Things always get a bit hectic around my place at this time of the year and what usually suffers is my successive planting in the vegetable garden. Then in January and February I have no lettuce, rocket or coriander and in late summer as all of my earlier plantings are coming to an end I have no subsequent crops ready to harvest.
So this year I am determined not to let December past by without any planting and seed sowing.
I am religiously trying to remember to plant Coriander, lettuce and rocket every couple of weeks, though I have lost 2 crops- one due to drying out as I missed a couple of days watering ( this was obviously before all the wet weather started ) and the next crop to snails that have seemed to have come out in the thousands since the beginning of the rain.This means I am nearly at the end of my current crop so need to do something quickly.
I will purchased a punnet of mixed lettuce and planted them out which will hopefully see me through until I can get some seedlings germinated and growing.
This is the number one job come the weekend as I am so use to being able to just go out and pick leaves for a salad, that when I can’t, I miss it terribly.
It is a bit late to put in seed of sweetcorn, tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant as they need to be finished cropping before April as the temperatures here in the Highlands start to get cool and we often get a frost by Easter so sowing seed now will cutting it a bit fine. Again I will pick up some nice size plants from my local nursery and pop them in.
As you would have seen on Facebook I have the bean crop covered, having left a packet of seed out in the rain which resulted in all the seeds germinating and all needing to be planted out straight away. There are now enough beans sown to get me through the warmer months and probably with lots of excess to freeze.
I will sow a second crop of silver beet so that when the current crop starts to get tied I can pull it out; it is much more vigorous as a young plant.
Then I will basically go to the seed box and plant out whatever warm season seeds I have- cucumber, zucchini, squash, carrot, beetroot, rocket, coriander and spring onion.
Long list I know, and all this in between a Christmas party and family get together, but I am determined.
Remember – Planting something is always better than planting nothing!
Happy gardening, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!
Kathy
