As the winter chill seems to be behind us, we took the opportunity to plant some seeds on the newly cleared growing patch in the garden. Naturally, Mick had to get involved…
But look, so smooth!
I can’t take the credit for the clearing – Ian did most of the donkey work as he’s a gardening machine. But I helped.
We moved the patch up the garden this year so that what we’re growing would get more sunlight as the previous patch further down the garden was shaded by a ridiculously large shed. We had noticed that some of the crop wasn’t thriving as well as it should and seemed to shrivel quite quickly.
Unfortunately, we had to clear out some plants that we weren’t really in love with anymore, plus they don’t yield stuff we can eat, so they had to go. Sounds harsh but at least what we do grow in their place will be used and should hopefully save a few air miles and car journeys to the store.
But one plant was saved – the bamboo – which Ian managed to sell on eBay! (I know – this man was born a wheeler dealer) so the bamboo has gone to a new owner. This makes me smile.
Anyway, the new patch has room for three rows of five different vegetable plants; vegetables that we eat a great deal of. We sprinkled the seeds in the mini valleys of the soil and let the rain water them the next day.
I must confess, I’m not an avid gardener. But I wanted to get more involved with the actual planting of the seeds this year as opposed to just the maintenance and picking of the goodies. This part was a lot more rewarding.
We’ve stuck to some familiar veg and a new one:
- Carrots
- Salad potatoes
- Radish (new)
- Purple spring onions, and’
- Beetroot
The planting of the seeds is what takes the least amount of time; preparing the patch took half of a Saturday a few weekends ago. But luckily the soil is pretty fertile as plants have flourished there ever since Ian moved in.
So here’s the patch after we planted the seeds and covered everything over.
We used some bamboo canes to mark out each individual row of seeds. No fancy tools or apparatus to see here.
Now we just play the waiting game. I’ll keep you updated over on my Instagram and on the blog.
Have you got any plans for your garden this year? I’d love to see what you’re growing.
