Seedmama,

This will come as a surprise to no one, but my self-induced gardening agony is that I try to plant too much of everything even when I know I don't/won't have space for all of it. People who know me understand that I never have enough space for everything I want to plant, and people who don't know me could never understand why I 'think' I need 60-80 varieties of tomatoes, or 300 Sugar Snap/Super Sugar Snap pea plants, 100 broccoli plants (but only 3 varieties so I did show some restraint there), 6 types of onions, 12 kinds of beans, 8 kinds of zinnias, 10 basil varieties and 10 varieties of sunflowers. Honestly, do I need to grow all that? Well, yes I do, or I wouldn't be trying to do it.

If we had good soil here, at least it would make a little sense to use that nice soil and not let it go to waste. Unfortunately, we have very dense, thick, slow-draining red clay that requires huge amounts of amendment just to make it possible to grow anything in it at all.

This year, we've doubled our garden space although the big 'new' garden won't be ready for planting for another 2 or 3 weeks, and even then it has had only what I consider minimal soil improvement. It will be fenced though, and that's a good starting point since anything unfenced is devoured by deer, rabbits and such.

I'm also planning to have at least 100 containers this year and maybe even more unless I run out of planting time because the heat arrives.

I wasn't always this way, you know. For our first couple of years here, I was content to have only a dozen varieties of tomatoes, and pretty much one variety of corn, beans, okra, etc. I have always had lots of flower varieties but still not on the scale I have now. Slowly, though, the garden began to expand and I began to plant more, more, more every year. One year in the early 2000s as I struggled to plant everything I had in flats, I remarked to DH that I was really putting pressure on myself to get all the flats emptied and all the plants in the ground by a particular date--I think it was Memorial Day. He wryly commented that it really didn't matter because once I emptied the flats, I'd just fill them up again with more soil and seeds...and he was right.

When we decided to move from a large city in Texas to rural southern OK, one of our reasons was so we could have space for more fruit trees, blackberries, veggies and flowers. You have to be careful what you wish for, though, because with all that land available, I can't seem to stop planting. I need a T-shirt that says "Somebody Help Me.....I Can't Stop Planting".

All that planting inevitably leads to long days in the garden and in the house dealing with the harvest. At times, I am sure my family and friends think I'm insane. Forty jars of jam/jelly? Fifty jars of pickles? Sixty jars of salsa? You get the idea.....

Yesterday, an old gardening buddy dropped by and tried to give me some 'extra' corn seed he had, and I turned it down because I thought my DH might leave me if I told him I needed him to rototill and fence "just one more" area so I could add something else. Then my old rancher friend (who at 88 years of age is more energetic than anyone else I know) told me, regretfully, that his wife told him not to plant a garden this year because her health will not allow her to put up all that produce or help with the harvest, etc.

I asked my friend if he was, then, not going to have a garden after all and he never directly answered....but told me he already had his onions and potatoes in the ground and was getting ready to plant corn, and would at least have tomato plants in his molasses feed tubs. He still seemed kind of bummed out about "not" having a garden, so I volunteered to help him. I told him to plant what he wanted and to tell his dear, sweet wife that I would help him harvest the crops and put them up. As I was relating this story to my DH, he finished the ending before I could tell him about my offer to help. He said "you told him we'd help him right".... You know, it is a very wise man who understands his wife and how she thinks and what she's likely to do and still loves her and puts up wih her anyway.

So, in two words (although, lol, I used a gazillion more than that), my self-induced gardening agony is "too much" of everything.

Dawn

Seedmama,
I've really enjoyed your insightful and informative posts the last few days. Look forward to more. I need to get ready to head off to work now. So will add more later. I thought I was the only one not ever happy with success and that has to keep tinkering and experimenting. I will detail some of my new experiments later. Although not the guru's and "elite" gardeners like you and Dawn I enjoy seeing what I can grow and kill every year. Jay

Too funny! We all have our weakness, don't we?

Seedmama, I would be a nervous wreck if I was growing 'pre-sold' plants. It's bad enough for me to think that senior citizens in the next town are expected to be gifted with tomato plants.

I can relate to both of you in one way or another. One year I grew mine on the dining room table. I didn't have a way to suspend the lights so I had the lights supported on cans above the flats, then bigger and bigger cans, then stacked cans, etc. Really pretty....and you didn't dare bump the table. It was nice that we had an early spring and I didn't have to put up with that for long. I had to rotate the flats to the light, so day and night the room gave off a bright glow. We were fairly new in the neighborhood at that time and my DH said the neighbors probably thought we were growing pot. The next spring, I used the bunkhouse and it seemed like the perfect place except for having to add a ton of artificial light, of course. The next year, a friend stayed in the bunkhouse several nights every week, so I had to find a new place. My only choice was a tabletop in my sewing room. The temps were good, there was a ceiling fan, but I could barely find room for everything, and there was NO room to sew.

This year, I suppose it is just simple greed. Jay had seeds I wanted, Dawn had new ones to try, we had a good seed swap, Baker Creek had a special price BOTH times I went...then there are those seed racks in every store, etc., etc., etc.

I plant in tiny soil blocks, then after germination, I pot up into a small cup or flower pot. That soil block maker makes 20 little blocks in an area that is about 3x4 inches. It's scary how many you can fit in a tray.

This year, I had a lot of different kinds of seed so I needed a new method. I only wanted to plant about five seeds of most of them. I carefully wrote the names on short strips of mini blinds and found if I laid them just right I could make a strip of five blocks land on each mini blind. It worked quite well, and the slight curve to the blind held the moisture so they were easy to water. The roots grew so rapidly that I had to tickle the roots a bit to get them apart, but with only five seeds, it wasn't too bad.

The worse part came with the blocks I left intact and planted 20 seeds in. When I lifted up the block it was a mat of roots that should have been potted up a week or so before......but I couldn't because it's cold outside and I didn't have enough lights inside. You get the picture.

The shelf I am using is three feet wide and has four foot lights hanging from it, so I have little tables up against the shelves so I can slid another flat under the end and not 'waste' that light. It's still too small.

Why did I plant so many? Who knows? I just like to see them grow, I guess. Then, of course, I get to choose the 'pick of the litter' for my own garden.

I think I had seeds for over 80 kinds of tomatoes and two big bales of Pro-Mix. They were all begging to be planted, but I said "No" to a few, and "Maybe in the Fall" to a few others, and starting planting those that I couldn't resist.

I planted tomatoes this year like I did flowers the year before. Just for the record Seedmama, that year it was mostly your fault with all the nice things you sent for me to grow. You and Lisa were my enablers that year. This year it was Jay with his 400 kinds of tomato seed.

Who can stop this madness? Not me, it's too much fun!

Seedmama,
The two previous years I experimented with direct sowing in the garden using plastic buckets and WOW's with some success. This year I decided to try starting several in the cold frames like a grower on other forums does. I had meant to put them in a lot earlier. But just planting the seeds now. If it snows tonight and tomorrow as predicted I will open the cold frame and cover the cups and trays with snow. The main reason I'm later planting all seeds this year is the weather. And also haven't got my greenhouse finished. Three of the last 4 years we've had real late cold spells. I did buy some trays that hold 4 inch pots. I put 16 ounce cold cups in each hole and filled half way up with potting mix and planted. My thought is I will just fill the cups up as the plants grow. If I need to hold them longer will pot up to the big 4 inch pots. And hopefully the weather will break enough I'll have the greenhouse finished by then. For starting seeds I'm using a Fertilome mix and have a bag of Jiffy Mix and MG seed starting mix if I need them. Then plan on potting up with a Fertilome mix with fertilizer. I have used the MG mix with fertilizer with good results before. So you should be ok.

I have a great light stand I built with 3 shelves. Each shelf will hold 4 trays cross wise. I have 4 4ft shop lights to each shelf. So lots of light and don't have to keep the lights so close to the plants. But always experimenting with other methods. I will start planting the flats tonight. I'm not even sure how many I will end up with yet. Am sure I will be able to fill at least one wall of the greenhouse up.

Carol after I get finished planting I will post a list. Had an email yesterday asking me if I could grow one more variety. Of course I said yes. Then think they sent at least 3-4 more.

I have only lost any seedlings one year and that was when I tried bottom watering and it was due to damping off. So if I have similar results I will have lots of plants to give away. Last year the new mix I bought at a local nursery caused me problems. So sure something will again this year. Jay

Dawn, you and I are kindred spirits when it comes to too much. But I've come to realize the net result is greater if I aim too high and come up short than if I aim for what is easily attainable. I once had a friend who required 10 tries to pass his professional licensing exam. He took a lot of grief from people who asked him why he kept trying. His standard response? You can't win if you don't enter. I find that phrase very useful in my every day life. So I always say go for it.

Jay- "I enjoy seeing what I can grow and kill every year". Amen. In my professional life it's all about results. Nothing else matters. So I love having a hobby where I can just enjoy the process, and get results as a bonus. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who tinkers, not satisfied with success. And speaking of tinkering, I'm making a change to my cucumbers this year. After your explanation last year on tomato sprawlers, I'm guessing that trellising may be the reason I'm not getting the production I expect from the cukes. I'm going back to hills to see if I'll get better results.

BTW, my dad will be in your neck of the woods later this week. Apparently our land has become infested with Musk Thistle. There is an exorbitant fine if we don't get rid of it. It's a thousand dollars a day, and if I recall correctly, that's per acre. Last year he and my brother went up for what they thought was a few hours to chop it down with weed wackers. Mom and I kept watching the clock thinking they were late because they'd found something fun to do. They rolled in about 2 am looking like somebody had wrapped them in barbed wire and sent them into the bull pen for fight for their lives. This year, they're spraying, before it gets big.

Soonergrandmom, I'll confess to enabling you. (Did you know there is an Enabling Forum, but it's something completely different. Maybe we seed enablers need to crash that party and play dumb like we didn't know.) Anyway, I fear you are indeed following in my footsteps. I was happy with veggies and a few easy annuals until I discovered Winter Sowing. Then last year was my binge on tomato varieties. This year, it's beans. (Just so you know what you'll be doing next year!)

Seedmama - You are hilarious! Cindy