I spent a lot of time and money this year on my two raised garden beds to grow vegetables.
First thing I did was to order a 72-cell pack and a koi good soil mix for seeds. Without thinking, I chose seed packets that I wanted; basil, cucumbers, bok choy, sugar snap peas. What
I forgot to buy were packets of zucchini seeds, and my most favorite – romaine lettuce.
There was no thought about which vegetables make good companions for other vegetables. I’ve since learned that sunflowers are allelopathic, which means they can release chemicals
that adversely affect the growth of nearby plants. So, no sunflowers in my garden.
Being impatient, I transplanted the seedlings from the cell pack into peat pots. I ordered way too many but figured I could use them for winter vegetables.
Friends gave me kale starts, tomatoes and lettuce starts. I’ve never grown kale, never really eaten it, but and as they’ve grown, I’ve picked leaves to use in a morning smoothie. I wish
I had more.
The problem with my garden boxes is they aren’t in a super sunny area so I’m not sure what ones will be winners. There’s some morning sun that gets through the oak tree and I’m hoping
that will be enough.
I ordered netting, mainly to keep my cats and stray cats from using the garden boxes as their outdoor toilet. I bought short rebar to put in the garden, six per box. Then I bought long plastic
tubes (think white PVC pipe) and stuck them over the rebar, bending them from one side to the other. The netting will go over the tubes, secured at the soil line.
It dawned on me in the middle of the night that pollinators won’t be able to get through the net in order to pollinate my plants! What a screw up that is. I’m not sure how to rectify that except
to cut a gap in the top of the netting on both garden boxes.
You’d think I’d instinctively know better. Plants need bees.
Another error I made was thinking the sugar snap peas would grow up a wire fence that’s along the length of one garden box. Which is why I planted them there, so they’d have something
to climb up. Well, the netting will go between the snap peas and the wire fence, blocking their avenue to the sun. Guess I’m not the super gardener that I thought I was.
Each day that I don’t have the net, there’s damage to the plants. I ordered the netting a week ago and, as usual, Amazon messed up my order. It took 30 minutes on the phone with them to
get the order straightened out. This morning one of the three marigold blooms was broken off, bean leaves were eaten, several peat pots of basil were dug up. The pot of strawberries was
good though because it’s hanging at the apex of the white curved poles. I take that back – I found a half-eaten strawberry on that plant. Was it a bird that ate it? It certainly wasn’t bees!
I’m not giving up. My young neighbor planted two cucumber plants, and they are twice as big as mine, but she has more sun than I do. My next-door neighbor’s garden is growing like gang
busters. Again, more sun. If I could, I’d chop the damn oak tree down.
Several times a day I sit out next to the veggies. Watching them is like watching a pot of water to boil, but I did see flowers on the tomato plants. Exciting.
I swear I love watching the plants grow more than I like eating them!
What’s a girl to do?…maybe plant some seeds for my beloved romaine lettuce in spare pots – I still have soil. No birds or bees needed to grow them!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments and shares via lucywgtd@gmail.com
