I am not a very good gardener. Or maybe gardening is harder
than I expected it to be. Probably both.
Sixteen months ago, when we moved from inner-city Melbourne
to Tamworth, in the north-west of NSW, I expected to find myself in veggie
growing heaven. We would have a no-dig garden and a worm farm, we would grow
vast quantities of vegetables to share and we would don Etsy-esque aprons and
start pickling when it all got too much.
We hit our first hurdle when it came to the no-dig bed. You
see, the area we had set aside was 2.5 x 2.5 metres. That’s a lot of pea straw,
newspapers, lucerne, well rotted manure, hydrocell and certified-organic
compost – all the ingredients we would need according to Stephanie Alexander’s
Kitchen Garden Companion.
We overcame this and incurred much less expense thanks to a
generous donation from Sam’s uncle, who is a lucerne farmer, and a trailer-load
of organic 3-in-1 from a local landscape supplier. We set out our railway
sleepers, laid newspaper on the ground, covered it with lucerne, topped up with
organic 3-in-1 from the Tamworth Landscape Supplies and then mulched with more
lucerne. And just to be straight with you, “organic” does not refer to a lack
of chemicals; rather, it refers to organic material consisting of a whole lot
of manure. It smelt questionable and the plants loved it. So did the dog.
Tamworth gets very hot. By the time the garden bed was set
it was a little late to be planting from seed, so we bought some seedlings and
watched them grow. Summer was a huge success. We lived off beans, pickled
cucumbers and made pesto from one metre high basil. We experienced no pests and
generally felt very proud of ourselves. The few seeds we did try to raise -
beetroot, capsicum, chilli - didn’t amount to much, but we weren’t perturbed.
After all, we were still learning.
Then I got a little enthusiastic with seeds. I shopped at
diggers. I bought heirloom leek and beetroot; chives, pak choy and watercress;
snow peas and broad beans. I planted them direct or in punnets, depending on
the instructions. I waited and nothing happened, save for the odd pak choy.
Still I wasn’t perturbed, there were many reasons. The dog
got a few of the punnets. I had watered with a watering can, thus likely washing
the seeds away. And I had let the punnets dry out - a seed no-no and my biggest
challenge. I began planting everything in punnets, even when the instructions
said sow direct. I was rewarded with a few beetroot seedlings but still the
punnets dried out.
I tried putting the punnets in the shade of an established
plant with no success. Then I tried keeping them in the warm shed, moving them
outside when the first shoots appeared. I was rewarded with a couple of
sprouting snow peas, only to have them consumed by slugs, snails and
caterpillars. Sam got sick of having them in the shed and I forgot to water.
Fail.
A few people suggested dedicated seed trays. Instead I put
my punnets in a sealed plastic container. Still no luck – I can’t even remember
why. I bought a mini-greenhouse but then put it in a position that was too hot.
I moved it. I tried watering with a spray bottle so my watering can didn’t wash
away the seeds, but I wasn’t vigilant enough. Let’s face it, I have a complete
lack of dedication to the watering process and apparently near enough is not
good enough.
And then, jackpot! I put plastic containers inside the
greenhouse, then I put my punnets in the containers with a little water in the
bottom. A few things grew.
And then I went overseas for a month.
Fast forward a month or two, and summer storms have wiped
out the greenhouse a couple of times. A few weeks ago I bought some seedlings.
I think we’ve come full circle.
Have you got any top seed raising tips? Or maybe you have
your own story of gardening heartbreak.
