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Gardening and losing the faith
WildFlower_UK
Posts: 236
I don't expect to be the only one this year, let alone ever, but I've had so many gardening fails this year that I'm starting to lose faith.
It started earlier this year when it was the main spring sowing time. Although I had a 100% success rate with tomato seed germination (more on that later), other veg seeds like beetroot and radishes were much less successful. And although some beetroot did germinate, they never amounted to anything. After about 2 months since sowing them, no beetroot bulb was forming so yesterday I pulled them all up. About 1/3 of my radishes are successful - plenty of bushy greens, hardly any actual bulbs. My coriander keeps bolting, as does my rocket, and the mixed pick and come again lettuce are taking forever to grow to anything edible. By the time it was warm enough and I hardened off my tomatoes to be planted outside, they were looking stressed and leggy (particularly the cordons - bush variety slightly healthier, although not so much now). Hardly any of my giant sunflower seeds germinated (although I'm assuming that the seeds might have been a bit old), and lots of my Dwarf French beans seeds didn't germinate (I managed to get five which are now in the garden although very small still).
So my veg growing wasn't going great. But last week I went on a UK break to elope and left my cat and garden to a friend to look after, with a breakdown of instructions. Through absolutely no fault of theirs, what I came back to was a flattened meadow (due to heavy rains), potted lavender and rosemary bushes that had just completely died and gone brown (I told her not to water them as they'd been watered a day before we went so not sure what happened as they should have been fine), and my tomatoes look like they're struggling even more (see image below of a bush variety). I was, and still am, gutted. So much so it took me 5 days to work up enough strength to get out there and really investigate the damage.
I've managed to stake/prop up some of the worst of the collapsed meadow, the lavender and rosemary will have to be binned, and I'll just see what happens with the tomatoes (they were planted out 2-3 weeks ago - after hardening off for a week - into a rich, fresh soil/compost/manure mix, and were given some Tomorite yesterday to see if that will help). My green beans and courgettes plants are small but reasonably healthy looking, and the sunflowers (small red ones) that did germinate are steadily growing (hope!). Thankfully I've had a plentiful supply of basil so we've at least enjoyed a few batches of decent pesto!
I don't really expect anyone to say much, but I don't have many friends who do a lot of gardening and I just wanted to rant/seek sympathy from fellow gardeners who I'm sure have experienced more than their fair share of disappointments!
It started earlier this year when it was the main spring sowing time. Although I had a 100% success rate with tomato seed germination (more on that later), other veg seeds like beetroot and radishes were much less successful. And although some beetroot did germinate, they never amounted to anything. After about 2 months since sowing them, no beetroot bulb was forming so yesterday I pulled them all up. About 1/3 of my radishes are successful - plenty of bushy greens, hardly any actual bulbs. My coriander keeps bolting, as does my rocket, and the mixed pick and come again lettuce are taking forever to grow to anything edible. By the time it was warm enough and I hardened off my tomatoes to be planted outside, they were looking stressed and leggy (particularly the cordons - bush variety slightly healthier, although not so much now). Hardly any of my giant sunflower seeds germinated (although I'm assuming that the seeds might have been a bit old), and lots of my Dwarf French beans seeds didn't germinate (I managed to get five which are now in the garden although very small still).
So my veg growing wasn't going great. But last week I went on a UK break to elope and left my cat and garden to a friend to look after, with a breakdown of instructions. Through absolutely no fault of theirs, what I came back to was a flattened meadow (due to heavy rains), potted lavender and rosemary bushes that had just completely died and gone brown (I told her not to water them as they'd been watered a day before we went so not sure what happened as they should have been fine), and my tomatoes look like they're struggling even more (see image below of a bush variety). I was, and still am, gutted. So much so it took me 5 days to work up enough strength to get out there and really investigate the damage.
I've managed to stake/prop up some of the worst of the collapsed meadow, the lavender and rosemary will have to be binned, and I'll just see what happens with the tomatoes (they were planted out 2-3 weeks ago - after hardening off for a week - into a rich, fresh soil/compost/manure mix, and were given some Tomorite yesterday to see if that will help). My green beans and courgettes plants are small but reasonably healthy looking, and the sunflowers (small red ones) that did germinate are steadily growing (hope!). Thankfully I've had a plentiful supply of basil so we've at least enjoyed a few batches of decent pesto!
I don't really expect anyone to say much, but I don't have many friends who do a lot of gardening and I just wanted to rant/seek sympathy from fellow gardeners who I'm sure have experienced more than their fair share of disappointments!
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
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Posts
Your tomatoes should be fine. Foliage gets tatty, regardless of what you do, and when they're outdoors, they're vulnerable to weather, as opposed to those grown under cover. You have flowers and fruits forming, so you should get a crop.
Most plants will recover after heavy rain, but make a note for next year as to which ones will need supports, and put those in early. That saves any problems if you have heavy rain when they're getting big and heavy.
The lavender and rosemary will still have needed watering. They're totally reliant when in pots. Even a good spell of rain may not penetrate the dense foliage well enough.
It can be disheartening when you feel it's all gone wrong, but that's often the nature of gardening. Take comfort in the things that are recovering and/or are doing well, and make plans for next year. Gardeners have to be optimistic, and there aren't many who have never had problems, so you're not alone
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Germination of sweetcorn and broccoli seeds was very poor. Leek, sweetcorn and french beans seedlings have been weedy and not really developed.
I got loads of chilli and tomato plants (more germinated than I needed/have room for) but no tomatoes or chillis appearing yet so the jury is out there.
I've got loads of strawberries, peas, broad beans and rhubarb. Potato plants are currently looking good.
I got 3 bareroot blackcurrant bushes and 3 small blueberry plants this year. All are healthy and have small amounts of fruit on them. The blackberry and cherry bushes have nothing as yet and the bare-root raspberry canes are all dead
It's very much swings and roundabouts, which probably make the successes that much sweeter
Keep the faith @WildFlower_UK!
As my life mentor (Sir Terry Pratchett) points out "Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom". This definitely applies to growing vegetables. Annual veg growing is much more difficult than growing flowers - a much narrower window between success and failure. But when it does work - and it does sometimes work - it does make you happy. So its worth putting up with these setbacks - we all have them - and to keep trying.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”