Not alot happening

[newbieveggie]

Hi there

I know I shouldnt compare but I went to a friends of mine yesterday and her veg patch is brimming with produce, loads of strawberries,mange tout,broad beans atleast 12" higher than mine, rhubarb the size of a gunnera and her fruit looks fab, came home to mine and well....out of 15 plants Ive had a handful of mange tout, a few strawbs coming but nowt to eat yet, climbing and runner beans are slowly making their way up their canes and two sweet pea flowers. I feel so inadequate. Am I being impatient ?
Hers are growing in very raised beds whereas mine are on a sloping site which hubbie and I cleared of vinca,sloe,hawthorn,ash trees, buddleia, every known weed to man. We dug it three times adding spent mushroom compost, I used Blood Fish and Bone when I planted and also very soggy newpaper in the bottom of the bean trenches to retain water.It gets full sun and is sheltered.

What have I done wrong ? Will it pick up ?

[Snadger]

Just sounds like they have sown earlier............yours will catch up and you will have produce when they haven't!

[Flobalob]

Just sounds like they have sown earlier............yours will catch up and you will have produce when they haven't!

successional growing

[sewer rat]

Am I being impatient ?

You answered your own question As Snadge says, yours will catch up, just go with the flow. As for Rhubarb, it takes a long time for crowns to get to the size you are so envious of. It sounds as if you have done everything right so your crops will come.

[Maximillian]

Don't fret newbieveggie, I'm on my second plot year and every time I look at other plots they seem so much further ahead and nicer. Then yesterday someone said how well mine was going and she felt it was further along than hers when I had been thinking hers looks better! Just go at your own pace, summer is here and everything catches up. As it happens again this year half the plots on our have got potato blight but ours is unaffected so we're doing something right...just don't know what it is yet!!

[Llamas]

The same thing happened when I went to pick up some pots from OH's mum. I nearly cried. Raspberry canes up to here and runner beans to like you've never seen. You might console yourself newbieveggie, with the news that MY beans and only 6'' high, my rhubarb is sulking with the enthusiasm of a grounded 14 year old, and TWO, count 'em T-W-O of my broad beans have flowered. grumblebrumblegrumblegrumble

[Shadylane]

It all depends on when you sow. There's some folk near to our plot who got it a month after we did and it looks amazing, loads cropping but our immediate neighbours who've been at it for years and clearly know what they're doing are about the same stage as us for a lot of stuff (although their beans are taller but I think something *cough* rabbits *cough* had a nibble last night). I think some people sow earlier and risk frost or have more room to keep tender stuff, whereas our neighbours were much more cautious about starting too early as they've lost stuff to frost before. Depends on whether you want to live on the edge I suppose. I'm definitely going to start things (some - some not) earlier next year and take a gamble.

[snohare]

Don't forget it depends on how much time, money and energy - not to mention luck ! - goes into it as well. It sounds like you are doing all the right things newbie, but these things take time to pay off, your friend has probably had more time or better luck getting topsoil etc.
I always say to my allotment neighbour how impressed by the number of plants growing on her plot I am - she always says how impressed she is by all the things I am building. It is down to what materiels and skills/deficiencies and time we each have, every year we have both improved.
In my new garden that is to replace the allotment, my tatties are just sticking their heads up from between the stones. Back to square one.
It's not a race, it's an endurance test !

[newbieveggie]

Thanks for your kind words everyone, I will start some reverse psychology on myself and say how big my plants are already and how quickly they have grown.
Anyway, I love spending time in my garden so any produce is just a bonus, I just wondered if there was something missing from my soil. I am hoping to make up a compost mix to dig in this autumn consisting of remaining spent mushroom compost, horse manure and my garden compost. Do you rec that will be water retentive enough as I have very free draining soil ?

[ckfe]

hey newbie, just wondering how things are progressing now?