Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Swallowing my pride



Now this is how my seedlings were meant to turn out like. These are Debbie’s from garden group and as you can see she has had much better success than Melanie and I. Our seedlings, for what ever reason, had not done so well and I was feeling behind the eight ball. After posting about it I got a number of comments to swallow my pride and just go and buy some.

Like a lot of emotional blockers that get in the way of us achieving our dreams or living a fulfilling life, the owner of the blocker can often not be aware of its existence. I definitely was not aware my pride was getting in the way of having a pumper summer crop. But as soon as I read your comments I started thinking. Growing from seed made me feel like a REAL gardener. While the thought of going to a shop and buying plants made me feel like a failure. Buying seedlings is what I did when I started gardening, surly I am beyond that now.

The subconscious is an interesting beast, it attempts to guards us from harm including failure. It does this by blocking potential options or ideas that IT believes are harmful. In my case it never even occurred to me that buying seedlings was even an option, despite how obvious it is. Now while stopping me from considering the painful option of buying seedlings did indeed provide a small level of comfort my subconscious was not smart enough to consider the bigger picture. Having a highly productive garden putting lots of yummy fresh food on the table is way more important than how I obtain seedlings. And it will make me feel like a REAL gardener even more.


Once I had freed myself of this silly blockage I was open to greater possibilities that are always there just waiting in the wing. So after spending a rewarding Saturday afternoon with my gardening group helping Debbie plant out her seedlings she generously donated some to Melanie and I. And as I have helped Debbie establish seedling in the past these kind of felt like mine. I still bought a few from the store but in the end very few. The big box on the left is from Debbie and  the little one on the right from the store.

Having the courage to point out blockages obvious in others I believe is one of the important roles of a good friend. I am the last person to admit that friends can be found through a keyboard and screen but what you guys (Hazel, veggiegobbler, 500m2, serendipity2000, Fairy Castle Farm) did sure feels like an act of friendship to me. Thanks. And a big thanks to you Debbie my in the dirt friend for your generosity.

10 comments:

  1. I know exactly how you feel, I still feel bad if I have to buy seedlings but every year here's something I fail to grow myself. This year it is chillis and capsicums AGAIN.

    I'm sure you will have more success next year and even more the year after that. Good Luck!

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  2. Aw, no worries Jason. I'm trying to take some positives from the same lesson, and aim to be more successful next year.

    I learned this year that I need to put the seedling trays onto a larger tray that is fully enclosed. The seed raising mix drains so well that after a couple of weeks all the nutrients had leached out, and the soil had become hydrophobic. My poor seedlings never reached a decent size because they ran out of food. Lucky they pick up again once they were planted out.

    I hope you are overflowing with produce come summer.

    L

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  3. Jason, a valuable lesson letting go and look what happens, you receive a serendipitous gift from Debbie! There's many of us who believe a successful gardener includes your own home grown seedlings and I also know we'll all achieve it with patience, and time, failures and lessons and even the odd purchase of a seedling or two!
    Looking forward to watching your garden (and percentage) grow no matter where the seedlings originate from.

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  4. I had the same situation with tomatoes.
    Raised heaps of seedlings, gave many away (wand they're all growing well) but through and unfortunate ph 10 compost experience none of mine took off.
    I ended up buying some from Diggers when I was up there.
    (There's always next year!)

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  5. Oooo... two typos.
    Obviously haven't had enough coffee this morning.
    Sorry.

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  6. When I had my first baby and was home alone with him after years of full time work, I discovered that you can indeed find friendship online :)

    I really like this post Jason - I can so identify with your "emotional blockers" stopping you from seeing the solution right in front of your face. And I am really glad you went out and bought seedlings :)

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  7. It is comforting to know you have all had to resort to purchased seedlings at one time or another. Every night I plant one or two out. The beds will soon be full. How exciting.

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  8. My seedlings didn't do too well either, so I just went and bought some seedlings too, sometimes, you just have to get over it and move on. Haha.

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  9. If the naughtiest thing you are doing is buying seedlings you're doing alright. I have struggled getting my seeds in on time this year too.

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  10. Kirsty I don't mind being a little bit naughty ;-) Sorry to hear your seedlings suffered a similar fate. At least we are not alone. Seems like a common problem.

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