Hello everybody! Well it's been over two months since I started my little garden project and it sure is blooming around here! The pole beans, cucumber and tomato plants are doing fantastic and growing fast. The zucchini plant has been a bit more tricky because I dropped the pot moving the plants around, but it's been slowly getting stronger. Ever since we purchased a home, I decided to start up a few more seeds as I'll be having more space and really wanted to grow a bigger variety of food. I started the seeds about 3 weeks ago and potted them last week; I look forward to seeing my beet, corn and brocoli plants grow! I also started new cilantro seeds as my previous sprouts hadn't survived planting. I'm not sure why, but the cilantro is the most challenging seed for me so far.
As I had mentioned in the previous post, I wanted this project to be as coast effective as possible and so once again I used pots I had around the house to pot my sprouts. I know it's not THE best as far as the plant getting the oxygen it needs, but I made sure to leave space at the bottom of the pots for water filtration by putting rocks in before filling with soil. My friend Elisabeth tells me that the growing fabric bags are the best option for someone starting a garden for the first time and I'm thinking of trying them out next year. For now though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my plants can happily grow in their current situation and I'll be able to eat what I grow by the end of the summer.
I had previously kept the room temperature at 24 degrees celsius but have progressively cooled the room to 21 degrees to prepare the plants to move outside in about a month. I'm still maximizing their sun exposure, but I was glad to discover not all veggies need as much sun as we would expect, making this even more accessible than I expected.
If you are thinking of growing a veggie garden from seeds, there is still about a week to do so (May 15 is pretty much the latest date you can start). Make sure to consult a growing chart before, as a lot of seeds will need longer (like tomatoes), in which case you might be better buying the plants already grown. But as far as herbs and most squash, you are still on schedule!
For someone with no green thumb at all, I'm pretty excited with how this project is turning out and if I can do it, so can you! Like, for sure. Virginie XO
