My little veggie patch started to take off in May. The two no dig garden beds were packed with all sorts of leafy greens and herbs. Yay!

Eating Salad Again

So I went through a couple of weeks of just wanting to eat warm nourishing meals so I would have dinner leftovers for lunch, no salad – (and I normally am a lunch time salad eating girl). I put this down to the weather getting cooler. Eating dinner leftovers for lunch was OK for a while. But then I started craving the crunch and taste of raw veggies (lettuce, carrots, capsicums, cucumbers, snowpeas…) so it was back to eating salad for lunch.

The timing of this craving was great because my leafy greens were starting to grow. I could pick different varieties of lettuce, sorrel and mizuna. My rocket hadn’t grown much yet but that was OK – what I did have growing was enough to satisfy my salad craving. There were even cherry tomatoes every now and again from the random tomato plant that had made its home next to the worm farm.

Herbs from Friends

Early on in May, my two wonderful friends gave me some potted herbs (purple basil, Greek basil, Vietnamese mint, chocolate mint, thyme) and a kale plant. They knew that I like gardening. These little pots were on this awesome vintage wooden tray which I love. It’s great to have friends that know me so well. Thank you Lizzy and Melissah.

 

It was exciting to have some unexpected herbs to put in the garden. The purple basil’s leaves were oval and a deep rich shade of purple. The Greek Basil’s leaves were pointy and light green. I thought these will go nicely together in a polystyrene box that I was wanting to plant in.

The Vietnamese and chocolate mint found new homes in some low round pots. These were put on the plant stand that was by my front stairs doing nothing. Time to move it to a new location and put it to use! So into my veggie patch it went. There was an area that was half shady, half sunny and this is where I put the mint.

I’m looking forward to using these new herb additions in my kitchen.

Root Veggies

The carrots and beetroot are growing nicely in their boxes. I never like thinning out carrot seedlings but I will do it soon. Overcrowding just creates small carrots! If I think about it this way, I feel better about thinning seedlings out.

The beetroot was grown from some old seed I had left at the bottom of the packet. I wasn’t sure if they would germinate at all. I did soak them overnight before I sowed them. But then couldn’t remember if it was the ones that floated to the top that were OK to sow. Having a quick check online I found the advice that Peter Cundall had given about soaking beetroot seeds. It looks like the ones that float to the top are not ready to sow, the seeds that sink to the bottom are good to go.

Snowpeas

Out of the four snowpea plants I had in my veggie patch, only one of them is thriving. One died completely when the main stem broke during heavy winds. The other two are looking quite sad, with wilting yellowing leaves on one. At first, I thought there must be something wrong with the soil but the other plants around the snowpea plant were doing OK.

Then I realised that it probably wasn’t getting enough water. There is a comfrey plant close to it and usually I pick the comfrey leaves and add them to my compost heap when the leaves get too big. But I hadn’t done that yet with the comfrey plant close to the snowpea plant. So what had happened was every time I watered the snowpea plant, it wasn’t actually getting any water at the base of the plant, the stream of water was flowing off the comfrey leaf that was growing closest to the bottom of the snowpea plant!

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WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR MAY HAPPENINGS IN YOUR VEGGIE PATCH? WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW! PLEASE LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

Like to know more about growing snowpeas? Then check out Garden Clinic’s tips on getting the bumper pea crop happening.