Is All The Hard Work Really Worth It?

[veggiechicken]

I know what BM means about all the effort that goes into a garden - and sometimes with very little reward at the end of it.
It took nearly a year for my red cabbages to grow and they took up a lot of ground. I ended up with 3 hearts, one split down the middle, only 2 are usable. The day I cut them, I went to the supermarket where they had better ones than mine, yellow-stickered at 19p. Won't bother with those again!
Last year was great for courgettes and squashes - this year, hopeless. Very disheartening but I'll still try growing them again next year - because I lurve them!
On the other hand, the strawberries have been fantastic and the jam, though I say it myself, is out of this world. More strawberries to be grown next year.

If you have a garden, you have to grow something in it - be it flowers, veg or even grass. Everything needs maintenance so you may as well get some reward for your efforts, by eating your hard work.

I couldn't live without a garden. Frustrating and disappointing at times, yes, but the thought of it not being there, outside the door, my little bit of paradise, is not an option.

Carry on growing, BM, just be more selective

[Potstubsdustbins]

I mentioned to SWMBO about you might give up growing spuds, like you say it's a lot of work for a veg you can buy cheaply.

She didn't even turn to face me just said "Why have you found somewhere to buy Lady C." Guess I won't be joining you for a while yet!

[Bill HH]

My main reason for doubting the value of gardening lies in health and age issues. But I have realised there is a lot you can do to mitigate these problems. The best so far for me has been raised beds and a no dig policy. A bed raised by 9 inches makes a lot of difference if bending is a problem. Also my anti insect cage has been a boon for cabbages and carrots. Chairs dotted around the garden means you can do a bit, then sit for a bit to recoup energy.Last week i was at an all time low thinking why am I doing this but then a Lady was looking at the garden from the road and started to praise it and told me how passing my plot gave her inspiration to go on with hers. The other thing is that I love building things and thats always in demand in a garden. My next project will be to make raised bed to go in the insect cage. I think the recent lack of summer is depressing but they happen, I can remember often loosing our entire hay crop through rain in July and August but we lived.

[burnie]

Never ever felt smug or satisfied buying fruit and veg from a shop, usually do when I've grown it myself though.

[Bigmallly]

Cheers Bill, yes one of my priorities is to raise a couple of my already raised beds as I plan to greatly increase my Parsnip crop. I have 8 builders bags full of compost which I can either grow into or decant into the newly raised beds, I have yet to decide.

[Bal]

Glad your not chucking in the trowel Bigmally. Need your expertise ��

[Bigmallly]

Cheers Bal but there was never any mention of me packing it in, just restructuring........................by the way, I am no expert.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Brilliant thread BM .

As someone who is gardening for a living you'd think I'd be well hacked off but it's only the vagaries of the weather making it difficult for me to keep to my schedules that annoys me.

In the plot, I've suffered like everyone else but if a crop fails, I just tell myself "there's always next year". And of course there is always next year.

from the bottom of my plot up the left hand side, my raspberries, strawberries and blueberries have been really productive and the blueberries are still keeping swmbo happy.

The shallots and onions are late in maturing but are getting there, spuds are good despite having to whip the tops off because of blight. Show peas are good but not without problems due to weather. Sprouts are standing tall and looking fresh, broad beans really nice. Kitchen leeks from bought in plants doing fine and the gooseberries were so fine.

That's all the way to the topof the plot and all I haven't mentioned are sweetcorn which sat and sulked after the cold nights and radish which didn't germinate.


Now I have felt like it has been a c**p season but on that analysis it hasn't been so bad.

On the other side of the plot from the top Down,

Show celery looking great, cauliflower going to be very late and won't be ready for our blue riband show this weekend and then it's into the tunnel and greenhouses. Toms not yet ripe, onions suffered with botrytis but leeks superb.

yups, more positives than negatives.

I could happily cut out the late tatties. They are a lot of work and maincrop spuds aren't expensive to buy. The first of the new tatties are to die for. . No watery taste with home grown carrots which far surpass shop bought ones. Mine did fail this year but simply because I didn't fleece them and the carrot fly had a feast.


So there is a next year whether or not the crops were good or bad. I think even if there wasn't a next year, I'd still be growing my veg.

Now why isn't the GR open. I need a pint of the black stuff

[burnie]

Just back from Lewis and Harris, lovely holiday, but talking to the crofters I met, they are still up beat despite no spring to speak of and a pretty wild and windy summer, even grass wouldn't grow. My trivial problems in the garden pale into insignificance really. Just retired so big plans for new projects over the autumn and winter to make my garden both more productive and also easier to work as I have now joined the coffin dodgers brigade. New green house and new raised beds to be built before the bad weather sets in, gardening isn't just about cost effectiveness for me, more about the joy of doing it and eating the rewards.

[muddled]

I am working towards easier ways to grow as I come to terms with increasing disability.

I'm trying to find ways to garden with intelligence rather than muscles!
And at 200 quid a plot, it was never going to be financially beneficial anyway.

I'm finding that ideas on this forum are making all the difference for me. Your seed tapes for example BM, I will sit in the warm...on a comfy chair making those this winter so that I spend less time bending and sowing on cold damp spring days.
I built a munty frame this year for beans that I can pick sitting down.
I'll chop and drop a la two sheds,
I'll be as cheerful as lumpy and determined as wheeliesneakycat....

But I agree with the need to be discerning in what I grow to maximise success.
I'll still my Lady Cs but might give up maincrops.
A few toms in pots at home but none in the greenhouse (caterpillars) or on the plot (blight)
Keeping me sweetcorn though....shopbought corn tastes cack!

[Guest]

TY for this thread, when you started it I thought you were just being down rather than struggling .

I am 34 and it is very apparent that I have arthritis and it does worry me that if I am this bad now how will I be in years to come. I am still stubborn and just get on with things even in the cold and wet, but know that I can't keep it up. So need to start thinking sensibly especially where the garden is involved.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I was forced to grow in containers from the start, the back is either pond or concrete. Now nearly 69 and am reaping the benefits, my spade is a hand trowel and my trowel is a desert spoon.

The main problem I have is getting up having knelt down, this suits SWMBO by her reckoning men look better on their knees. LOL

[Elfeda]

BM, do not want to see you stop growing potatos at all, is reason i mentioned about my neighbours success. instead of using bulb planter .

dig and add lots of compost in one corner for few potatos..then you do no need to dig while harvesting..or use one of your builder bag to grow potatos on undug ground.

[burnie]

All this labour saving malarkey should come with some sort of health warning though, for the first time this year I decided I would put some straw under my strawberries, never bothered before. The idea is apparently not only does it lift the berries off the ground and keep 'em nice, it suppresses weeds. Well I maybe made a mistake buying pet bedding straw, but the first time it rained the flippin' stuff started growing and I've just finally cleared all the extra weeds today as I picked the last few, shalln't do that again, worn out with the extra weeding it caused.

[Chippy Minton]

Great thread, don't want to dwell on too many themes so...

No it's not worth it, but HAVE YOU SEEN the price of AstroTurf (TM)

But really for me it's all the themes of being outside. I'm too old to hanging round street corners or hanging at the skate park or whatever, wandering around the town's green spaces without a dog looks odd so it's the garden for me. If I grow anything it's a bonus and if that tastes nice it's full on smug zone.......

BM, I think it's good at times to sit back and think about it, you're right, if it's supposed to be a hobby and enjoyable but it's becoming a chore then it's time for a rethink. FiL just gave up his allotment and retreated to growing in the garden, happy as Larry growing a few toms in a blow away, some spuds in bags and a few other things in the beds. Otherwise there's the stuff you can't get in supermarkets, the blue or red potatoes, the really nice early ones, the fresh snap of a bean. Or maybe the food miles. Whatever floats your boat.

Good luck BM, will be interesting to find out what you decide!

And I don't like home grown carrots, they're too carroty, there I said it, I'll fetch my coat