What makes a good gardener?.

[ioan]

Hi everyone
Reading cillas post confessing to lmpatiance with her spuds brought a smile to my face
cos my biggest failing as a gardener ( amateur ) is impatience.
Do you have a weakness ?
kind reg
ioan

[Scarlet]

I dig the beans out of the compost to check to see if they've sprouted and I always dig around the garlic to see how wide they've got.

[scarey55]

My weakness is that I can't bear to throw away any seedlings, no matter how rubbish they are. Probably why I have far too many of everything and still have parsnips in a big pot that I know won't come to anything but I still can't bear to throw them away

[PyreneesPlot]

I try and garden with wildlife in mind - love seeing the insects and birds - but sometimes I do get a nasty case of Parks and Gardens and just can't stop tidying/weeding a patch until almost nothing is left but tidy bare soil

[Nicos]

All of the above!

Plus, I'm becoming more of a fair weather gardener

[muddled]

I have so many, it's hard to know where to start!

Like Scarlet, I root about disturbing things 'just to see'
and like Scarey, I can't bare to thin seedlings....I try to save them all. Sadly not through an altruistic love of plants though.....I'm just greedy!

My biggest weakness though, is the huge chasm between what I plan to do and what I'm actually physically capable of doing.
If I accepted my limitations I'd have a lovely garden and allotment....not awesome but quietly productive.

Instead I have booby trapped bombsites of half finished projects. Lots of food but massive failures too

[WPG]

My weakness, with both flowers and veg, is I always leave it too late before staking tall plants. Every year I lose a few sprout plants, tomatoes, broad beans, sunflowers etc before I finally get around to putting canes and strings in.

Even as I'm typing this, I'm looking out the window at an aquilegia plant that's toppled over in the wind.....

[Sharpy]

If i`m enjoying a cuppa, and see a weed..................I`m up and at it.

[Lumpy]

I think me and Muddled are secret twins separated at birth.

I am not a successful gardener but I am a happy gardener with a leaning towards the just leave it and if it grows brilliant if not hey ho.

I plant far too many of everything - I have 12 lettuce all ready NOW! and the neighbours have got to the stage of shutting the curtains and pretending they are out if they see me coming with an armful of veggies.

[muddled]

We may be indeed!
I certainly bare a striking resemblence to your avatar picture

[Bren In Pots]

My weakness is that I can't bear to throw away any seedlings,

Thats me as well, over the years I've given both neighbours either side my spare plants one bought a GH and the other grows beans and peas amongst his flowers.

[noviceveggrower]

Oh I think I am a triplet then Muddled and Lumpy I try to be a good gardener but seem to fail so many times so I to aim to be a happy gardener.
I think my problem is that I get frustrated waiting for stuff to grow. I end up prodding stuff on a regular basis
I do grow good rhubarb though. Its mainly because I leave it alone and let is grow by its self

[Greenleaves]

Impatient in a different way, if after 6 weeks seeds have not put in an appearance then out with the hoe! My best carrots last year were mixed in with the brassica's

[veggiechicken]

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.

[Elfeda]

My baby boy pull the gross from lawn and feed chickens(pics) on the doormat