The author, Huw Richards is an enthusiastic gardener - aged just 22, he has 500 or so gardening videos on YouTube, and has been described as the greenfingered wunderkind.
I decided to do one row of rocket and one row mustard [Huw recommends 'red frill' variety, which 'add a colourful kick to salads'] I was concentrating so hard. Checking the book, marking the row, opening the paper outer very carefully and snipping the corner of the foil pack.
The spinach rows were fine. Then I did the mustard row, and finally the rocket - only somewhere in the process, I muddled the two packets. These seeds are so tiny, they were really difficult to separate out and plant in the trenches and instead of one row of each I realised I had a half-and-half row. So then I did another mixed row. I guess it will be ok once [if] they grow - as the rocket is green and the mustard is red. But I am cross with myself for making such a mistake at an early stage. - there are mustard seeds all over the place!
In Matthew 17, Jesus says to his disciples Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move.
There are days when I feel that my faith is like my mustard seeds - very tiny and all over the place. I don't need any mountains moving right now - but I do believe God honours our faith, however weak, and he hears our prayers, however softly we whisper them.
I have to leave those seeds in the compost now, trusting they will germinate and grow. And I leave my prayers with God, trusting him to answer.
Gardening is all about faith! Faith that the seeds will grow, that the plants will thrive, that there will be something to harvest, etc. For me, the garden is also a place for meditation. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope I will get to the point where I'm a little more relaxed about what I'm doing outside. But I do like resting in a deckchair in the sunshine, listening to the bees buzzing and birds chirping
DeleteWe have this book. The RHS website is also good. I've just planted lettuce and wokbroc also have pak choi and mizzuna. We've also planted some overwinter cabbage. Hope the slugs don't eat them.
ReplyDeletePlanning on beer slug traps! Wokbroc sounds fabulous!
DeleteRed Frills is a lovely mild flavoured & pretty salad mustard leaf - so glad that you are beginning to 'grow your own' salads. On my allotment I find the green varieties of salad leaf mustards are much more vigorous than the red varieties, so produce more pickings & can more easily out grow the damage done by slugs. The 'Wild' variety of Rocket leaf is as tough as old boots in all weather not or cold & a great one to grow through winter.
ReplyDeleteIf you are able to create a cloche from some repurposed plastic sheeting (safer than glass near children) your mustard seeds will grow much, much faster & keep producing through the winter.
Also, if you have room on a window ledge to grow a few small pots of mustard/rocket seeds (eg using egg boxes as modules with compost & a pinch of seeds in each), you can get the seeds growing very fast & then they can be put out into the raised bed as clumps of seedlings for a crop succession.
Thank you for all these fantastic tips. I think I need more windowsills!
DeleteDon't worry at all about mixing rows of salad leaves, some packets actually come mixed! As far as sowing thinly goes, first put some seeds from the foil packet on your left palm, then pick up a pinch of them between finger and thumb of you right hand (reverse if you are left-handed!), then just rub the pinch of seeds out as you move along the soil. You'll soon get used to this! Don't let them dry out.
ReplyDeleteI plant/sow very little in my garden in the autumn. We get a lot of rain here in West Wales, and my soil is just too cold and wet, but I do trays of mixed salad leaves in the greenhouse instead.
I must practise the seed technique, I was literally "all fingers and thumbs"
DeleteJust came along for a catch up - your last few words really made me think about those who don't have the freedom to express their faith; who have to say their prayers in a whisper - or even silently in their head.
ReplyDeleteIt was lovely to worship in the chapel with friends today - so many people around the world do not enjoy these freedoms.
DeleteI have the veg in one bed book and it is a good one to follow. I have found that spinach and the american land cress are great in my little veg boxes, also radishes but beetroot just never worked so it is better I just buy a bunch! Hope you have great success with your seeds and your prayers will be answered but I find that often they are not in the way we want and can miss the answer we recieve.x
ReplyDeleteMy Mum said God always hears and answers - but he may say Yes, No or Wait. As you say, if it is not the answer we want we mustn't miss what God wants to teach us
DeleteMustard seeds do well in trays on the windowsill. Don't worry about getting everything 'perfect' first time round. None of us ever do. Those little seeds are very fiddly to administer but I'm sure you'll be a dab hand at it (see what I did there?) before much longer. Good luck and may the Horticultural Gods be shining down on your little veg patch for continued success. x
ReplyDeleteI understand your anxiety about 'getting it wrong!' I STILL get that even though I've been doing the gardening thing for 2-3 years or so- I still find that things aren't intuitive. I got better at Tomato pinching out side shoots this year but my tomatoes still got blight and weren't successful- some things work, others don't! I planted swiss chard seeds last week and then forget to water them all week! AHHGH!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you will do well and I look forward to hearing more about your seeds and how they grow.
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