Deep inside me there is a great fear.

[obsessed]

Ok so most of you know my backstory. I moved here nothing grew spent the last six month soil building poop etc.....

Well on Jan 15 I planted my cool season garden. I have covered the beds on the cold nights ( which was maybe like 5 total) and are days here are nice not freezing and most of the time nice and warm.

Most everything has sprouted... the peas, the radishes, the collieflower, the beets... but nothing looks bigger than a sprout except of course the peas...

Deep down inside I wonder if I won't be able to garden. I wonder if things wont grow I wonder if I spent the last six months with nothingh to show..... Argghhh help me help me.

Ok thanks for letting me vent.

 

[curly_kate]

I totally understand!! My stuff will be inside for a while longer, but I've got a ton of stuff started. So by the time I get things planted in April, I've already invested 3+ months into my little seedlings. When I finally get my plants outside, I live in fear of the late frost, high winds, hail, deer, whatever. This is why, as much as I'd love to, I could never be a farmer. Too much stress!!!

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

Don't worry. Gardening is a continuous learning process. Sounds like you are doing ok. Even with warm days things are not going to grow really fast in the winter because they don't have as much light. They will start slow and keep going. Make sure they get enough water and they will do fine. Your soil probably needs more work. It will get better and better over the years. English peas will do well on their on in even fairly poor soil. And they help build up your soil also. It will be fine. Keep on reading and learning about it also. There are good books at the library you can borrow for free or find a couple that look good and buy them. Look for something that is focused on where you live. I grew up in Louisiana and learned to garden there. It is a very forgiving climate. Good luck

 

[homesteadmom]

Even if plants are cool weather ones if the nights are still really cool it affects the growth too. Be patient as the nights warm up & you get more daylight they will do better.

 

[me&thegals]

Isn't it crazy? I think of that sometimes when I'm waiting on tomatoes from plants I have been babying for 6 months. Incredible when they make it all the way.

Floating row covers have brought me tremendous peace of mind. They protect from pests (insect and mammalian) and frost, somewhat from wind damage. Maybe they would help you?

 

[patandchickens]

I know where you're coming from, b/c every year when things come up, and then grow, and then become harvestable, deep inside I'm like "whoah, it WORKED, how cool!!!" And I've been doing this since I was a kid

Look at it this way though. You are not growing the plants. Plants grow *themselves*. Your job is just to provide conditions that don't interfere with their [actually very strong!] natural destiny to grow up into lettuces or tomatos or whatever.

I mean, look at nature. Or for that matter, garden weeds Plants GROW. It's just what they do. Doesn't always work, even in nature. When it doesn't work in your garden -- and I promise you, sometimes it won't -- you learn from it so you can give them better conditions next time (like if you neglected to keep emerging seeds damp and they died).

But on the whole, plants grow.

Trust them


Pat

 

[vfem]

Mine sprouts and DIED, we had an unexpected snow last week... and I didn't cover things in time.

I'm going to wait until the end of the month to do a replant.

I say give them a week or too, and you'll see a difference!

 

[obsessed]

I love you guys.

 

[beavis]

Obsessed,

Gardening cannot be without setbacks and mishaps,

How else could we persevere to try again, knowing we always get many chances to get it right?

Nature has a way of sorting itself out, and if what we seek out initially to grow doesn't necessarily work,

perhaps it wasn't meant to be,

But you might discover something quite unexpected, that blooms or produces in a way you

would never have dreamed of, something that was meant to grow there.

Don't be fearful of failures in gardening, even in gardening we are tested.

Deep mulching thoughts from beav......

 

[homesteadmom]

I look at gardening every yr as a experiment. Lets see what will work this yr, did what worked well last yr going to work again this yr?