salad crops
On the warm days it seems as if I’ll never be ready for spring and on the cold days it seems as if spring will never be here. I’ve started sowing seeds outside – probably still a bit early for some things but with a few warm days they will be away. I found a hen scratching in the vegetable garden today which is always a problem with free-ranging chooks. She knew where the best worms would be found of course.
If you fancy raising some chicks to decimate your own garden, I’ll have some fertile eggs for sale ($3 each) at the Ohariu rural living day. It’s on this Saturday (27th September 2008) at 583 Ohariu Valley Road from 10am to 3pm. There will be a draw for a box of spring produce from the kitchen garden – the only way to get some before the season starts in December. I’ll have with me Henry the rooster and some of his wives.
The kitchen garden will be open as part of the Ohariu Valley Country Garden tour on Sunday 9th November 2008.
Tomato, eggplant, capsicum and chilli pepper plants will soon be available (six plants for $25). This year’s varieties are slightly different to last. Please email me if you would like plants or if you’ve got any comments on what went well or badly with your plants last year. Or you can post feedback at the end of this post.
Here are some tips for sowing seeds outside. Or you can keep sowing seeds indoors in pots for a few more weeks. The peas sown in guttering worked very well – 100% germination and they are now planted outdoors under a cloche. You’ll get plenty more help with seed sowing from the fresh food garden course.
Prepare the soil
Weed, cultivate and gently smooth the soil for your seed bed. Top it off with a 1cm (half inch) layer of potting compost. It avoids weeds, gives a good medium for the germinating seeds and won’t dry out to a hard crust.
Work out how far apart you want your plants to be
I always sow seeds outside using the ‘square foot gardening’ method. Mark out a square foot (30cm x 30cm) and decide how many plants will fit in it – one cabbage, four lettuces (2 x 2), nine onions (3 x 3), sixteen beetroots (4 x 4), twenty five carrots (5 x 5). You can work out spacings from the seed packet – add the row and plant spacing together and divide by two. Round down rather than up.
Mark out the sowing positions
Make a small indentation with a stick (about 1/2 cm deep) in the potting compost where you want each plant (one, four, nine, sixteen or twenty five per square).
Sow individual seeds
Sow one or two seeds in each position. Tap them carefully from the packet. Even for tiny seeds like carrots you can sow a square very quickly.
Label and protect your seeds
Put a label in with the variety and date next to where you’ve sown them. Mark out the area if you might forget where it is and use fleece, windbreak or a cloche to keep out birds, cats and other potential pests.
Keep moist
Seed beds may need watering every day if it’s dry and windy. You’ve got to keep them moist until the seeds have germinated. Covering with fleece or shade cloth reduces drying and you can water through it.
Thin carefully
You may have some gaps where seeds don’t germinate or some double seedlings. Try to pinch off the extras at soil-level rather than pulling them out as you can easily disturb the seedling you want to keep. If you’ve sown carefully there should be little thinning to do.
Keep watered
Unless it rains, water the seedlings regularly and keep an eye out for pests.
