There are many things to take into account when you become serious and/or addicted to gardening: light, food, warmth, water, soil, seed. Every single one of the billion and two books on the market go into various amounts of detail about all of these points. Some have flowery descriptions. Many have photos.
Books about growing flowers are not so detailed. Books about growing vegetables are more detailed because growing vegetables tends to be a serious business. You're making food after all.
Which is why the one glaring omission from every single sodding book is a complete mystery to me. The one vital ingredient that every vegetable gardener on the planet should be intimately aware of.
Failure.
There I was last week, full of the very joys of Spring, proudly displaying photos of seedlings and plants both, some on windowsills, some happily hardening off on the balcony, eagerly relating tales of future plans and techniques mastered, lovingly showing off my rampant potato plant.
And then a bloody great freezing gale force wind tore through the city, destroying everything in its path. Including my once rampant potato plant. I'm not ashamed to say that I sat on the couch for a full five minutes and sobbed.
Once I'd pulled myself together sufficiently to take some weak sugary tea and toast I discovered that May 11th, 12th and 13th are governed by the "Three Chilly Saints", aka "Those Bloody Bastards Who Tried To Kill My Potato Plant".
Saints Mamertus, Pancras and Gervais have their feast days at that time and traditionally these are the three coldest days of the month: farmers would down tools then, knowing that there was simply no point in trying to get anything done in the frost and gales.
Several yards of horticultural fleece and some TLC later I had everything back more or less where it was and was about to tackle the next task when I caught myself mid-spade and realised what I'd just done.
I'd coped.
More to the point, I kept on going. And that was when I realised that failure in any form is so vitally important because it gives you a much-needed sense of perspective. You are a gardener: you are not God. You are not Nature. You simply help things along a little. Be thankful for the successes and learn from the failures. But always know your place - there are forces far more powerful than you which have been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you, and they care not one jot for your blessed rampant potato plant.
Tell me about it!
I had an amazing heirloom tomato bush. I loved it and dutifully fed it with seasol and worm-castings. So good was it, that it grew too fast for me to stake it up.
And it fell over! As soon as they spotted a weakness- all the critters moved in and tore it to shreds. 1 night was all it took for my pride and joy to be decimated! Horticaust!
I figure the first year of a veggie patch is an experiment al la avant garden. Imagine if we had to live off it strictly... sorry- no eating for you this month! Sell the kids.
One good thing about them cold spells is if you are growing edible mushrooms, off they go!
Posted by: Jrld | May 16, 2009 at 09:13 PM
When I talk to the trees,
O great trees who learn to speak slowly,
I know that they believe that they have the answer,
Then I walk in the city where I cannot hear it.
When I talk to the city,
I hear three answers before I call the question,
and slowly wish myself amongst trees,
but cannot hear myself wishing.
When I talk to the people,
who are the trees,
who live in the City.
They smile with a fond kindness,
slowly, but there is no answer
for experience to be learned by mistake.
Posted by: K. | May 17, 2009 at 02:01 AM
One of the first rules a real farmer learns is to watch the weather. There are websites for that nowadays....
Posted by: Bill | May 17, 2009 at 09:39 AM
If you're in the Northeast, buy a few seedlings and put them out in 2 weeks. Look for really green ones, which means they got a good nitrogen boost.
~~~~~
On the Roman Calendar, May 15 is the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer. Pious legend has it that if St. Isidore was lost in prayer, angels would tend the fields. (St. Isidore knew he wasn't God either.) In some places there's a blessing of the fields on that date.
Sun Ra has a tune w/ a lyric about the wind: "it could crush you to the ground if it will / what could you do to defend yourself?"
If they could, I bet Sun Ra and Isidore would religiously check the the WeatherUnderground website: www.wunderground.com
Best weather site, I think. Started at U Michigan, which has a good meteorology department, I'm told.
~~~~~
In NE PA, we don't put stuff outside until after Memorial Day. (The real one, not the Monday one.) We had a frost this month, and It's gonna be 35 degrees tonight and tomorrow.
My first time growing in S Jersey, I didn't realize how good the weather is for tomatoes: lotsa sun, sandy soil, and they grow FAST. When I went to stake them, they were already too far gone, and I would have broken the stems and stalks, so I had to forget it.
So I was forced to grow "free-range" tomatoes. They grew low and sprawled, like a giant 20 legged spider. Lost alot to birds and bugs. But plenty of "volunteers" popped up the next year, and the 2nd generation crop tasted better.
I've been a gardner, but I've never been a farmer. I know a couple w/ a garden, and 23 goats, and some chickens, and some horses, and they both work other jobs, and they are my heroes.
Sancta Isidore, Ora Pro Nobis.
Posted by: rusty beltway | May 17, 2009 at 01:31 PM
One word. Xeriscape.
Posted by: xavier | May 17, 2009 at 04:45 PM
Xeriscape potatoes? Interesting...
This year's spring was particularly wet and chilly in my area and some tropicals I planted suffered a lot, however using plastic covers and bringing them inside did the trick. Forget Farmer's Almanac and find a reliable local weather site that gives 2-3 daily forecasts on your area. I put thermometers on all windows so I can monitor the highs and lows and if you join a gardening forum you'll often get reminders of approaching bad weather.
Posted by: Elias | May 18, 2009 at 04:38 AM
Gardening is a big task, where time, focus, patient, energy and etc are prerequisite, and to prevent a big dissatisfaction we must prepare and start to expect the unexpected.
Posted by: Xeriscaping | April 07, 2013 at 03:59 AM