As you know I’m part of a growing community called Garden Connect.
The idea behind it being that if growers from all over the world grew the same types of vegetables, in the same way, at the same time of year it would be rather interesting to see how each person’s crops progressed and the harvest each country produced (or states and counties within each country).
The layout of the garden has been designed by Matt (the creator of Garden Connect).
Courtesy of Matt of Hiemstra Gardens
Month 3 Update
Can’t believe we’re into month 3 already. I’m sat here after a wonderful week of sunshine watching the pouring rain outside. British weather never disappoints!
- The 4 cucumbers are planted out, I’ve also sown another 2 in pots and another 6 in the plot. So far all 8 are germinating but 1 was eaten by a slug just last night.
- The kale is growing well. I haven’t thinned it out yet but plan to next month.
- I’ve sown quite a number of YingYang beans which have just started to germinate in their plot.
- The tomatoes were probably planted a little too early but they seem to be holding up against the weather okay.
- Still no parsnips! I’m not sure what I have to do to get these seeds to germinate. I’ve tried indoor, outdoor, coir, compost…nothing is working. It’s been well over three months now and not a sprout to be seen.
- The carrots are all doing fine. I’ve had to just sow them rather haphazardly, due to their size, over a couple of months which I’ll then thin out later on. I want to make sure (if I can) that I don’t get a glut.
- No sign of the spinach or the lettuce yet.
- After a slow start the onions are catching up now, and the first sowing has been thinned out.
- The chillies, which aren’t in this area are all growing well.
- To the side of the garden connect bed I’ve got a trough which hasn’t got nasturtiums in, instead I’m growing calendula and poppies, and in the middle I’ve also planted some Chamomile. I’m hoping all three will flower well and help to pollinate the veggies.
- The beets are just starting to show signs of pushing through the soil now.
Things I’m learning about Garden Connect gardening so far:
- It’s certainly not taking much time to keep pace with planting, thinning out, watering and pest control
- Spacing between the plants looks good at the moment but worried it might get cramped pretty quickly in the next few weeks
- I’m still not 100% sure if I’ll even understand the spacing requirements once the plants get bigger!
- Little spaces need little support structures (cucs). It was quite entertaining trying to erect pole and string support in such a small area. It needed to be strong enough to fend off the weather but open enough to allow plenty of light and air to the plants.
Much trial and error still to come…
Photographic update:
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
Hoping everyone who is also taking part in the Garden Connect project is doing well, and if anyone know what I’m doing wrong with the parsnips – I’m all ears :-)
