My name is Singleseeder and I am a plantaholic.

[singleseeder]

Am I alone? I sow a few seeds, and then a few more to allow for failures, oh, and a couple more varieties (for variety) and they all germinate. I pot them all up, well you do don't you? They all thrive and suddenly I have 20+ courgette plants, 20+ squash plants, over 100 tomato plants, trays of lettuce, enough loo rolls with beans and peas in to feed an army and ............... have you got the picture yet?

Check out another thread and you'll see that I have a freezer full of last year's goodies to use up PDQ, well certainly before anything begin to crop.

Who can help me manage this compulsion? How do I restrict myself to what I can grow and eat? How on earth can someone consign a seedlng to the compost heap when someone might, just might, give it a good home?

Heeeelp me please.............

[Bigmallly]

Would any local schools be happy to take a few spares. Do any local pubs GYO.

[Sanjo]

I do more or less the same and when it comes to transplanting I give even the sorriest specimens a chance. It feels like murder to throw a seedling because it's "weedy" looking or because I feel I have enough, so I usually tuck it into a bit of compost and wish it good luck. If after that it fails - well I did my best didn't I.
Like you, however, I sometimes end up with more plants than I realistically want.
I did it recently with lettuces and although I like a fresh picked one it's just me and the OH and he thinks salad is the devil's work.
However, my daughter has a large garden and limited funds at the moment so I have found a good home for all my little projects, even if they are only going to be used to feed her chickens.

[Florence Fennel]

I still do this, but only sometimes. I'm a bit more ruthless than I used to be and if I'm not, I take the small plants to work and give them away there. It's hard to throw away the seedlings, but I find it even harder to waste fully grown plants.

[veggiechicken]

Single seeder, you are not alone with your problem. There are many more like you who also find it difficult to follow the hard and ruthless path that some advice circles advocate. You have a soft and caring side which is at odds with the destruction that other, more heartless gardeners consider the norm.
Take comfort from the support that those of a similar nature can offer, we are here to help you.
Now what was the question?

[Jardiniere]

I'm exactly the same and as most of the people i know don't need plants as they grow their own from seed too(or buy plants) I end up with clumps of tomato plants that will never grow to full size etc ..solved the problem of lettuce etc which is to eat them while they are still tiny so you always need loads more to put in.....
luckily i am a useless gardener living in a neighbourhood full of plant pests from slugs to wild boar so I have more failures than successes.

[Creemteez]

Take your excess babies to your local charity shop. They'll sell em' to folk who can't afford garden centre prices AND you'll be doing your bit for whichever good cause benefits!
Mind you, as I rent my garden privately and there are no restrictions imposed upon me as to selling my surplus, I bung mine on a trestle table outside my house with an honesty box. Made over £100 so far and that's before my excess tomatoes, chillies and runner beans go out.
It pays my rent for next year (£100) and any over goes towards buying compost etc..

[Dane End Dolly]

Dear Single seeder, i feel your pain, i too am a seedaholic/plantaholic and have found a new approach help me in handling this terrible affliction, it is called that "shoehorn method", it is a secret method handed down from one plantaholic to another to help cope with the terrible side effects of our affliction. There are no books or instructions available, so i will share with you my knowledge on how to plant in this way.

1. spend all winter lovingly planning your plot in nice rows or foot squares, covering crop rotations, light and any other considerations.

2. sow your seeds that you need, with at least one spare and also a couple of others that you have no room for but if the others do not come up, you can put them in in there place.

3. when all the plants come up........PANIC!!!!!!!!

4. when the plants are ready to go into their allocated plot, put what you can where they are meant to go and then stand back and look at the piles of pots with there little plants screaming "please use me".........PANIC again!!!!!!!!!

5. walk around plot with pots in hand and "bung" a plant in where there is a space or a perception of space.

6. cross fingers

7. crop rotation goes out of window as does the months of planning the beds.

8. if desperate resort to furtively "bunging" a veg plant in the wild flower/normal flower/herb beds and nonchantly say to hubbie when discovered "how did that get there"

9. put plants in larger pots and leave along path, remember to move pots when wheeling wheelbarrow or large amount of loud expletives will be used.

10. VOW NEVER TO DO THE SAME AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bigmallly]

I am fortunate to have a spare raised bed 25'x4' which is divided into 100 individual sq ft.........this bed is dedicated to spare plants that will not fit in their designated beds..........It's my way of sq ft gardening without thinking about it.

[Dead Dogs]

This must be an infectious disease that is reaching pandemic proportions. I also have similar symptoms.

When pinching out side shoots from my toms, I now put them in compost and grow them on as indiviual plants.

[Dane End Dolly]

This must be an infectious disease that is reaching pandemic proportions. I also have similar symptoms.

When pinching out side shoots from my toms, I now put them in compost and grow them on as indiviual plants.

that is excessive, have you considered rehab!!!!

[Peas'n'Kews]

My weakness is sticking the prunings from hazel, gooseberry, current etc into the soil. Then ending up with every single stick taking root.

Oh, did I mention the "marker sticks" cut from hazel, gooseberry, current etc also taking root?

where's a spare freezer!

[The Large One]

LOL
same here
my vice now is chillis
i just finished potting up the first batch on saturday...i now have 250 1 litre pots all scattered around the GH, along with all the beans and toms, courgettes..etc etc
what the ell i'm gonna do with them i have no idea

[dominic10]

Oh my, our new allotment is 3 weeks old today - is this what I have to look forward to? Up til now I have been very restricted as I share a third of half a plot and currently have lots and lots of stuff growing at home for our new plot. On our allotment site plants are grown to sell to others on the site to raise allotment funds and also there is a table for anything anyone wishes to donate/pass on to others such as excess plants and well anything really - there was half a greenhouse the other day.

[taff]

I've been very good this year, or at least I was being until last Saturday.
I'm not so good now.....I re-arranged the greenhouse and put the blowaway in there with it's 4 extra shelves and stodd up a flimsy shelf thing for 2 extra shelves, and I have to go and get some glass for the cold frame thingy so I can put some stuff in there too.
I really was being very good for a change....