Sunday, April 03, 2011

SOAP

A couple of posts ago, I declared myself to be an EMO. Times passes…

It’s early April now; and so I move from an EMO to being in a SOAP. However, I do not find myself in a foamy mass of perfumed toiletries. Instead, I find myself in a Start Of April Panic.

I planned ahead in the autumn, and planted my sweet peas. However, they died when I failed ot water them before going on holiday. In my defence, the week before we went was very frosty, and so I was concerned about watering them in case the frozen water killed them. Instead, the lack of water, in the unusually warm week that accompanied our holiday, killed them.

Luckily, in case such a thing happened, I had saved some seeds which I have now planted. Hurrah – they have germinated!

Sweet pea germinating I’ve got my potatoes chitting:

Chitting potato But… some people have already got their potatoes in at the allotments; I’ve only just sown the broad beans (or rather SomeBeans did). I’ve a whole host of seeds waiting to get into the ground; I haven’t bought any dahlia tubers yet, let alone got them growing to produce cuttings; the lawn hasn’t beenscarifed; I haven’t cut down all the dead growth from last year; I haven’t divided the heleniums, I haven’t dug up the plants killed by winter, I havent, I haven’t, I haven’t… (takes deep breath in effort to calm down…).

Are you in a SOAP, or is it just me?

17 comments:

Helen/patientgardener said...

But how many people who seem to be ahead of you will be hit by frosts and you wont. Your plants will soon catch up

Julia said...

We got the potatoes chitting last weekend - hopefully they can go in before we go on holiday on the 16th. But I'm way behind too. Haven't even properly tilled the allotment yet. I second Patientgardener's comments though - the later stuff always seems to catch up.

PS Our lawn is awful - am torn between wanting to sort it myself and deciding that the property managers pay the groundsmen to sort the lawn so they should jolly well do it.

HappyMouffetard said...

You're both right, I know it in the logical part of my mind. My first sowings of carrots and parsnips have been too early in previous years, and I've had tot sow them again.

But the less logical part of my mind is shouting "It's too late, It's tooooo laaaaaaaate".

Karen - An Artist's Garden said...

Currently I am in a state of "UOFM"
(Unusually organized for me)

I dont expect this sate to last long ... all-ready I am exhausted, and it's only April!
K

Karen - An Artist's Garden said...

PS Love your current header picture of the daffs.
K

Liz said...

Hi,

Same here... Same here...

I planned and things just never quite got there. I do have seedlings but remembered I forgot to sow some French Beans, that was a month ago now and still haven't sown any.

Haven't divided the plants I planned on doing, yep sounds very similar to me.

K said...

Oh god... you're still ahead of me though! I'm still sifting through the 'dead' and the 'highly unlikely to recover'! Sowing has GOT to start this week!
Kathryn

VP said...

Yep - I'm all in a lather here too. You'll find my post on Friday most comforting - just you wait 'til you see my box of seeds waiting to get planted this month.

Gwenfar's Lotie said...

Liz, don't worry about sowing the french beans until the end of April/begining of May. After several years of sowing them in March, only for them to dampen off, rot and having to start all over again, last year I didn't sow them until the beginning of May. No problems and they all grew well.

As for potatoes... last year I was so far behind most of them didn't get in until May, and I still had a great crop - just a couple of weeks behind.

So this year I'm taking a more relaxed attitude. Well, mainly. I think I got SOAP the other day, as I suddenly felt, gosh, better sow some courgettes. And now I have, I'm sure it's too soon...

Maureen said...

I'm in a state of OMG there is so much more to do !! and like you I haven't got my spuds in the ground, but they are chitted.

themanicgardener said...

This sounds like the inside of my head...
Kate

Anonymous said...

I'm completely muddled - some things are in (spuds, broad beans), some things I've planted but are yet to germinate and some things I've put somewhere safe and can't quite find right now (french beans).

I'm always like this and it doesn't seem to make a difference, so I'm sure you'll be fine! Don't know about SOAP, I'm more PP (perpetual panic).

The Sage Butterfly said...

I am in a bit of a SOAP...mainly because I was so busy this winter and early spring. I did not get a chance to plan as I wanted. However, the good thing is I have lots in the garden--lettuce, kale, chard, broccoli, cabbage, and onions. And so it should be fine...

Juliet said...

I'm with Beangenie, I'm in a state of PP so far as keeping up with gardening's concerned. My potatoes are still chitting, my tomatoes were planted early but are succumbing to damping off so I'm going to have to do some more, my newest Primulas are still in the polystyrene tray they came in, and I haven't cut back the ivy or finished cutting back the winter jasmines & Clematis, which was February's job ... come to that, I still haven't cut back the rambling rose, and that was last August's job!

Esther Montgomery said...

I think I shall attempt some wise words - ignore when other people plant things.

Some will have a different climate. Some will be impatient. We all do it from time to time - get off the starting blocks too soon.

I'm trying real peas for the first time this year. (Sweet peas give me hayfever.) I have two kinds of runner beans one for sowing later and another kind which . . . have already rotted. It's very frustrating. My runner bean germination rate is usually 100%. Oh, the humiliation!

Esther

HappyMouffetard said...

Karen - keep up the good work! I shall strive to reach that point.

Liz - you've got aaaages to put your French beans in.

Kathryn - there are still a few dead things in our borders that I haven't got around to removing yet. The bottlebrush is a crisp stick, but I keep peering at iy hopefully.

VP - I'm in good company then!

Gwenfar - you're right - being relaxed is the right thing to be.

Maureen - OMG is definitely the expression when I think of what is still to be done.

Kate - LOL! Me too...

BeanGenie - PP sounds familiar!

SageButterfly - sounds very orgainsed!

Juliet - if the rambler has survived thus far, I'm sure its hair cut can wait til this August - no worries.

Esther - you are, of course, quite right. I hope your runner bean germination rate improves in the near future.

I am pleased that I'm not the only soapy individual - thank you all for your comforting comments!

Nutty Gnome said...

I've been SOAPing away madly for days, but I put it down to the amount of time and effort I've been putting into clearing and digging new beds then composting everywhere.....when I do get round to planting stuff hopefully they'll love it and grow like stink!