Although I have always loved being in gardens and appreciated the grow-your-own lifestyle, I didn’t really see myself doing just that one day, growing-my-own food or even attempting to.
However, after a couple of years of living in the country, it seemed like such a natural thing to do so i took it upon myself recently to utilise our vegetable garden for growing other things than weeds and dandelions.
It seemed a waste not putting it to good use as it was already there. So one day after school, we got started.
Things we learnt about gardening so far:
1, Gardening is a lot of fun.
2, The best and perhaps easiest way to weed is to keep turning the soil and get rid of whatever you can before planting.
2, Keep soil moist before transplanting. Minimises the risk of plant drying out.
3, Be patient. Prepare the soil properly before attempting to transplant any seedlings as having to pull them all out again after to improve soil conditions doubles the work. I found this out after i planted everything and decided that I needed to raise the beds and had to dig all seedlings back out and start again.
4, As a novice gardener, start with seedlings rather than seeds. It makes weeding a whole lot easier as you can tell what leaves are supposed to be there.
5, Don’t get frustrated if some of the plants fail to take roots and grow. It will happen even to the more experience gardeners.
6, Courgettes need warmer weather. I transplanted ours too soon and they all wilted and died.
7, Cucumbers also need warmer weather.
8, Birds love broccoli and cauliflower. Make sure you protect the seedlings with a net or something or they will all get eaten in no time.
9. Don’t get too carried away with buying too many plants as you need to make sure there is enough space between each one for them for maximum growth. Better buy a few to try and go back for more if necessary.
Please leave your advice and comments below.
Jake + Maya [Kids] Journal 