It’s always fun to choose what to grow in your garden. Choose what you like to eat because there is not much difference in the way you grow different vegetables. The soil quality is often discussed for individual plants but if one soil is good for one veggie, the soil is also good for other veggies too. You probably want to choose vegetables which you eat often. Here is some tips from me.
Planning gives you a good start
If you are like me, yield for the area required to grow comes in mind. The more yield the better, I can never have too much veggies!! Good veggies for this reason are climbing type (beans, peas, cucumbers etc). I like to let those climb on the tall plants like corns or sunflowers. You save space and flowers attract bees to pollinate. The way you harvest can lead to the high yield too. For veggies like celery and loose leaf crops, just pick green from outside so that inner leaves can continue to grow for later. Other high yield vegetables are tomatoes, capsicums, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cucumber… too many to list.
Vegetable school
It is better to group vegetables based on their height and mature periods so that they all have a fair share of sunlight, and whole section can be dug for next preparation after harvest. I think this is a bit like a school (the same grade students stay in the same classroom). However, it is the best to pull out plants which have passed their best to prepare for the next run. Make the best use of your space by planting new, fresh veggies instead of keeping a whole bed for a handful of harvest. Maybe, it’s not a good idea to think this as school, removing slow grower sounds cruel…
Growing from seeds
I’m a big fan of growing veggies from seeds. Seeds come very cheaply and I love the sensation of finding the seed sprouting. They take longer to mature compare to buying seedlings, but you can keep the seeds for a long time, years if you store them properly. That means you don’t have to hurry up and make the garden beds ready. You can take time for your garden beds, and when they are ready, seeds are always ready for you. In order to grow strong healthy seedlings, a mini greenhouse is often recommended. There are fancy mini greenhouse like this works fantastic. If you are short on budget then use cardboard egg cartons and plastic cases like strawberry punnet to be the roof.
- Fill the punnet (egg carton) with seed raising mix, spray water to moist them.
- Sow a few seeds in each cell. - There are reasons for the multiple seeds in a cell. One, not all seeds will sprout. The more seeds you sow, the higher chance you’d get to have seedlings growing. Two, even seeds manage to sprout, some are weaker than the others. By removing weaker ones and leaving the strongest seedling in each cell, you are giving yourself the better chance of success. Of course, you can use one seed in each cell. I usually sow 2 or 3 seeds in each cell.
- Cover the seeds lightly with more seed rising mix.
- Gently water and place the roof. (close vents if you have any).
- Placed the mini greenhouse in the sunny spot (ideally in the filtered sun).
- Keep them moist until they grow big enough to be transplant to your garden.
After a few weeks, you’ll have seedlings ready to be planted in the veggie patch.
Growing from seedlings
Seedlings are much easier option compare to seeds because all the hard work has been done for you before transplant. You just need veggie patch already waiting for you when you buy them. I recommend to plant them in the garden on the same day as your purchase day for better results.
Planting in the garden
Check the label of seeds or seedling to see how far apart to plant each seedling. If you’ve lost them, the good rules of the thumb is at least a hand-span apart. This is the fun part that whole family can enjoy.
Water regularly and sit back and wait. Liquid fertilizer in the water helps fast growing. Apply it fortnightly.
Enjoy!!
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