Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: AlaninCarlisle on July 03, 2015, 10:20
-
My mistake that I make year after year is getting carried away by an early mild spring, starting loads of stuff in the propagator (French, Runner and Borletto beans are typical examples) and then running out of room and having to plant them out in May, just in time for a late cold spell.
-
Where do you want to start Alan :lol:
I do the carried away bit with the seeds. I am also convinced each year that my greenhouse is a tardis and of course will have space for those extra tomatoes or peppers in there. I grow loads of leek seedlings then feel duty bound to plant the lot, so end up with acres of them. I'm finding I'm getting the same way over onions as well. Must be an allium thing ::) ..... the list goes on ......
I love it all, chaos, mistakes and triumphs :D
-
Yep... ordering a kilo of onion sets when all i need is half a kilo, or a pound in old money.
-
Planting a row of Rocket when all we really need is a few leaves now and again.
Planting a row of Snowball turnips and watching them grow to basket-ball size as we only eat a couple per week
Growing 24 tomato plants because I can't bear to throw seedlings away
Growing three cucumber plants when one would suffice
Sowing carrots too early and then losing them in the weeds
-
Oh yes. Forgetting all the maths - and buying enough seeds to plant fourteen acres. PLUS forgetting that there are only two of us - I could feed the five thousand with salad left over! Buying 'weird stuff' for a laugh - and ending up with...'weird stuff.' Like Walking Onions...Google it! ::)
-
I think we all do the sowing too many seeds - well you never know if the weather/slugs/snails/birds will leave you with enough to grow on, do you ::) :lol:
Not potting on in time is my particular failing - everything seems to get root-bound before I get round to it :blush: and it's not good for the plants :(
-
I think the worst mistake is when you think 'Now I remember, that also happened last year and I made a mental note to try it like this next year. Oh well maybe next year I'll remember!"
-
Courgettes. Nuff said..
-
Courgettes. Nuff said..
One of my fellow plot holders was telling us all the other day about his first patch of 10 courgette plants and his second one of 6 courgette plants :ohmy:
There were looks being exchanged that needed no words - just a silent message of 'run if you see him coming in a few weeks' :lol:
-
Not labelling pots properly ::)
-
Collecting seeds
Sowing too early
Sowing too late
Sowing too much
Sowing whats left in the pack as I think the seeds are naff as the first couple of sowings done nothing
Not potting on early enough
Keeping spare plants just incase (that are still lurking almost/completely dead 6-8 months later)
Thinking my greenhouse is bigger than it is
Thinking I will actually eat it all if I grow it
Planting too close
Not watering enough
Not feeding enough
Not securing netting at every possible miniscule point
And yet they still grow :D :D :D
-
Collecting seeds
Sowing too early
Sowing too late
Sowing too much
Sowing whats left in the pack as I think the seeds are naff as the first couple of sowings done nothing
Not potting on early enough
Keeping spare plants just incase (that are still lurking almost/completely dead 6-8 months later)
Thinking my greenhouse is bigger than it is
Thinking I will actually eat it all if I grow it
Planting too close
Not watering enough
Not feeding enough
Not securing netting at every possible miniscule point
And yet they still grow :D :D :D
ALL OF THE ABOVE! 😤😤😤😤😤
-
Reading your lists, guys, I realise I am not alone.
My additional annual error is growing more chillies than we can possibly eat :lol: :lol:
-
I always start my tender plants too early. I always grow too many greenhouse plants and try and keep them all until my greenhouse looks and feels like a jungle.
-
Planting too many onions - I just love to see something growing then realise I've left no space.
Tender stuff too early.
Not netting stuff.
Not picking things...
Overenthusiastic seed and plant ordering so I run out of space.
-
Every year, without fill, I plant my tomatoes too close together and then quit trying to pinch out suckers, which then leads to a jungles of tangles tomato vines. I'll never learn😜
-
Leaving my pots of seedlings within reach of my 2 year old!!!!!!!
-
Buying/otherwise acquiring too many new varieties of seeds that I cannot stop myself from sowing.
Not potting on plants in time.
Planting things too close so I can cram more in.
Believing I can dig much more in a day than I actually can and basing all my plans for plot success on this misconception.
Believing you can never have too many chillies/squashes/tomatoes/new things.
-
Collecting seeds
Sowing too early
Sowing too late
Sowing too much
Sowing whats left in the pack as I think the seeds are naff as the first couple of sowings done nothing
Not potting on early enough
Keeping spare plants just incase (that are still lurking almost/completely dead 6-8 months later)
Thinking my greenhouse is bigger than it is
Thinking I will actually eat it all if I grow it
Planting too close
Not watering enough
Are you sure you're not me? 😄
Not feeding enough
Not securing netting at every possible miniscule point
And yet they still grow :D :D :D
-
Not labelling pots properly ::)
that is one of my failings also.
-
Labelling - I'm a bit better but still not great.
Too many plants in too little space
Labelling
Weeding - not done regularly enough leads to half day of weeding rather than a bit of weeding and then some more entertaining stuff getting done
Labelling
Pip pip,
Balders
-
:lol:I do so many of the things mentioned above -
Not potting on soon enough so plants are pot bound
Planting too close
Not picking in time so things go over
Cropping and then not eating in time - devastating to see my own produce go to waste. I don't do this too often, but I do do it :(
Not going up to water my allotment enough
Growing on to many plants
what a relief I am not alone
-
I feel so much better reading all this, 'cos it is all of the above.
Plus, letting OH plant too many spuds and running out of space for other stuff, which then results in a mad dash to clear more of the new plot and playing catch up to stick in plants that were pot bound and desperate to get into the ground. :(
-
I can identify with so many already said !
-
Going on holiday and expecting the plot to still be weed free when I get home.
Thinking I can still work as hard and as long as I did when I was in my 20s!
Not sitting down enough and enjoying the allotment.
-
I feel so much better now that I realise that it's not just me! Despite writing myself notes for the following year, I STILL commit the same sins over and over again. I am getting better at labelling stuff, and not thinking that I'll remember what variety it is, and I don't try to wedge quite so much stuff into the plot, so I can, at last, manage to get between the various crops, so I am improving a bit. Other than that, I'm still guilty of any and all of the mistakes that everyone else makes.
-
Going on holiday and expecting the plot to still be weed free when I get home.
Thinking I can still work as hard and as long as I did when I was in my 20s!
Not sitting down enough and enjoying the allotment.
So agree with the last sentiment. Was thinking how retirement is supposed to mean more relaxation, can't work out what's gone wrong! Think it's the old adage of work expanding to fit time available...
-
Thinking I can still work as hard and as long as I did when I was in my 20s!
Not sitting down enough and enjoying the allotment.
So agree with the last sentiment. Was thinking how retirement is supposed to mean more relaxation, can't work out what's gone wrong! Think it's the old adage of work expanding to fit time available...
As well as the above,
Not staking things soon enough.
Sometimes planting things too far apart in my raised beds.
Not re-sowing more seeds for later crops.
-
Sitting back with a small sigh of relief to admire my handiwork around mid June having finally got all the 'summer stuff' planted out, thereby forgetting that salad crops need re-sowing to keep supplies going into autumn.
Every year, mindful of the fact that Florence Fennel is best sown later to avoid the worst of the heat, I forget until it's actually too late, so still get nothing edible. :nowink:
Will get the seed packets out again today (maybe! :lol:)
-
So nice to not be alone in this!!!
Mind you the weather really doesn't help does it? There is always next year :)
-
I reckon that next year or the year after I'll have to top the eighty-five or so tomatoes we grow...
Perhaps go for the ton next year, then fall back to a comfortable fifty or there abouts...
It depends on how the Crimson Crush work out, because if they really do beat blight, we'll just stick with them!
-
But isn't the joy of this, is being able to give away seedlings and the fruits of our labours? I gain great pleasure from it!! We run a plant sale at our allotment with the XS of tenants sowings.
-
Letting my Dad have free reign in the greenhouse (it's only an 8x6). We buy enough to fill it then he starts planting the side shoots!
We bought 14 plants because when I sow them myself he keeps the lot, 2 years ago we had 49 tomato plants and 10 cucumber!
Currently he has 33 plants from side shoots and the 14 we bought but then we went to aldi so now he has 3 hanging baskets tomatoes as well !!
Every year I say I'll not be growing sprouts again but guess what? I bought some transplants that were reduced at the nursery last weekend!
I think us gardeners are just an optimistic bunch!! :)
-
I think having an allotment is the mistake I make year after year. Trouble is I thought it was so much fun that about six weeks ago I took over a derelict plot (yeah 2 x 10 rods now). :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
-
All of this. I feel much better now 😂
-
And here I am, nearly 7 years after my original post and still taking the same risks with too-early sowings of beans. Maybe, just maybe, this year I'll get away with it!
-
Forgetting where I am with crop rotation, forgetting to put plants I'm hardening off back into the greenhouse overnight, thinking I will remember what I've sown where and not organising plant supports and /or netting . Still manage to get sufficient fruit and veg though and next year I'll be more organised,,,,yeah!!!!
-
Courgettes. Nuff said..
Lordy, so true. It gets so the neighbours start to hide if they see me coming with a filled trug. ::)
-
Feeling bound to accept "just one or two" tomato plants from a neighbour and then being compelled to somehow squeeze them in despite knowing there's never, ever room for extras, just because I can't bear the thought that they might pay a visit and (God forbid) find out that they've been binned.
-
Reading your lists, guys, I realise I am not alone.
My additional annual error is growing more chillies than we can possibly eat :lol: :lol:
Me too, mostly because I like the look of 'em, hanging there like Christmas baubles! Luckily one of my mates is a total addict so they never go to waste.
-
Collecting seeds
Sowing too early
Sowing too late
Sowing too much
Sowing whats left in the pack as I think the seeds are naff as the first couple of sowings done nothing
Not potting on early enough
Keeping spare plants just incase (that are still lurking almost/completely dead 6-8 months later)
Thinking my greenhouse is bigger than it is
Thinking I will actually eat it all if I grow it
Planting too close
Not watering enough
Not feeding enough
Not securing netting at every possible miniscule point
And yet they still grow :D :D :D
All of the above, plus tearing off the top of seed packet in a hurry because I try to do too much all at once, and managing to remove the seed title from unillustrated packets. Total confusion the next year, apart from one or two easily identifiable ones.
-
Not being ruthless enough when thinning things out and probably not feeding enough through the growing season.
-
Rob the rake I so identify with that. Yes I see them coming with their 3 spare courgette plants but to keep the peace I accept them.
I’m also sentimental about ( some ) weeds, I have a soft spot for borage as the bees love it and it’s a handsome plant. But boy does it take over and in an allium bed it’s a disaster. I’m getting better at hoeing off the little plants, but still feel bad about it. I allow white nettles for the same reason.
-
It depends on how the Crimson Crush work out, because if they really do beat blight, we'll just stick with them!
Been growing Crush for 5 years. They do work!
-
Rob the rake I so identify with that. Yes I see them coming with their 3 spare courgette plants but to keep the peace I accept them.
I’m also sentimental about ( some ) weeds, I have a soft spot for borage as the bees love it and it’s a handsome plant. But boy does it take over and in an allium bed it’s a disaster. I’m getting better at hoeing off the little plants, but still feel bad about it. I allow white nettles for the same reason.
My plot neighbour likes borage too. So much so that it's this year's most common weed on my own patch; I must've removed over a hundred of the blighters. So far, none of them have come up in a place where I'll allow it to grow, but there's still time... :D