How to grow plants from seed - Part 2

I am a huge believer of growing plants from seed. To me it is so much more rewarding to plant my plants from seed. It truly is so easy! You just need a little patience and a few tips! If you haven't seen it already, check out Part 1 of this guide on how to grow seeds, cos that will help you with the basics! This part of the guide will give you a little bit more detail and tips that aren't essential, but really help out! So lets get into it!

My first trick or tip when growing seeds is to use a propagator, or an equivalent. This creates a micro-climate for the seeds in which to thrive. This micro-climate helps to keep the plant warm, and retain soil moisture. My Dad bought me an electric propagator, so I use this! It makes such a huge difference! I just put it in a sunny place, adjust the vents and turn it off an on when appropriate. If you wanna get super technical (which I don't bother with) you can use a propagator thermometer so as to get the ideal temperature for the plants to grow. But I just turn it on for a few hours in the cold parts of the day!

If you don't have an electric propagator, don't even worry! You can use things like plastic bags, plastic containers, or even plastic soda bottles with the bottoms cut off. These things all help to create essentially mini glass houses. The plastic soda bottles with no bottoms can also be used to help protect the plants when they go out into the big garden. The bottle lid makes it easy when it is out in the garden for you to water the plant too, as you simply unscrew the lid and water the plant! Talk about repurposing (;

Now I'm going to teach you about a little problem you may have encountered if you grow your seedlings inside. Mold. It is not nice. It starts out like little white fluffy spots on the top of the soil, and can spread across the whole top of you soil. It won't really affect your plants, but its preferable to not have this! This mold is caused from either over-watering or from your plants not having enough air circulation around them.

The great news is that it is super easy to get rid of the mold. You have a few options for treating the mold:

• Sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on top of the soil (it actually does work)
• Place a fan near your plants to increase circulation
• Or, simply remove the layer of mold and make sure you aren't over-watering your seeds

Mold starting to grow on the soil of a seedling

Now that your plants are starting to grow and you know how to get rid of any mold that may start to sprout, here is an ingenious tip that when I got told about this I thought it was brilliant. Its so simple, but makes so much sense!

When you plant your seeds, no doubt you plant a couple of seeds in each little pot, and if you don't, then start doing it!! What will happen when you start growing these seeds, and the plants germinate and start sprouting, you will have a couple of shoots. Once these shoots have sprouted their true leaves (when your seeds sprout, they will start out with two leaves right opposite each other, as the plant starts to grow and develop, other leaves will start to grow which look more like the leaves that the plants end up with - hence the name, true leaves) you are ready to use this trick!

True leaves - sourced from about.com

Grab your scissors, and cut at the base of the stem of any "extra" plants that you have grown. Choose to keep the ones that look like they are doing really well! I know what you're thinking, because I thought this too "what a waste, I will just plant all the shoots". Well by all means, go for it! However, what changed my mind was the justification behind doing this. When you try to separate the shoots, you can actually damage the roots of both plants, as they will no doubt be connected. Its actually better to sacrifice one plant then lose two! Then once the plant is a little more established you can move your plant out to the garden! It is super important to make sure that once the true leaves have started to grow that your plants are being fed and getting enough nutrients! But I'm sure you already could guess that!

How great were these extra tips?! I know that these tips totally changed my seed growing experience! I hope they help you out! Let me know if you have any sneaky tips that I could use when growing seeds! Sharing is caring :D

The Changing Seasons

WOW! How fast does time go! Its already heading towards the end of August. And for me that means its almost Spring! But no matter where you are in the world, you will be preparing your garden for the end of one season, and the beginning of another. Even if you still have a few beauties producing in your garden, chances are it won't be anywhere near as impressive as it was a few weeks ago! So this is the perfect time to give your garden the love that it needs!

For us heading into Spring now is the ideal time to pack your soil full of nutrients so that when it comes time to plant in the ground in a few weeks time, your soil will be bursting with goodness! I pack heaps of organic compost and organic fertilizers into my soil at this time of year, and it can be as simple as that! If you want to read up on it more, here is a great post about how to love your soil. Don't forget to keep on loving your soil! Cos what goes into your soil, goes into your yummy veggies!!

Adding the right things to your soil can make a huge difference!

Another super important thing to get started on at this changing seasons time is getting your seeds started sprouting! No matter where you are, if you are planting from seed, now is the ideal time to get some seeds germinating in a warm place! If you have never grown from seed before, heading into Spring is the perfect time to overcome your fear! For a fuller guide on how to get your seeds started, check out this post I wrote about how to grow seeds! I have my seeds growing in little jiffy pots in a warm place in my house! Its important to make sure that these seeds get enough water and warmth so that they can reach their full potential!

I also like to plan ahead the times when I will sow more seeds, so that over Spring and Summer I can have lots of vegetables growing! I get my slower growing things started first (carrots, pumpkins and chillis), as well as a few fast growing things (lettuces and radishes), and then plan in for more fast growing things later on as well. This helps me to make sure that I will have a steady flow of veggies during the warmer months! Planning out what I am going to plant also helps me to get an idea of how many plants of each variety I should grow, so that there is enough for not just me and my hubby, but also that we could share or sell some of produce!

Planning out seed planting can really help to get your head around growing times

And if you are anything like me (a gardening obsessive compulsive) you will have so many seed packets that you almost don't know what to do with them all! Well I have a simple solution! Organize them! I did this the other day again, as I keep adding more seeds to my collection as I see new and exciting vegetables I want to grow (Wow! Gone are the days as a kid where I used to think veggies were boring!). I laid out all my seeds (this made me super excited) and then alphabetized them! You can organize them however you like though! Whether its season, vegetable family or colour, growing time, I don't know! Whatever makes your life easier! And then I put them into my seed album (which secretly is just an old photo album that never ended up being used for photos!). But seed boxes work also! Just so long as you have a safe, dry place for storing your seeds! Is it weird that I am super excited for more of my seeds to arrive in the mail this week so that I can not only plant but also organize too?? Probably! But hey! Whatever makes you happy right?!

Organizing seed packets helps to make sure you don't lose or miss out on any potential veggies!

The changing of seasons is always exciting as it means you have new things to look forward to! Just make sure that it doesn't just creep up on you, but that you are super prepared and waiting for it! 

HAPPY GARDENING!

Capsi-YUM (growing capsicums)

Capsicums are delicious, crispy, juicy, sweet and oh so versatile. You can have them in salads, you can stuff them, roast them, have them on pizza. They add amazing flavor, and texture to whatever dish they are in. And the best part about capsicums, is that they are actually really simple to grow. I used to find the idea of growing capsicums really daunting, but after a long hot summer, I now think they are such an incredible thing to grow! This guide can be used for both capsicums and chillies!

When to grow: Mid spring to mid summer. If you live in a warm area, plant inside in late winter, and then put outside mid spring, and if you live in a cold area, plant inside in late winter or early spring and then don't put outside until after the risk of frost has passed.

Where to grow: Capsicums grow up (to about knee height) rather than out, so you don't need too much space around the plant. They do need a spot that gets a lot of sunlight, but not too much wind. The capsicums are very heavy on the plants and the strong winds can break the plants as they are quite brittle.

How to grow: If you are starting with a seed, plant the seed in good quality soil either inside or outside, depending on your timing, in a seed tray. Make sure you water the seeds really well, and after about 10 days, the seeds will start to sprout. Then move the plants to a small pot about 7cm or 3 inches tall, and keep the plant in this pot until it is about the same height.

If you bought seedlings, or if you planted it from a seed, the steps are the same from here on! Then move the capsicum plant to the garden, or to a big pot if thats where you are wanting to plant it. Plant the capsicum in a good sized hole in the ground. Pat the soil down around the plant base, and then put a bamboo stake into the ground next to the capsicum plant.

Feeding your plants: Capsicums love nourishment! Make sure that you are giving them enough food. Using a liquid compost once every two weeks while the capsicums are growing is really important, as this gives them the nutrients they need to grow well.

Staking the plants: Because of the brittleness of the plants, capsicums need to be staked as they are growing. Putting a bamboo stake in the ground next to the plants is the best idea. The plants can then be tied to the stake using old stockings or something else that will be gentle on the plant. As the capsicum plant keeps growing, keep staking the plant up, so that is secure against the stake.

Important things to know: Good ventilation is important when growing fruits (or capsicums). So ensure that the plants have enough room for air to move freely. Watering the plants really well everyday is also a very important part of growing capsicums.

Harvest: Capsicums can be picked whenever you want to pick them really! The longer they are left on the plant, the more they mature, and the flavor changes. The above, and below capsicum are from the same plant, just the bottom one (reddish) was left on the plant for longer. This is because the plant I grew was a common capsicum. The capsicum starts out green, and ripens to orange or red! Beautiful! When you are ready to pick your capsicums, use scissors to cut the vegetable off, or you can damage the brittle plant!

Enjoy your capsicums, they truly are beautiful plants, and they are so simple to grow! If you have any questions, let me know! (:

The Carrot.

Oh golly. I have a love affair with carrots. They're probably the vegetable that I've loved for the longest. Sweet and crunchy. Yum yum yum! I remember when I was 8 or 9 growing carrots and picking them from the garden when they were tiny, but I was so excited, I ate them straight after washing! And not much has changed. So naturally, I would grow them in my own garden. And here is how you do that! 

PS I planted rainbow carrots (a mixture of colours), and some round carrots! AHH! So much excitement! Who knew there was more to carrots than just baby carrots and big long orange ones!

Carrots do best when grown between mid to late winter until late autumn!

So to begin, prepare your good quality soil (no rocks) that has some sunshine that can shine upon the carrots! Lose soil is essential if you want to grow long skinny carrots, but if you have rocky soil, growing the smaller rounder varieties should be right up your alley! Its easier to plant straight in the ground for these babies. I am growing carrots, not just IN my garden, but also, in my patio garden in some long planter boxes, as they work perfectly! And I like carrots. Lots of carrots.

In your soil, dig a trench a fingertip deep, in which to sprinkle a thin line of seeds, about a fingertip apart. Or you can sow a patch of carrots, by sprinkling seeds on top of a patch of soil, and then using some extra soil or compost to lightly cover the seeds. Once the seeds start to sprout they will at first look like grass, so don't think they are weeds and then pull them out! But after a little bit they will start to grow the iconic carrot leaves! You can thin out the carrots around this time so that they can grow to their full potential. This means pulling out a few of the plants, so that the remaining plants can grow really well. However, don't pull out too many, as carrots do well when a bit crowded!

As the carrots keep growing, you may find that you want to thin them out more. Leaving about 5cm or an inch between each carrot is ideal for growth!

Carrots like moist soil, so ensure that the soil is nice and damp, and not just on the surface, but actually goes a bit deeper, so that the roots (the carrot bit) can grow beautifully and uniformly.

Root vegetables need certain nutrients (not gunna get technical, but they need phosphorus from the soil). To meet this need, using bone meal (an organic fertilizer made from crushed up bones) or something similar, or an organic liquid seaweed plant food! I often put seaweed in my garden, and this does really well! But using a liquid seaweed means that it is absorbs a lot faster by the plants.

As the carrots grow, you may find the top of the carrot (the crown) starts to push out of the ground. When you see this, cover it up with soil, otherwise the carrot will go bitter, and discolour! And you do not want that! So cover up those cheeky crowns trying to pop out!

The great thing about carrots, is that you can pick them when they are babies, and they are still great! This is a bonus, because this counts as thinning out the garden, so you are doing something good for the garden, but also good for you cos you can enjoy those fresh bubby carrots! But carrots can also be left in the ground to mature fully. The carrots in the photo above and below took around 3 - 4 months to grow! Crazy eh! Thats why I have so many growing at once, because I like them!

Carrots store well in the ground (if you don't need them yet, don't pull them out), but they can also be frozen (I like to prepare mine to be roasted eventually), or just eaten fresh (cooked or raw).

So go and grow and enjoy your carrots! They really are simple to grow and very rewarding! Nom nom nom.

Organising Your Seed Packets!

Even gardeners need to be organised. And I found the best way to be organised, so that I am planting seeds at the right time of the year/I don't lose any of my seed packets! Let me let you in on my secret!

I took an old photo album, and organised my seed packets first of all by which month they are planted in, and then within that alphabetically! WOAH!!! SO CRAZY!!! Hahaha. So find out in your area when the best time to plant certain seeds is. If you prefer to organise it into four seasons, then thats all good! But I like this way, because then I can be like "oh hey, its March, what is there for me to plant this month?" instead of being like, "oh dang, its March, its too late for me to plant rockmelons!"

So enjoy organising your seeds in a way that is also easy to store, and is accessible! I just keep mine in my bookshelf so I see it too! Yay!

Our Garden Progress - February

How to grow plants from seed

Planting seeds. It sounds like a simple task, but many people find it scary, and therefore opt to, instead of taking on this "challenge", buy seedlings to plant in their garden. Planting seeds is a very rewarding experience, that lets you know, exactly what your plants have been through to get to you! There is something so amazing about eating fruit or vegetables from a plant that you know started as a small seed that you planted and helped nurture as it germinated and then started to grow!

So here is a simple guide on how to grow plants from seeds!

To get started all you need is a packet of seeds (ensure that it is the right time of year to grow the seeds you have chosen), either potting mix or seed raising mix, and some containers to grow the seedlings! I used jiffy pots, which can be put in the ground as they are environmentally friendly and are bio-degradable! But if you don't have them, you can use empty egg cartons or small pots! OR seeds can be planted straight in the ground! I used seed raising mix, as it contains nutrients that specifically feed seeds and encourage germination, but if you don't have this on hand, potting mix works well!

Fill the container that you have chosen with soil, and then water until the soil is moist. Plant the seed in the soil. Follow the directions on the seed packet about how deep the seed should be planted. But most seeds should be planted a couple of mm under the soil. Make sure that you keep track of which seeds you have planted where! It makes it easier to companion plant when you are getting ready to move the plants to the big garden!!

Place the seed tray in a spot that gets good morning sunshine, as well as some shade in the hottest part of the day. This means that the seeds will grow well, and the soil won't dry out. Make sure that you water the seeds everyday, but that the seed tray doesn't flood, or that the water doesn't pool, as this can damage the seed.

After a week to two weeks small green plants will start to sprout! It is still important to ensure they are getting morning sunshine, and adequate water. Once the seedlings are well established, they can be transferred to the main garden!

Easy as pie!! Enjoy your new lease on gardening!

Now that you know how to grow seeds, check out Part 2 on how to grow plants from seed. This will give you some more tips and tricks that will help you out heaps!

Our first baby! (GROWING COURGETTES) - December 3 2012

Our 9 month wedding anniversary was the 3rd of December, and on that day, we harvested our first courgette baby! Its amazing how different home grown vegetables are to shop bought vegetables! Our courgettes are so fat!

The crazy thing about courgettes is that one day they are small and the next they are a marrow! Literally! A marrow is basically a giant version of a courgette that has a slightly different texture and taste. So when you are growing these bad boys, keep an eye on them! The ideal size for a courgette is about a pinky finger to thumb length! The other thing about growing courgettes is the plant can produce a lot! As you keep harvesting, there is more potential for new vegetables to grow, so having a few recipes up your sleeve that use these glorious vegetables is a definite must! I have a couple of unique recipes that I will post soon! But for now, enjoy this beautiful picture of our first courgette baby!

I don't know if its the volcanic soil we are blessed with or the perfect growing conditions or what, but seriously we are getting some big plants in a small amount of time! Look at these giant lettuces that we have! Luckily we have two families as well as us to share them with! Because that would be a lot of salad that we would have to consume!

We have also started growing peas in our garden! They are gorgeous plants that are very delicate looking and are truly just beautiful!

I will post some more about growing peas as well as some courgette recipes, but in the mean time, enjoy this photo of our glorious greenery!

Strawberry fields forever - November 21 2012

I luuurrvvvee strawberries! I got given two strawberry plants for my birthday, but we decided that two was not enough! So we bought four more plants which means we have six! As a rule of thumb, you normally have five strawberry plants per person in your household so that you have a bountiful harvest enough for everyone to eat. BUT, we couldn't afford (space and money) to have 10 strawberry plants.

Strawberries need a lot of sun when growing, otherwise they cannot reach their full juicy sweet potential. So when we planted, we made sure that our pots were in the sunniest spot of our deck!

We planted the strawberry plants in a strawberry mix, which is just like potting mix, but with extra goodies for the strawberries mixed in. We also bought strawberry straw (or hay) and put it underneath the plants, so that the leaves (and fruit) are above and out of the soil so that they don't rot and so that the plant can conserve water.

When growing strawberry plants, the first season, fruit shouldn't be left to grow, as the plants need to put their energy into growing stronger and establishing themselves. However, when we bought our plants there were a few berries already growing. Removing the fruit before it can grow in the first growing season (when the berries grow) means that in the second growing season, the fruit will be more bountiful! YAY! Thats what I like to hear, even though I'm not patient!

So for this summer growing season, I will be buying my berries, rather than growing them!

And as much as I love berries, birds also love them! So when there are berries on the plants, make sure that the plants are covered with some netting so that the birds can't get to the plants!

Feeding the strawberry plants is very important when there are fruits growing. Normal plant food can be used, but finding a strawberry food can be more beneficial to the plant and berries as the perfect nutrients are in the food that will help the berries to reach their full potential! Sounds yummy!

Happy birthday to me!! - November 11 2012

Its always exciting having a birthday. This year was extra exciting as university had finished and we were on holiday, plus I managed to get the day off work and hang out with my hubby!

Our rocket is growing like mental! Which is good for us because it is almost going to be too hot to keep growing rocket, as we are heading into summer. Rocket doesn't do too well in summer as it goes to seed really quickly and the leaves can be really bitter because of the heat. So this is our last harvest of rocket for the year! And although we will miss this gorgeous green leafy monster, it gives us more room to plant new plants!!

 This is so exciting!!! For my birthday, my wonderful husband bought me a mandarin tree, an avocado tree and a lime tree, as well as two strawberry plants! I don't know much about fruit trees, but I do know that we won't be harvesting from these beauties for a couple of years, so that the trees can establish themselves and strengthen. Makes a lot of sense really! We will be planting them in some large-ish pots as we don't know where we will be in a couple of years, but we do know that we will be moving from where we are now, and I want my trees forever!

I am a very happy lady!

Growing and growing and growing - November 8 2012

This week we have many radishes! So many that we cannot eat them all! So we are giving them to the in-laws! They are huge too!! It is seriously amazing how fast they grow! All you need to do is plant them about 5mm deep in soil and in a rows 30cm apart and make sure they are watered well! Once they start to sprout a bit, they may need to be thinned back so that they can grow to their full potential! And then in a few weeks time there will be delicious and peppery radishes to add to salads!

Today we extended our veggie garden out another quarter of the original length! It was so hard! And there were so many rocks and bricks! The top photo is before, and the bottom photo is after! Now there is more room for all the stuff that we want to plant! I am so addicted to gardening! Hahaha.

To clear the land we used a spade to "cut out" the square in the grass that we were going to dig out. Then we used a pitch fork to get rid of all the grass and roots. We used a combination of the spade and the pitch fork to dig up the soil and dig out the rocks and bricks and roof tiles! It was such a fun day even though it was seriously hard and back breaking work! After the ground was cleared we put compost on top and then planted some cocktail tomato plants and a tobacco plant (very strange!). And soon we will plant all the different seeds! Yay!!!

As well as extending our veggie garden, I have been growing my kitchen garden! I have now added fennel, parcelery (a mix of parsley and celery which I thought sounded tres cool!), garlic chives, coriander and a tomato plant! I also got some new gardening gloves! Such an awesome day of new additions to our gardening family!

Crispy Rocket Pesto Chicken Recipe - November 5 2012

As has been said earlier, we have an abundance of rocket in our garden! And we loooove rocket pesto.

So we came up with Crispy Rocket Pesto Chicken as a way to eat more of our yummy pesto and enjoy our garden in a more unique way than just eating salad!

So here is the recipe!

Crispy Rocket Pesto Chicken

-1 skinless, boneless chicken breast sliced into strips

-1/4 cup rocket pesto 

-1/2 cup milk

-1 Tbsp white vinegar

-1/2 cup plain flour

-2 pieces of bread made into breadcrumbs

-salt

-pepper

-1 Tbsp oil

1. Marinate the chicken in the rocket pesto for an hour or up to 24 hours in the fridge

2. Combine the milk and vinegar in a small bowl and leave to curdle

3. Put the flour into a small bowl and season well

4. Put the bread crumbs in a small bowl and season well

5. Arrange the bowls in front of you in this order: flour, milk, breadcrumbs and have a plate at the end to put the coated chicken

6. In a fry pan heat the oil over medium heat

7. Dip one chicken strip into the flour, then the milk and then the breadcrumbs so that it is covered well

8. Repeat with the remaining chicken strips

9. Place the coated chicken strips into the fry pan, and cook until golden and the chicken is cooked completely

We served our chicken on a lettuce and rocket salad with radishes all from our garden and peanuts (from the supermarket). We dressed the salad in a dressing made from 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts oil and salt and pepper! It was an amazing dinner that was so fresh and light! It will definitely become part of our dinner repertoire!

Staking the tomatoes - November 5 2012

Its always exciting when there is noticeable progress in a garden! And new additions to the garden that changes the way it looks is almost refreshing!

Today, we had to stake up the tomatoes! They were starting to bend over slightly. So before any major wind or rain happened upon them, we secured them up!

We bought one stake for each tomato, that would be tall enough to accommodate their future growth. Once the stakes were hammered into the ground next to the plant (deep enough to not just fall over), we tied them to the stake using old stockings (pantyhose) that had been cut into about a 4cm thick ring, and then cut into one piece of pantyhose ribbon. Using the pantyhose is good for the plant because it is breathable and not very abrasive! It is also really good for me, because I seem to wear a pair of pantyhose once and then there is a ladder in it! So it is good recycling!

As the tomato plants keep growing, we will keep tying them up on the stake! This helps the plants to grow really good and strong, and will stop them from breaking in any not nice weather!

The garden is growing so amazingly well! It is unbelievable! The radishes are looking a lot more promising (but then again they are super easy to grow), and the rocket is really taking off... (lol)

Here is another photo to show you how amazing our garden is! On Guy Fawkes, we went up to our veggie garden and watched the fire works across the city! Totally beautiful and not that scary until our neighbours starting doing fireworks that were sending sparks awfully close to our plants! Eek!

I NEED MORE PLANTS - November 5 2012

Here in New Zealand, we are now well and truly into spring, and summer is just around the corner! The prospect of many new plants is exciting beyond belief and beyond words!

The other day, I was watching Food TV, and an ad came on TV for POD Gardening. And so I checked out their website http://www.podgardening.co.nz/!

This may have been a blessing for me, but not a blessing for my bank account! I found their online store, and before I knew it, I had added to my cart many seed packets of things that I was desperate to grow! And we all know that the joys of online shopping don't end once the transaction is complete, because the package gets shipped to your house a few days or weeks later and getting mail is normally always exciting (especially if you don't have to pay bills yet!).

But when my package arrived!!!!! OOOOHHH BOOOY!!!!! I WAS EXCITED!!! So excited that I laid it all out and photographed it along with a cute hand written note that was inside!! SUPER CUTE!!!

Now I am even more excited to get to plant the seeds! I ordered some interesting and exotic sounding things like rainbow carrots and rock melon, black krim tomatoes and butternut squash! Because I spent so much, I also got 5 bonus packs of seeds! The Cottage Veggie Garden is going to have a bountiful (hopefully) harvest!

So please bare with (Miranda reference) while I experiment with not only growing from seed (for the first time since science class in high school with an unsuccessful bean plant which crushed my gardening hopes and dreams) but also growing things that are so much different from the trusty, faithful lettuce and rocket that basically promise to grow and grow for you!

Homemade Rocket Pesto - October 26 2012

When life gives you lemons, you know to make lemonade. But when your garden gives you wilting rocket, what can you do??

We made rocket pesto!

A very quick and delicious way to use some of our vegetables that were starting to become a bit worse for wear.

The thing is, there are just two of us. So we don't eat a lot. And we didn't have a lot of rocket. And we have a big food processor, who's blades would have missed the ingredients we were hoping to turn into pesto. And it was a night where we didn't want to muck around making dinner. We also didn't have pine nuts, or parmesan... So this is a pesto with a lot of Kiwi ingenuity!

So here is the recipe for our Rocket Pesto (in a flash):

-1/2 cup rocket

-1 garlic clove, minced

-oil (we used canola because olive is tres expensive)

-salt

-pepper

1. Chop the rocket as finely as possible.

2. Transfer to a small bowl.

3. Add the garlic.

4. Using a fork, slowly add oil and mix well until the desired pesto consistency is reached (about 2 Tbsp)

5. Season to taste!

6. Serve with fresh cooked pasta, or spread on crackers, or whatever else you do with basil pesto!

The rocket pesto is beautiful and peppery! Coming from our own garden is really amazing and feels so rewarding! It is such an easy plant to grow, and it grows so fast that really everyone should grow it! And then eat it! Yum yum!!

The start of my "Cottage Kitchen Garden" - October 25 2012

Having a garden is amazing! And the view we have is absolutely breathtaking...

BUT...

At the end of the day when you are cooking dinner and the recipe calls for some fresh basil, you don't really want to trek all the way up the hill to a garden to get some basil...

Our solution!!!

Build a garden on our deck/patio/whatever-you-want-to-call-it space! 

After many a hour looking at small patio gardens on Pinterest, I decided that I too needed one. And so it begins! My/Our patio, or kitchen garden! (Kitchen because when you are in the kitchen, you can pop there easily!)

This is my rocket and spring onion, first additions to the garden, that is going to grow like cray cray!

I planted rocket seedlings in potting mix and a galvanized bucket that I had lying around (it had holes in the bottom perfect for good drainage!) and then watered it well! In the other bucket, I planted in potting mix the roots of a leftover spring onion and then watered it well. It is as simple as that! So long as they are getting adequate sunlight, they will be very happy, and will soon be getting more friends!

Here is my latest post about having a garden on a small patio space!

The first taste - October 25 2012

A month after planting, we had our first taste of natures goodness that we planted! Some delicious, peppery rocket! As we grew the plants from seedlings, it didn't take that long for us to get some yummy and edible produce! The greens were starting to grow really well, and growing the salad greens was such a confidence booster, as they are very easy to grow and maintain! All you need to do is water it well and keep slugs away! 

To keep the slugs away from the plants and stop our yummy greens being eaten by bugs, we used crushed egg shells in the garden! Using the egg shells in the garden is also good because of the nutrients it provides to the soil! This is good because the calcium in the egg shells is essential for plant growth!!! All you have to do is wash the egg shells after you have cracked them. We kept them in the fridge to dry out, and then before we used them we crushed them up into very small pieces to sprinkle on the garden. Crushing them up means that they break down easier, which means the nutrients gets into the soil and plants faster! SUCCESS!!!

I love the beautiful view from our garden! Absolutely amazing when you are watering the garden and then look over and WOW!!!! The sunsets are so beautiful and we are so looking forward to the summer evenings we can spend up by the garden! We are so blessed with the amazing landscape we are surrounded by!!

Patience is a virtue - October 12 2012

One thing that I struggle with is patience! If I want something, I want it now!! And waiting is not ideal! I am the kind of person who will drive the extra long way to get somewhere, rather than the short traffic blocked way even if it will take the same amount of time, just so I don't have to wait in traffic! Strange but true!

So for me, waiting for the veggies to grow in the garden is something that I am learning to love! Taking time after a busy or stressful day to go up and enjoy the beautiful spring evening and water the plants is becoming a relaxing ritual that I am trying to not take for granted! It is also such an amazing and unique way for my husband and I to spend time together!

And watching the plants grow and grow is almost ALMOST as exciting as the prospect of being able to eat them!! Patience, however is a virtue!! Because it does take some time before you can actually eat the vegetables of your labours! Especially if you are planting from seed! Which we are going to give a go!

Something that I have learnt is just how rewarding and relaxing gardening is! Being able to watch something you have created prosper is simply amazing and totally awe inspiring!!

I AM ADDICTED TO GARDENING NOW!

Planting the first veggies - September 30 2012

 After all of the hard work removing rocks and bricks and digging lots and lots, the exciting day came when it was time to plant veggies! We started with some lettuce, rocket, radishes and tomatoes, as well as some other easy things to grow! Now comes the part where we have to be patient and wait for our first mini harvest! Eek! EXCITING!