The Best Laid Plans

I may have mentioned before that I like to plan. But sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes things can work out when they haven’t been planned. And sometimes, no matter how much I plan, it’s just not going to happen the way I want/think/hope.

The basil that I have nurtured since it popped its head up
over 3 weeks ago! It's sad.

Once again, the vegie patch is my best example. By the way, it is now after Melbourne Cup Day, and the tomatoes are still alive – this gives me hope that they might actually survive to produce those beautiful, tasty tomatoes I’ve been dreaming of. But that is beside the point. Where I have planned ahead, improving the soil, growing seedlings in the greenhouse, transplanting out into the vegie patch only after the 2^nd set of leaves have grown and in the season the packet tells me, diligently watered with seasol every 2 weeks, some plants just don’t work. Some go really well. Some just outright go and die. Some just don’t do anything much. But why? I’ve done all the right things, planned what needed to be done. Very frustrating.

The lettuce that is going well after a rocky start

On the other hand, I’ve had success where I was flying by the seat of my pants. Take the lettuce. They got planted before they were supposed to. One got dug up by a bird scratching around looking for nesting material, so I just shoved it back in the ground and hoped for the best. It’s thriving.




part of Ferntree Gully

I have another example. We had a day out last week (a Mid-Week Meander). It was my birthday, and I’d told Les what I wanted to do – the Ferntree Gully Walk, followed by lunch at the Bizzy Birds café in Rylstone. Les had it all planned, what time to leave home so we would get to the walk in time to have morning tea before we set off, allowing enough time to do the walk then make it to the lunch spot at a good time for lunch. All was going well until we got to Rylstone – café closed!!! What do we do??!! Picture me with a very disappointed face.

the steps out of Ferntree Gully - just
a little bit steep, but luckily not too many

Luckily there are other lunch options in Rylstone, and I’m not just talking about the pub (although I’m told it has a good bistro). We wandered up the street and found another nice little café (Café 47), in a huge building that is also a gallery space. We had a lovely lunch, and I had a quick look at the artworks on display. So, we discovered something new – that is what can happen when the plan doesn’t come together.

What got me thinking about plans was a sign in the window of the café, saying that planning to have a bush fire survival plan is NOT a plan. It is a very timely reminder, given the recent fires in the Blue Mountains, and the onset of summer when we have had way less than our usual amount of rain. But this is one of the plans we just haven’t done. We don’t even have a plan for having a plan! I wonder why 2 people like us (both Les and I are planners) haven’t done this most important plan? We live in a place that has open farmland behind us, and if a grass fire came through there, we would be in trouble. Maybe I’m not as plan-obsessed as I think I am.

I don’t think I will ever be really comfortable without things being planned, but I’m not so stuck in that planning rut that I can’t appreciate the fact that plans can change, things don’t always go to plan, and that’s not always a bad thing. And sometimes, just sometimes, not having a plan can work too. Now I’m going to check out the RFS site for a bush fire survival plan.

the surviving tomatoes in front of the
carrots going great guns, then the peas
right at the back - all good

 

The Learning Curve

Thank you to those who kindly answered my plea for comments on my last post. It might seem a small thing, but it really makes a difference to me to know there are people out there, and I’m not talking to myself. So please, if you have any thoughts about what I’ve written, or even on something completely different, take the time to make a comment, just for me!

the apples are coming along nicely
I have no idea what I'm doing!

Different people learn in different ways. I learn best by doing. If I’m just reading about something, chances are I’ll forget it pretty quickly. Learning things by rote also doesn’t really work for me – with the exception of the main rivers along the coast of NSW, from north to south, which for some reason I can still recite all these years after learning them when I was about 10 years old. I also learnt all the train stations from Broken Hill to Sydney Central - it was a good party trick when I was at university, but for some strange reason, I can’t remember them all now. Maybe I just don’t have any reason to anymore.

If I have to use the thing I’m trying to learn, I might actually remember it for next time. But the best way for me to learn something is for me to understand it. If something makes sense to me, and it serves some sort of purpose, then even if I don’t remember all the details, those bits that I don’t remember, I can work out.

the peas are a success!

So, like many people, I have to make my own mistakes. If someone tells me “blah, blah”, and it doesn’t make sense to me, I have to try it myself, just to make sure.

Take, for example, growing tomatoes. I love eating tomatoes. I love the flavour of home-grown tomatoes – they have real flavour, much more so than the ones bought from the supermarket. I love the idea of growing my own tomatoes, so I can just wander out the back and pick one when I want one. I love the idea of being able to snack on cherry tomatoes instead of chocolate – well, maybe that is going a bit too far!


Now I have enough space in the backyard for a vegie patch, I want to grow tomatoes. With lots of help from Les, the vegie patch was set up, and sensible things like peas, carrots, and spinach, planted. But the tomatoes couldn’t go in. Whenever I mentioned tomatoes to a local, all I got was “oh, you can’t put them in yet!”. Maybe if the “when” message had been consistent, I would have just left it at that. But one person said “only after Melbourne Cup Day”. Another person said “not before the end of November”. Yet another person said “only plant them out after the last frost” (how can you know when it is the last frost?). The biggest challenge to my way of thinking was when I was told that it was the aim of every Bathurst gardener to have home-grown tomatoes for Christmas lunch. I’ll show them!

current tomato seedlings in the ground
carrots and peas going great guns in the background

Why shouldn't I be able to grow tomatoes? It had worked for me before. So I planted some seeds, in the greenhouse. They germinated nicely, and were going along OK. Then died. Maybe too early.

So I tried again. This time, they got to 2 sets of leaves (they must have 2 sets of leaves before they can be planted out). Yay! So, out they went. Then died. Still too early.

So I tried again. 2 sets of leaves, out into the vegie patch, and each day I checked what the temperature was going to be overnight, and if a frost was possible, covered them. They lasted about 2 weeks. Then died. Still too early.

seedling at back - plant next week
seedlings at front - hopefully ready to plant in a couple of weeks

I know that I’m still about a week too early (ie before Melbourne Cup Day), but the next set of tomato seedlings are in the ground. I obviously still haven’t learnt my lesson, but I’ve got to learn it myself. If these ones die, and the ones that will be ready to go in after Melbourne Cup Day survive, then next year, the learning curve won’t be so steep.