Friday 18 July 2008

Looking Down and Looking Forward


Oh dear.

My veggie container garden has been neglected along with the allotment, this blog and to some extent the school gardening club.

First it was apathy, inertia and just being downright fed up and then it was the Vile Vomiting Bug that had six out of seven of us laid low.

The Cloud of Gloom is still hovering above my head (can you see it? Can you?). Nothing is growing. Well, that's a lie, green things are obviously growing because they're not dead but as for copious "look at the kilos of veggies I've harvested" posts - forget it.

I can't pretend I'm not green with envy at others; well, I could but really, what's the point? And I shan't, as a stand against some of the (non-gardening) blogs I read, pretend life is wonderful and I never get fed up. Life is quite often hard and I am very fed up.

If I start waffling about why then this won't be a gardening blog, so I'll just contain my ire for my Albatross of an Allotment (told you I wasn't happy). I just can't seem to get to grips with it. The weeds are under control, in that they are there but small and easily remedied with two hours work, probably every day.

There are great big patches of dirt where voluptuous veggies should be and I don't know why I haven't filled them. Then there are the veggies that have decided to put in an appearance. Honestly, I don't know why they bothered. It was hardly worth the effort.

But enough! As I cling to the edges in my Pit of Despair, trying to get a toehold so I can haul myself into the fresh air and sun of normal life, I've decided to reach for the rope labelled Looking Forward.

At the end of this is the box marked Seeds I Can Plant Soon For Next Year, thanks to Sarah Raven's website which I was browsing for a friend's birthday present. I've often wondered why she can't make do with Suttons seeds but she is into the pretty pretty version of country living (think Cath Kidston, Emma Bridgwater) so click away I did.

I read a couple of articles and discovered seeds you can sow in August for next year and - oops - accidentally put two packets of ammi majus Bishops Flower into my basket, y'know, one each. Apparently they make a lovely cut flower although I haven't a clue where they'll go in my garden. I'll worry about that later. I also bought some sweepeas to sow next month and a couple of other things for my friend.

It was a bit of a relief, frankly, to find these articles. I had thought that, in my usual way, my interest in gardening and this blog has run it's course and they were just another entry on the long list of Things I Never Stick At.

But it is nice to have a goal, even if it is to see how hopeless I shall be in growing these flowers. Hopefully my potting shed, built by Hubby, will be up by then and that will help. Oh yes, ever the optimist me.

12 comments:

  1. Reading your blog is so like looking in a mirror at how things are going, especially on the allotment front. I've chosen to look to next year as well as there are only grams full of vegis comming out of my plot. I counted my gooseberries before they were grown this year.
    My mum said even the chemical boys down at her site are complaining that it is a bad year (they have had far too much rain in Wales)
    Chin up the good thing about gardening is there is always next year, conditions will be different - weather, time, and enthusiasm may be more favourable

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  2. Hi - Ammi majus is an easy plant and is a good cut flower but I have found that some of mine have been hit with black fly this year - see my GBBD post

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  3. Oh, we've had the vomiting bug too... not pleasant, especially when it comes in succession and so seems to last forever.

    And then there's the weather... my washing keeps getting rained on, my kids keep tracking in mud and sand, and the weeds just keep getting taller. (although I am trying to convince myself that the clover is good for the soil, and that it's all just biodiversity!)

    You have my sympathies! I am pickin' up what you're puttin' down, honey!

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  4. I hope that the vile vomiting has gone now.
    We are not harvesting the mountains of produce I had hoped for either - many things are very slow this year.
    (When they are not under water that is)
    After reading patient gardeners blog seeds of Ammi majus had found their way into my shopping basket too - so it was nice to read you have got them as well.
    I do hope that the cloud of gloom moves off your head soon
    Warm regards
    Karen

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  5. Rhiannon - it's nice to know I'm not the only one. That's partly why I don't gloss over the rubbish bits - there's comfort in the "me too".

    Patientgardner - I'm really looking forward to these next year although I hadn't bargained for blackfly.

    Gardengirl - You have a lovely way of putting things!

    Karen - Thank you, the vile bug has gone (touch wood and whistle). I could use the weather as an excuse for my rubbish allotment but then I look at my neighbour.....

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  6. The hardest part about life, I think, is that sometimes you just fail to see how awesome you truly are. So adjust your glasses, woman, because you are one of the more awesome ones out there! Don't let yourself forget it.

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  7. Your picture shows you are hopeful. It looks like the blossom is ready to unfurl. See, there is something to look forward to!

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  8. Kate, that's a lovely thing to say. Totally untrue but lovely. Thank you.

    W2W - y'know I didn't know what pic to use and now can't remember why I chose that one but obviously there is hope in there.

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  9. Hope you and yours are feeling better now. I think there's a general 'fed up' malaise going the rounds. I and several other bloggers are suffereing.

    Yes I did offer you some ideas for gardening club. They're 'things to make' ideas e.g. plant labels, painted pots, christmas decorations that kind of thing that I cut out from magazines. Are you still interested?

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  10. ahhh... the ups and downs of life and gardening. I always go out and buy a new plant when I'm feeling the way you describe. Just seeing something new and lovely growing cheers me when nothing else seems to be growing (or going) right. Please keep your chin up. I enjoy reading about your world

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  11. Mrs Be, I know exactly how you feel - except I have just one child, not five (gulp!)

    My tomatoes (all two of them) just refuse to grow. They are the same height now as they were a month ago! Garden gremlins MUST be responsible ...

    PS finally about to add you to my blogroll... about time!

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  12. For some reason I can't post on your recent Honesty blog. I remember my Grandma growing honesty in her garden - maybe it's compulsory for all Grannies everywhere!

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