Like many other people, I like to set myself some goals. It’s a fun part of growing food and for a planner like me a major attraction to gardening. But in the words of Nelson Mandela..
“Vision without Action is just a dream. Action without a vision just passes time and vision with action can change the world’.
Lofty words indeed for a very humble blog and pastime such as gardening. But they are wise words nonetheless and I feel can give a real sense of direction and motivation when things feel a bit ‘meh’. So I want to make sure that I’m not just spouting on with great visions. And it’s easy to be so action focussed but not really ‘deliver’ anything great. It’s all about balance, and having a spot to record what I did (looking back) and what I hope to do (growing forwards) will be key.
So without further ado, here’s my first attempt at it. I’ll try to get one done on a monthly basis!
Week 3, 18th March 2024
Looking back:
- What we harvested and ate: I’ve got a goal to have at least two ‘baskets’ full of produce. We got nowhere near that but we had some huge parsnips and a small bunch of leeks. Both of these went into soups and a Sunday roast dinner. I continue to harvest perpetual spinach and chard for which I’m grateful.
- What I sowed and planted: I planted two beds of potatoes- one for the ‘earlies’ and the other for ‘second earlies’. I also bought some brassica seedlings (red cabbage and broccoli) as I had two empty beds but my own seedlings are still too small to put out. I also sowed ‘warm’ weather loving plants indoors i.e. courgettes, pumpkins, and beans.
- Other jobs we did: I’ve been lucky enough to have my husband and young son along at the allotment these past two weeks. Between them, I’ve had help with the watering, composting and bed clearance. It’s been fun having them there to help and has made a big difference at the allotment.
Growing forward:
- What’s growing?:
Greenhouse: I’ve got peas, onion, leeks, salad onion, lettuce, brassica seedlings all sprouting away in the greenhouse. I’m waiting for them to get a bit more established so that they can be planted out. The beds have strawberries, perpetual spinach and some potatoes in buckets as well as carrots. There’s a small empty space which I’ll fill with more potatoes in buckets.
Hotbeds: Whilst these were lovely and warm and got quite a few seeds going such as rocket, beet, spinach and salad onions. I’ve had a few issues including pests eating the peas. I’ll keep monitoring this to see
Indoors: We have got some leggy tomato, pumpkin and bean seedlings. All my warm loving plants are beside a mirror and a north facing window indoors on a propagator. I need to find a solution for this, so far I’ve reduced the amount of light on them. In previous years, I’ve also tried to prick them out as a partial solution.
- What’s coming up? I’ve got the first of my holidays this year, so I will be looking to leave things in as orderly a manner as I can. I’ve drawn up a ‘map’ of my beds (the one I used to plan what I’ll grow) to share with my hubby so he can see what needs to be done and what’s growing where. I’ll also do any additional sowing and planting that I can early on in the week.