Here we are again

[HeyWayne]

Thinking of setting up a support group for those of us who look upon these pages and think "bugger, I'm way behind".

Seems that every year I set out with good intentions - plans to grow more than last year, not to let things go to waste, tend the plot properly etc, and then I get to about this time in the year and realise I've not done a great deal.

I haven't been on the plot for a couple of weeks - I know my potatoes need digging up, hoeing needs to be done, peas picked, courgettes cut, onions lifted and broad beans selected.

At least the rain has been helping with the watering.

[OverWyreGrower]

There should be disclaimers in signatures:

"You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are!"

[Alison]

You just need to set different targets, if you're way off each year then you (and I mean you in the plural sense here but am not using the word "one") end up feeling really down about it. Be more realistic about what you can do (stretch yourself a bit if you want) and you'll feel good about doing about the same. Works for me anyway and that way I'm always to schedule

[HeyWayne]

No I am behind.

I've only just put my tomatoes in a grow bag on the patio - they were in pots before that. I also have a load of beans that have swamped a seed tray - they started growing up each other in a self-formed teepee. Chillis are tiny and no sign of flowers, let alone fruit.

"New" potatoes are still in the ground.

Onions have all fallen over and look quite weedy compared to previous years.

My carrots are miniscule.

Beetroot is more beat, and less root.

Sweetcorn is about 2ft high (I drive past fields of the stuff on my way to work that is 6ft high at least).

Broad beans desperately need picking before they become leather handbags.

Peas that we intended to eat as pods now need picking and podding.

Swede is yet to make it from the seed tray into the ground.

Parsnips the same.

I'm rubbish.

[shobhna]

I never said I'd be excellent.....just 'good enough'
Well, at least that is what I am going to stick with. I have tried being superwoman but the blooming costume is too tight. :-0
I will just keep saying that I will be better at it next year. I will have my vegetable plot all planted up. I will have all my tomatoes staked properly, I will ...I will...I will.

ps....Can I join this support group? :-)

[HeyWayne]

Forgot to mention that I need to get the apples off the tree pronto too...

[OverWyreGrower]

I didn't even get round to planting onions or potatoes this year....

[HeyWayne]

I didn't even get round to planting onions or potatoes this year....

Now you're just trying to make me feel better!

[zazen999]

I was told this morning 'it's great - you just come along every now and then, shove a load of plants in and they just grow'. I only go to some of the places I have plants in about once or twice a month, so you have to just let things happen on their own.

Some toms I armpitted and shoved in some soil a while back have more and bigger toms on them than my original plants at home I discovered today. Go figure.

Next year, I'm shoving the things into the ground, covering with plastic and leaving the greenhouse free just for chillis. Bah flaming humbug.

[Florence Fennel]

I'm sure I put everything in at the right time, but I haven't harvested anything yet. I did drown the tomatoes though, so it'll be a bonus if I get any. Other stuff is really slow this year. You need a round tuit Wayne.

[Alison]

Forgot to mention that I need to get the apples off the tree pronto too...

Eh? In July?

[mothhawk]

You need a round tuit Wayne.

I'm sure I had one of those... I'll look for it one of these days....when I get a round tuit.....

[mothhawk]

It doesn't sound as if you're way behind, Wayne, it sounds as if Mother Nature is out in front

[Jeanied]

Wayne don't feel bad - for one reason or another my plots were neglected as well - but I came home with some nice spuds from underneath all the weeds today and that is all that matters. Along with the courgettes and beans given to me by fellow plotholders who felt sorry for me - oh and the fruit trees are really early this year - Mothhawk is right!

[endymion]

We're generally 'behind' this year, I'm blaming it on our new veg patch that we started ... a bit late.

Because we were doing that the seeds went in ... a bit late, then summer arrived instead of spring, which messed everything up!

Harvesting has, so far, been a bit hit and miss because free days have tended to be a bit damp ... we've got heavy clay soil, and a badly designed veg patch (which will be better, and possibly bigger, next year). But we've had some lovely lettuce/salad leaves, radish, Broad Beans and, this week, some dwarf French beans ... later than many people on here, but at least they're cropping.

A short-notice week away visiting friends has really focussed my mind, and all those things lingering in pots have been shoved into the ground any-which-way rather than depending on offspring to water them! I've also sown some carrots, probably far too late, but maybe they'll germinate while we're away and will do better than the earlier ones that didn't bother to show themselves above ground.

The rest of the broad beans, yes, they're still cropping because they went in late - well, they'll probably be horrible by the time we get back. But maybe by then the runners will be up their poles and flowering, instead of sulking at ground level.

It looks as if, at long last, we might be getting a courgette or two, and some cucumbers - but it'll probably rain while we're away and they'll turn themselves into giants.