another year!
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Willow
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Post by Willow »

Hi.. This is our first year at veg. growing so we made 'some' mistakes.. not thinning out being one of them! Mind you the rain hasn't helped any has it?
We planted Peas and french beans in March, they shot up and we had a decent crop of peas and some beans.. But the peas are now rotten and too crowded and I'm pulling them out.
Beetroot were ok till the chooks found them and carrots are smallish but delicious!
Lettuce we planted far too many at the same time and ended up with a glut - then nothing..
Courgettes are still doing ok.
Outside Tomatoes leaves are going brown and plenty of fruit but all green!
Is there anything that can be planted at this time of year?
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid"

Albert Einstein
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Mo
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Post by Mo »

Spring cabbage?
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heebiejeebie
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planting now...

Post by heebiejeebie »

Yesterday I planted out leeks, garlic, cauli (snowball), Kale (Black Tuscany) and purple sprouting broccoli for late winter/spring cropping.

(if you have no seedlings ready then it's possible to get seedlings in roottrainers, more expensive than sowing seeds but not prohibitive)
There's no cure for stupidity.
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lancashire lass
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Post by lancashire lass »

I was going to try and sow some spring cabbage, kohl rabi and turnips in peat pots about now to give them a boost before planting those out in some of the gaps that have appeared on the allotment where things came out a bit earlier than anticipated. I was also going to experiment with sowing some onion seed and see if they can be over wintered, and of course in autumn there are broad beans to sow and onion sets to plant!
PK
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Post by PK »

Chinese greens such as pak choi and chinese cabbage are good for sowing and planting out at this time of the year.
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