Friday, September 03, 2010

My green thumb and experimenting with seeds

Yay, it is springtime and I couldn't be more excited. Although it is rather gloomy outside and all but nonetheless it is indeed spring. I love that springtime encourages more outdoor adventures and lots to do in the garden.








I have a confession, I am a green thumb. Never thought that I would be or could be but spending more time at home and in the backyard has sparked a passion for learning more about my garden and more specifically about growing veggies, herbs, fruits for the Little Red House. It is good to finally have something of my own to do, a hobby you might say.


In fact I have started watching Gardening Australia at 6:30pm Saturday nights for info and tips. When I was younger my Mum & Dad used to watch it and I thought it was torture! Ahh how the years make you mature.


We have had one veggie bed for a year and that has been a good experiment. Our most successful crop would have to be silver beet and lettuce. Currently we also have onions, garlic, leeks and beetroot.




I am getting more confident in what to do and as plans for our Backyard Dreaming project continue I am hoping that we can expand this to a few more. I have had my nose in a few books at the moment. Two which have provided some interesting reading are Backyard Self Sufficiency by Jackie French and Harvest by Meredith Kirton.


Emily has been helping me get some spring and summer seeds on the way,




We started them off on the 18th August and finally are getting some little buds of life sprouting up. I have experimented with a few different approaches of what to put the seeds in to see what works best and what is most economical.



We have tried homemade newspaper pots, peat pots, toilet rolls, egg cartons and recycled nursery pots.


It will be interesting to see which provide the best start for the seeds.


I am obsessed with going to check on them every day and give them a drink. It is amazing to watch them come to life.


Jen










3 comments:

  1. It is cool to see them growing isn't it. I've made some of the newspaper pots but haven't planted anything in them yet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're making me jealous. It's still a little too cold for planting here yet. Did you see the Dad's Shed on Better Homes and Gardens? I'm going to get Simon to build one with a clear roof to make a greenhouse so I can plant year round.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I sure did, looked great. You will be able to have a year round garden with something like that. We raise our seeds in winter in a little plastic hot house from Bunnings. Works ok.

    ReplyDelete