Is it worth it?

Megansmum

thanks again all - put into a bit of rational perspective - I am not so freaked out. It is easy to feel isolated when you don't have anyone around you in person to advise and help. This has helped to calm me down and yes - realise these things are in every garden not just sent to blight me alone! I am not denying this will be a long (personal) slog - if only i could rotivate my mind of the fear!Lol.

I think being new at it all adds extra pressure too - my fear of failure..... I worry that everything I grow will just die and not work...reading gardening mags and seeing how many "predators" are waiting to scoff on all my hard work, just doesn't help! I had never heard of "carrot fly" until a month ago - and before that I was really excited about growing carrots (a favourite of dd), now i'm nervous about planting them , having expectations, and them all to fail....

Annie please don't be jealous - with all the wild bushes and trees you can't even SEE the stream any more, we just get all the flies and mossies that are attracted by it!! :mad:

I will carry on and know that I am not alone. Thank you all and best wishes. :A
xxx

Megansmum

Muffin99 wrote: »

Megansmummy - it might not be so bad!!! I was asking my Dad about vine weevil and he said they love strawberries so it's good you threw them away BUT they wouldn't have their larvae under slabs as they lay them in plants roots as that's what they feed on.

Sooooo...... there I was thinking what they could be and I thought hold on - ants larvae? What do they look like? So googled it and yep they do look similar - see what you think!!

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=ants%20eggs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

If they are you haven't got the great problem you thought! I so hope they are :j :j :j

Muffin99 you are a star! From the quick glimpse before I legged it I thought they were the same as what was in my strawberry roots - BUT you could be right...I hope! Tomorrow I will be tackling my fear and re-lifting that slab to get a closer look. There are old roots under the slabs so if they are vine weevil it will explain that...but... I really hope you are right and I don't need to worry about my other veg so much. I will keep you posted. Thank you again.:j

Muffin99

Yay let's hope so then! :j

I'm so impressed you're gaining perspective and confidence already - well done you! I'm lucky as I've grown up doin these things, but I can appreciate it must be tough if you haven't!

All the best!

Zazen999

MM

Carrot fly, sow successionally and don't ever thin them out, and grow a coriander in the same pot and pull leaves off every time you pass by....and harvest the carrot pot by potin order of sowings

Come over to http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/ where there are loads of newbies, oldies and everyone in between - you can get a heck of alot of info just by browsing and seeing what everyone else is up to.

ixwood

Things will either work or they won't. It's no big deal. If not, try again,

Why the fear of failure? The best way to find out if things will work or not is to try them.

What's the fear of insects? What do you think's going to happen? Like all phobias, you have to expose yourself to them, but don't withdraw when you start feeling the fear/panic. You think the fear level is going to keep going up, so you retreat, but it doesn't. It's plateaus and goes down because after all, there's nothing to be scared of.

Learn about all the wonderful insects and what they do and how clever they are. You might see them in a different light. Ants for examaple, are amazing creatures. They're incredibly smart and are one of the few creatures that knows how to maipulate and ultilise resources. They keep their own slave army of aphids that they tranpost, protect and "milk".

You'll also learn that (mostly), insects are the gardeners friend and labourer rolled into one. Worms will dig and enrich your soill, bees will pollenate your crops, wasps will catch mozzies and other flying insects, ladybirds/hooverflies\lacewings will eat aphids.

Megansmum

Thanks ixwood

My phobia has been since childhood - i was tormented with spiders and other bugs - even ladybirds... by my older brothers! Nice i know! I tried therapy but gave up when he wanted me to sit with a big spider in a bucket in front of me!

Now I really think it will be okay,I WANT to do it - which is half the battle i reckon!
I am NOT having my daughter go through childhood with mummy not going in the garden or playing on the park because of the wasps!

I am doing things in small doses...the sound of wasps and bees freaks me - literally a nerve jolts in my back and my automatic response is to run..... so i have been out in the garden with my ipod on so I couldn't hear them and NOT run away when I have seen them near me!:D

Today I watered my potatoes and my face was pretty near a spider and i carried on watering....

Hubby lifted the slabs but he had used ant powder the other day there so the larvae and ants were all gone! So, I reckon you were right M99, and I bet they were ant larvae :j:j:j Phew!!

Well that crisis over - back to the growing stuff! Thanks all. xxx

ixwood

Well done with the spider! One step at a time. Sounds like you've won half the battle with your new positive attitude.

Bees are lovely. Very placid, non threatening and even cute. They'll have no interest in you whatsoever. Just stay still and admire them. You'll be very gald to see them if you get any fruiting plants! It's been said that if bees become extinct, we'll follow them 4 years later

ixwood

Wasps aren't as mean as people think. They actually catch thousands of insects on the wing to feed their larvae. It's only in late summer that they're discharged from duty and go off to fend for and feed themselves. It's then that they can be a pain, but stay still and calm and they won't bother you. Without them, we'd have lots more mozzies and midges that consider us dinner!

Melonade

Megansmum wrote: »

I am doing things in small doses...the sound of wasps and bees freaks me - literally a nerve jolts in my back and my automatic response is to run..... so i have been out in the garden with my ipod on so I couldn't hear them and NOT run away when I have seen them near me!:D

I've got the exact same problem with wasps I drove into the middle of the road on a driving lesson when I thought a wasp had flew into the car... turned out to be someone using a strimmer

I've also locked my Nan in her garden with some angry wasps because I was so scared and last year I threw a cup of tea in my own face when a wasp flew at me while I was standing at the back door

But this year I'm growing some veg and hopefully strawberries... I'll have to live with wasps I suppose... maybe I'll get a cheap bee keepers outfit

Got to agree with ixwood!! If it grows it's grows if not then something went wrong and you can try again. I was a bit manic when I first startd sowing some seeds but I've calmed down now... anything that grows is a bonus considering I didn't even try last year :T

Good Luck

Megansmum

Thanks again.

Melanade you made me laugh with the wasp stories :rotfl:- it is SOOO nice to hear someone else does crazy things like me! A plane went overhead and I ran the length of the garden thinking a wasp was chasing me. I have even done the drink in the face thing too! Years ago, I left my eldest daughter standing in our cul-de-sac while i was running round waving my arms like a mad one - she was about 5 at the time! I've not done the driving thing...but that's because I won't have the window open when i'm driving!:o

ixwood - I will learn about bugs and hope that will help my fears...but i will NEVER like wasps! At school I had an itch on my foot and used my other foot to scratch it.....got stung.....hobbled to the nurse with the wasp still splatted on my foot! :eek:Urgh - i can't get rid of that memory! (and i know it wasn't it's fault...and yes if someone was gonna squash me i'd sting em if i could...but still.....they get NASTY!

The other thing i will never abide is ants in the house.......it's just icky! So with a 20 month old I am constantly cleaning up juice and fruit splats......:mad:

Oh well, this is my first year of growing things too and i cant wait until baby is eating what i've grown instead of plums from south africa and lettuce that is 2 weeks old before it gets in Asda!

Good luck with all your fruit and veg crops......may we all get good yields this year!!:D