MR VEG WORDS OF WISDON 2

MR VEG WORDS OF WISDOM 2

The growing of any type of veg and salad crops is some times down to personal preference although I say “sometimes” it’s not always the case, the type of ground you have – good soil depth or stony shallow ground, the amount of shade if any and the lay of the land – is it sheltered or exposed to bitter northern winds. These factors any many others usually dictate what you will grow rather than what you would like to grow. I always recall a tale from my early teens which has served me well and taught me some lessons that although sometimes gardening can be an exact science, but for the most it’s just a series of good luck and fortuitous circumstances that help you succeed.

So to my tale – just into my teens and I had the good luck (or so I thought), to be able to get a small patch of ground given to me by an old chap from some allotments near to my home. Remembering how excited I was at the opportunity to show my growing prowess, boasting to my parents and family of all this super vegetables and salad crops I was going to grow –within weeks we would be “self sufficient” in veg - lovely carrots, turnips, parsnips and potatoes by the cwt. Crisp salad crops and a plethora of other delicious fruits and berries – I would put Percy Thrower in the shade!!!

Excited on the first day I raided the garden shed for suitable tools loaded up a wheelbarrow and headed off to start my adventure in allotment gardening. Rushing to “my patch” I struck out for my bid for self-sufficiency with spade in hand. Into the ground went the blade to be met by a sudden crack, a stone or a rock I thought, never mind there always will be the odd rock, I moved around a bit, in went the spade crack again, moved round again, crack again. This carried on for about 10 minutes and all over my patch.

A chap who had been observing my antics shouted over “you’ll grow nowt there lad” –why I asked? “ That’s the worst bit of t’land around eer. He then continued to explain how a mill had once stood at this site this was bulldozed then a layer of top soil spread over the top of all the rubble and the soil in my patch was the thinnest probably 2-3 inches at best. I protested that I had been given this ground to grow veg to be cut short by “that why they give it you, know one else can grow owt on it – unless you only want to grow weeds”! My dreams of growing award winning veg and self-sufficiency disappeared as quickly as an ice-lolly on a hot summers day!

Yet I was fortuitous, I did manage to grow some limited crops, lettuce, onion, beans and radish, (all shallow rooted). Had green fingered luck in growing plenty of soft fruits, strawberry, gooseberry and blackcurrant plus I had two good crowns of rhubarb, all of which had other allotment holders green with envy as I could grow what others couldn’t, plus with odd swaps of fruit for veg (a bowl of strawberries for a bag of carrots) I was reasonably successful but in reality I put in a lot of hard work and commitment but my little patch never lived up to my expectations at the time but then I did learn valuable gardening lessons which lead my into a career of horticulture plus some lessons about life.

· Be-careful about what you boast, you might not ever deliver,
· Don’t expect more out than you are prepared to be put in
And a final one very relevant to gardening –
· If no one is growing something there then there is usually a good reason not to.

I suppose I was lucky, my family forgave my impetuous youthful boasting and I had time after school and weekends to put in the time associated with growing your own

So to finally tie up this article with perhaps some words of wisdom
· Don’t get disheartened you’ll not always able to grow every thing
· You’ll have successes and failures don’t dwell on what went wrong
· Share your fruits of your labours with others and share your experiences
· You’ll only get out if you are prepared to put in
· Sometimes luck and good fortune can play a bigger part in growing veg than you think
· The grass only seems greener on the other side of the fence

MR VEG