Isn't it exciting when little seeds you've planted start cautiously unfurling stalks and leaves, and turning into proper plants? Most of my vegetable planting is now done for the spring, so I thought I'd update you with what's in this year.
I used some plastic sheets to turn my vegetable boxes into mini greenhouses, which I'd like to think helped with the germinating process. One unexpected thing which sprouted were half a dozen courgette plants, which I assume are the same ones that never came up last year. I transplanted them to some pots, where one has already been savaged by slugs.
The seeds that I did expect were spring onions, carrots and rocket, which have duly come up in neat little rows. I haven't tried carrots before; they're supposed to be good companions for spring onions in some mutually beneficial way, so I'll put in another couple of rows soon and see how they go.
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| tiny spring onions and carrots |
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| tomatoes and rocket |
Other plants have been bought in. Someone in the village put a mini-greenhouse-full of tomato plants outside their house, with an honesty box for charity, so I acquired four for a good cause. The peas were a garden centre bargain - £2 for a tray which contained far more than I needed. I do hope they do well, as I rather fancy podding my own peas. I can't remember when I last ate peas from a pod - can you?
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| dwarf peas |
Last year I coaxed strawberry runners from my old plants into growing by themselves. The old plants died off, but the new ones are doing well. When I turned the compost out of the old strawberry pots, I discovered it was full of woodlouse larvae, which may have had something to do with the demise of the strawberries. Are they bad for plants? I suspect ants of living in the other pots, which I wouldn't have thought would be much good for the plants, but so far they don't seem to be doing any harm.
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| strawberry flowers |
So that's my attempt at self-sustainability this year. How about you? Are you growing anything?
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