Disabled/Partners

[WURZEL]

I am new to this forum and would like some advise please, please , please. My husband has the allotment but is partially disabled and has had a very bad year. I work full time and have the house, pets, gardens etc to look after as well as hubby. It is now left to me to do all the heavy work on the allotment as well. We have invested in a Mantis Tiller/cultivator. However because we live in East Yorkshire we have had quite a lot of wet weather so have found the cultivator hard to use. i have turned over a portion of allotment ready for early planting of potatoes. As the weather has been so bad ( I have noticed even the wild trees/hedges are reluctant to start budding) will it really matter if our plants e.g onion sets, brassicas etc are put in later than normal, oh and potatoes.? Will they catch up or am I going to have a bum crop?????
Any tips will be gratefully received. PS. Hubby set up a raised bed culture on the allotment as well.
Love to all

WURZEL

[Jaxom]

Hello Wurzel and welcome to the vine. I can understand your concern about the late start most of the country have had this year. I am new to vegetable growing but what I lack in experience I make up for by having my nose in a book most of the time.
Two things lead me to say don't worry.
One, watching the Victorian Garden DVD. The year was filmed and during the thirteen episodes the comment was made over and over again. "Such a late start to the year" "We are six weeks behind" "Haven't seen it this wet in decades" By the time harvest time had come round the crops had all caught up and everything in the garden was wonderful. Mother Nature has a way of putting things to right.
Two, the number of books I have read in the last few months all lead me to say the following. Every thing will come right later in the year. This is based on the writing of Alan Titchmarch, Percy Thrower, Geoffrey Hamilton and one or two other writers.
Jax

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Wurzel welcome to the mad house! I am in the same boat as you with the weather and so are alot of other people. We just have to wait. You can't sow potatoes and onions when the ground is so wet. All the crops will grow but will be ready to eat a few weeks later than usual. I would wait for the ground to dry a bit more before using the Mantis. At the moment it will just get clogged up with mud and it will be really hard work. So just hang on a bit.

[nick the grief]

Join the Club Wurzel!!! I wouldn't worry too much, My spuds are still chitting nicely. The shallots that I started at CHristmas in cells have oly just gone in, same with my Broad Beans. If you plant it at the moment they won't doo much as the soil's still cold. I usually go hell for leather in April & May then rest on my laurels for a couple of weeks while the weeds come thru

[dabbit]

I'm sorry your hubby had a bad year Wurzel - I too am disabled and am unable to do any of the heavy work...I have now chosen to grow in containers - which can produce really good crops, and I wonder if perhaps your hubby could do this instead if having to worry about an allotment - especially as you work full time too.

[Nicos]

Hello worzel! You must feel under a lot of pressure to 'keep the plates spinning' so to speak and keep everyone happy.
Are you always going to have to do the heavy work, or is this a one off this year? If it's a one off then maybe you could 'invite' some friends and their partners over for a session on the allotment, and give them a good nosh up at the end? I'm sure the blokes would fight for a turn on the tiller!
You could always leave all or part of the allotment fallow this year and give the soil a rest. (-depends on how organic you are regarding weeds)
If it's more perminant, then you'll need to review the lay out and the crops you'll grow.There are quite a lot of labour saving ideas, and quite a few disabled people here on the Vine to advise you of what works for them.
If it's any consolation,we are only halfway through our autumn dig - because of the mud!! It will all catch up
Remember - it's your health that's important.

[andrewo]

Understand your predicament, I too am disabled and couldn't use a cultivator on my soil either, I instead put down lots of manure late in the year and covered in plastic, planted through the plastic with courgettes and spuds. I also used cardboard as a mulch and created raised beds with new soil on top. I now work with raised beds and tubs and employ the no dig system, e.g. create manageable beds, no wider than 3' so you can kneel on the path and reach in and then never step on them again, never dig them over, just incorporate well rotted manure or compost at the end of each season.

[JennieAtkinson]

Hello Wurzel - am also like you, OH unable to help with heavy stuff due to disabilities and not much time given everything else to be done.

I dig as much as I can each year (and its not alot!) - plan it in advance, covering with cardboard and black plastic and gradually working my way forward. If I don't manage to get it done, I put grow bags down or any container, and plant in that. You will be surprised what potatoes can grow in, really lumpy stuff. We don't have the dry weather before May to get the ground in good condition. The best thing is just to try things - you may be surprised what works and comes up!

What is nice though is to look at the veg garden and borders and think - I did all that ! Its a great feelling, even if there are alot of weeds and the soil is not well dug.

[poultrychat]

Hi Wurzel

I follow the majority on here that nature will bring it right in the end, we will probably have a beautiful Indian summer to enable us to get the crops in. I'm looking forward to it!

[bramble]

Hi Jenny, I am also like you. I have a big garden that was left completely overgrown when my dad got too old to do it and he would'nt let me do it as he felt that it was too big a jon for a woman, consequently when he did die it was a wilderness. I have been doing it bit by bit for the last 4 years but sometimes feel i'm getting nowhere. No matter how hard i try the weeds tend to get the upper hand. In the beginning i was using the garden without raised beds but since i changed over it has got a bit easier but i will keep going and like you, when i look at all i have done i feel quite pleased. Not giving my age but i am a granny and fighting the age thing as well. Good Luck with yours.

[JennieAtkinson]

Thanks Bramble - sounds like we have alot in common, including our age!

[bramble]

Oh good Jenny, then i'm not the only middleaged gardener on here.

[JennieAtkinson]

We have to stick together Bramble!

[noshed]

You do gardening for the pleasure - not the work. If something doesn't do well -it's only a packet of seeds. Even in the darkest heart of the soft south here, things are slow. But my Turkish neighbours were sowing their squash and marrows on their compost heap today - and they know what they're doing.
For all we know it'l be a hot summer and you'll be begging for all the compost and mulch you can make now with no effort.
PS I'm fairly middle-aged, and I've got a rebuilt spine.

[bramble]

Can Jenny and I add you to our middle aged list then Nosh ?