What makes a good gardener?.

[Bal]

Whatever it is I'm not a good gardener. This year I have forced myself not to furtle around in pots to see if things are growing only to find I have just wrecked the roots of some poor seedlings that were just sprouting. I have actually waited 8 weeks to see if one of the chilli seeds I planted would actually germinate, and one has !!!

[Sarico]

My weakness? Be a gardener
That also make a good gardener. I realised that everyone is good and bad at something. If you get something to grow at home or plot you re good. There is not a super perfect gardeners I guess if you ask monty don he can't probably grow something (let say rice) even if a lot of failure or a lot of homeless seedling waiting for some ground to be freed you re good at something.

[Guest]

Love this thread. Lots of chuckling at how many of us do what we shouldn't. A couple more from me are having a little of everything and getting precious about seeds, I am like a gardening Golem.....my precious!

Thinking that I am trying to have a more natural garden by letting the lawn grow a bit longer, that the cow parsley looks lovely in flower, letting things go to seed and keeping the wild flowers that just randomly appear to then look at my neighbours lawn which is cut to within mm's of its life even going into winter, the squared hedges and nothing out of place

[WPG]

I just love the phrase VC used 'If the seedlings grow, I owe them a future'. Probably my least favourite part of gardening is thinning out seedlings, it makes me feel guilty about the rejects.

[ioan]

Weaknesses? Me??
Where to start?
With seeds - I need seeds, really I do. Can't stop buying them, especially when they're cheap. I like to sort the packets, read the covers, look up when to sow and plant etc etc. Then put them away and promptly forget about them until its a couple of months too late to sow them.
When I do sow them, I can't sow a sensible number of seeds, its as if I need to feed the whole of Wales. I mean, who in the right mind sows seeds of 32 different types of kale - and worries when they realise that there are still some kales missing from their seed collection.
It was the same with melons - never grown them before, but someone started a thread about them and now I have 30 melon seedlings.
If the seedlings grow, I owe them a future - so have to find somewhere in the garden where they can see out their days. Space is at a premium though, because the garden is full of roaming raspberries and selfseeded wild flowers which are "pretty". I can't pull up anything which is healthy and "pretty".
I have too many weaknesses, and I'm just an old softie with plants. If I could learn to sow in moderation and only grow the amount that I can eat, gardening would be a lot easier................but I think its too late to change.

Hi veg
l have personally awarded you the order of the gardener
very good post.
kind reg
ioan

[veggiechicken]

Thank you, Kind sir (drops a curtsey)
I'll tell you another of my weaknesses now
I don't "prune" anything - I take unintentional "cuttings" instead. The action is the same - take off shoots, stems, branches etc , but, I can't bear to throw them away so I stick them in the ground, or in a bucket of water or in a pot and see if they grow. Most of the time they do and then I have to plant them out somewhere in my Higgeldy Piggledy garden.
As I said before about the seedlings, if these cuttings grow I owe them a future too!
I suppose its all part of the challenge, to see what you can grow, and there's a lot of satisfaction in rearing them from tiny seeds, or bits of twig, into full grown plants that flower and fruit and..................produce more babies to rear.

[Bonsai Si]

My weakness I guess is; I get carried away...

I start off doing something to tidy up an area or add something simple, before I know it it's become a huge project. Granted I like to challenge myself, but sometimes I do wish I could learn when to put on the brakes and leave something once I have done what I initially set out to do.

Don't get me wrong, the results sometimes are brilliant (more often than not in fact), but stopping a lot earlier would have got the job done and allowed me to focus the remaining time I spent getting far too involved on other things I should have been focussing on.



Example... My old front garden.


Top left is how the garden looked when I moved to the house, the garden was 4 foot high with weeds and the housing association were less than happy about it, so I nuked it, strimmed it and started to "Tidy it up".

Then I added a small water feature (Bottom Right), mostly so I could showcase a few Bonsai trees out the front and ensure they were kept cool and humidified on the long hot days as the front is full sun all day. Also so my ex missus and I could sit out the front in the evening and enjoy a drink while smelling the flowers growing and listening to the birds singing and be social with the neighbours.

2 years later it's turned into a rather large rockery, most everything grown from seed by me or planted as a bare bulb and it's lovely.

Only issues being I've had to rip out most of the back garden to accommodate the 5M x 2M long Polytunnel required to grow all the flowers, (Having decided the little things they sell at Wilko do a great job, what could I do if I supersized it and went LArge!) I've now got a gardening addiction that is as expensive as a Class A drug habit and I can easily lose a whole 2 weeks on annual leave from work in the Garden and Polytunnel. The neighbours didn't bat an eyelid at 3am in the morning when they got up to get a glass of water and I'm roaming around the garden with a head torch on or the lights in the Polytunnel are on and I'm in there pricking out or wiring up a Bonsai tree.

A few hanging baskets, some pots and tubs would have done, but oh no, I had to go full bore and when that doesn't do it for me I have to go buy a Polytunnel and fill the shed with power tools as well as all the usual gardening tools and go all A-Team and build a tank with the biggest gun you can imagine, heh.

After the first season of gardening, none of my neighbours bothered buying any plants when Spring rolled around as they knew I'd end up giving away hundreds of plants grown from seed I had "left over after a 95-99% germination rate" and if they had subtly mentioned they liked the idea of having XY or Z in their garden at some point I usually ended up buying a packet and growing a load of them...

A few of my close friends are wondering where me getting an allotment is going to end up considering my old garden looked like a full blown Nursery for most for the year and most every inch was covered with things growing in seed trays or things in pots. It was like Botanical Tetris 6 months of the year. My Postman hated me with a passion, he was forever having to lug big boxes of stuff to the house and all the local DHL/Yodel drivers knew where my house was, lol.

So yeah, learning to stop at some point, my biggest weakness, not knowing when or where that point is.

[Jay-ell]

I tend to over sow everything. Instead of sowing the four plants I need plus a couple of spares I sowed a tray full (well none germinated last time) with 3 seeds per module. Most of them germinated and rather than pinch out the weakest ones I transplant each to their own plot. I now have over 50 seedlings for a plant that can grow 5' wide and 8' tall. Same thing with my chillies.

I also get distracted. The other day it took me one and a half hours to walk down the garden to get a watering can.

I'm easily tempted. Show me the slightest hint of bargin seeds and exotic plants and I'm off. Now I've worked out where the kiwi fruit is going I just have to work out space for the grape vines, honeyberries, blueberry, banana, fig, pomegranate - not to mention 50 Roselle plants

[Jay-ell]

Thank you, Kind sir (drops a curtsey)
I'll tell you another of my weaknesses now
I don't "prune" anything - I take unintentional "cuttings" instead. The action is the same - take off shoots, stems, branches etc , but, I can't bear to throw them away so I stick them in the ground, or in a bucket of water or in a pot and see if they grow. Most of the time they do and then I have to plant them out somewhere in my Higgeldy Piggledy garden.
As I said before about the seedlings, if these cuttings grow I owe them a future too!
I suppose its all part of the challenge, to see what you can grow, and there's a lot of satisfaction in rearing them from tiny seeds, or bits of twig, into full grown plants that flower and fruit and..................produce more babies to rear.

This reminds me of my gran. She was also a dab hand at using a dog lead to lasso cutting material from plants 5' away. She didn't have a dog but always had the dog lead.

[cilla]

OMG I am feeling so much better about gardening reading this tread. I was losing confidence that I starting a new hobby to find I could not do it properly (too much of a perfectionist). I can really relate to VC and NVG. especially getting the seed packets, reading all about it and then either putting it away and forgetting or don't have room. I am digging around the plants to see if anything has grown, as I have foliage. I cannot thin just in case that is the plant that would be the best in the end. Watering, well "have I over watered rotting the veggies or have I not watered enough therefore the veggie will not yield"
One thing is for sure I am a happy gardener and loving it to a state of obsession.

[Lumpy]

Glad you are feeling better Cilla. I still stress myself out sometimes though. At the moment its the weather but this morning I decided that I was being a daft bat and I am now just going to carry on as normal with my chaotic growing attempts.

[cristalfiona]

So many bad habits already - I'm only in my first year of gardening. I'm also guilty of acquiring seeds from everywhere, and also not being able to throw out my many packets of 7 year old seed just because some of them have germinated.

I check things way too often - I'm out most mornings and evenings looking at my plants and getting upset because there isn't visible growth from the last time I checked. I jumped for joy when I saw the first flowers on my broad beans, but they have refused to do anything further in the 2 days since lol.

I'm unable to just sit and enjoy my garden - I make a cup of tea, sit down and then remember something I need to do. Two hours later the tea is cold, I've done one small job in the garden and pottered around not really doing much for the rest of the time. So I suppose I get distracted easily too.

I'm also guilty of sowing either too many or too few of each plant. I have 7 tomato plants, even though I don't actually like tomatoes, but only 1 courgette despite the fact I love them and put them in meals at least 3-4 times per week.

I'm sure there are plenty more, but I've only been gardening for 3 months so I'd best not make too bad an impression!

[Bonsai Si]

I make a cup of tea, sit down and then remember something I need to do. Two hours later the tea is cold

Get a thermal mug NOW, save yourself a fortune in wasted drinks.

I got fed up wasting coffee, best £3 I spent in the garden. Also handy in Winter, I prefer the metal ones, easier to clean and see when you put it down and forget where you put it.

[Jay-ell]

Get a thermos - I often drink mine when I get home.

[cristalfiona]

Get a thermal mug NOW, save yourself a fortune in wasted drinks.

I got fed up wasting coffee, best £3 I spent in the garden. Also handy in Winter, I prefer the metal ones, easier to clean and see when you put it down and forget where you put it.

It's ok, I'm developing quite a taste for microwaved tea I do have a thermos, I just like a mug.

I've also thought of another one - I lose seeds! No idea how, they're all kept in the same place, but I was re-sorting them now most of the sowing is done this year and I can't find my pak choi. There's probably more, but that was the one I noticed as I was going to keep it out for sowing later next month.