I have wanted to start to growing my own vegetables for ages and at last an
opportunity came…..follow my tips and avoid my mistakes!!
Tips for getting started
- Choose what you like to eat and grow those first.
- Get the kids involved in choosing a particular vegetable they want right from the start – my son loves eating chillies so chose to grow chilli peppers!
- Find containers to plant out the seeds – this can be old baking trays, seed
trays, cardboard egg boxes. - Find a lovely warm spot to give the seedlings the best start – a glass house if you are lucky enough, or a warm windowsill, or sunny corner in the kitchen, as I did!
- Once seedlings start to grow and fill out their containers separate each stalk and re-plant in a larger container, jam jars, pots, buckets.
- Use supports if you are growing cucumbers or peas – this can be chicken wire wrapped around a buckets or wooden stakes.
- As the weather improves and the evening frosts leave you can transfer the seeds to a planting bed outside.
Mistakes I made:
- I sprinkled too many seeds to start with and ended up with too many little seedlings to individually re plant
Note: to sprinkle only a few seeds of each vegetable and then 2-4 weeks later to repeat the process to make sure I have vegetables growing throughout the season! - I ran out of compost and thought I could use my garden soil to repot the
little seedlings as they started to grow.
Note: to never do this unless you know your garden soil is already in
excellent condition, my little seedlings started to wither and look very sad indeed. - I put my little seedlings outside without an adjustment period.
Note: this also left my seedlings looking withered and sad and so I brought them all back in and put them out for an hour at a time each day.
Getting my children involved:
- Compost:
Letting the children mix all the compost together is a job they love. - Sowing the seeds:
This is such an exciting job to involve the children in. It gives them an idea of how long it takes for the vegetable to be eaten from the moment them have planted it and fosters a love of nature. - Seed identification:
Making the seed markers is a great way for the kids to get as creative as they like. We worked together to saw off bits of old wood and secure them together with screws. The kids then got busy designing them. - Decorating:
Decorating the vegetable garden with stones or flags makes the garden look amazing and creates a feeling of a joint project and lots of great memories. - Watering:
I think all children love to water plants, just make sure they don’t drown them! - Weeding:
Weeding is a great way of teaching children the difference between what you are wanting to grow and what you want to be removed. - Harvesting the vegetables and fruit:
Well who doesn’t love this part – you just have to hope you still have some to store after they have been munched straight off the plant.
My favourite compost mix:
- A bag of Top soil
- A scoop of sand or grit
- A scoop of fish, blood and bone meal
- A scoop of fireplace ash – Wood ash contain potassium, some phosphorus
and magnesium. Nutritional value varies according to the species of wood, but all ash contains nutrients. I keep all my left over ash in a large storage bucket to be used when I need it. Combine this with your soil before planting out your seedlings.
Mix it all together and plant your seedlings into it ….
NB. I made a sieve out of an old plastic box and put a wooden border around the bottom of it which I stapled chicken wire to. So simple and yet so effective at removing larger pieces of twig or wood from the top soil or compost which allows the vegetables to grown more evenly.
Have Fun and don’t worry if mistakes are made along the way just enjoy the process…