Last summer I had an abundance of cherry tomatoes and a reasonable crop of swiss chard. My herbs did really well with excellent basil, thyme, fennel and mint. That was probably the bulk of it. I didn't do anything over winter.
My poor vegetable bed has been lying fallow and with everything bursting into leaf and bloom everywhere, I've had a gremlin on my shoulder niggling me for not planting a single thing this season.
Last night I was chatting to my buddy Deon and he was talking about his garden and resulting produce.
My fingers began craving the feeling of earth - even more than usual!
This evening I spent about an hour pulling old plants out, tidying up, putting in a few seeds and watering. I'll put in another hour in the morning to get more in, add mulch, water more and probably add some compost to sections of the bed I'd like to use.
My friend gave me some Reel Gardening seed strips so I've put in peas, onion, beetroot, tomatoes and lettuce. Tomorrow, some swiss chard, cherry tomatoes and some seeds for pretty flowers.
I'm a relative newcomer to gardening and I definitely feel at peace to be working the ground and caring for my plants. I enjoy the time on my own, but it is sometimes also an opportunity to connect with neighbours. Living in a complex it can be weeks or months between seeing some neighbours. But when I'm gardening they stop past to see what is going in, how the plants are doing and so say hello. This does bring out the best in people,
My biggest challenge now is regular watering - in these first few weeks it makes the biggest difference to the success of the plants. Now just to keep the focus.
Are you growing anything this summer?
1 comment:
Try Aquaponics?
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