I have not had great success with my veggie patch in 2010. Check out the first harvest from 2008 – I think it was beginners luck. First of all, I started way too late in sowing my seeds last year. What held me up was, I had to keep the ‘feathered gardeners’ out of the veggie patch because they scratch and peck and destroy the whole area in a matter of hours. Hannes built me a fence to keep them out, but I needed a better locking system, so I did a slap-dash job of propping the wheel barrow up against it and used a piece of cardboard….don’t ask, I know – it sounds like a hobo-special. Anyway, I started sowing seeds in November and meticulously watered and tended the first shoots. Then came the howling wind. For days it blew and it was drying everything out. It also blew my makeshift fence open and……yes, you guessed it! The Girls were in there – lead by the ringleader, Buffy! All my new seedlings were gone, eaten!! I did not speak to The Girls for two days!! They knew I was upset. Four weeks of labour turned into chicken food!
So that was when you and I went to Ferndale Nursery and bought the seedlings. I had a few tomato plants surviving, so I took photo’s of the salvaged few. Along side these I planted my seedlings – and guess what? The hottest days came! It was too much. Some of the cabbage plants just fizzled up and died. It is just too hot to start planting in December. I have learnt my lesson. I will start planting in Spring!! I also prefer to plant seeds direct into the ground – firstly, it is cheaper and easier. Secondly, it is less work and thirdly, if they don’t grow, no love lost there. The strong ones will flourish and the weak ones will pack their bags and go!
The first photo:- Here is the start of the patch in 2008. A great deal of time and energy went into the preparing of the soil. This is very important. Here you can see no fence up yet for marauding chickens. As you can tell, this is back-breaking work.
The second photo:- The first harvest – fruits of my labour (of love!). It takes anything from 6 to 10 weeks to harvest from seed. We had veggies galore!
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3 replies on “From the Veggie Patch”
Oh, thank goodness! Can’t wait to see the photos so I can see how much they’ve grown 🙂
Oh no, no! That was just the red cabbage that wilted. I still have all the others – onions, regular cabbage, broccolli, spring onions, and tomatoes. Also all the lettuce varieties and spinach which are in the DIY planter. I will post you a photo tomorrow.
Oh no! Don’t tell me all the seedlings in the new veggie grower died? They were doing so well last week when I was there?