ADVENTURES OF THE NEW ACRE VEG PATCH #2

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first signs of life! 

After much waiting, debating and a fair bit of worrying over whether things would sprout, it was the mini heatwave last week that really kicked things into gear. 

The indoor plants (herbs, chilli peppers and tomatoes) sprouted at around the 1-week mark after being watered, covered with cling film and left to their own devices on the window sill. Once they were tall enough, we removed the cling film and re-potted the stronger seedlings into bigger pots. This allows them to root a lot deeper than they were able to in the shallow trays and thus spread further and grow stronger. 

We began moving these outside in their new pots during the day and taking them back in during the evening. This gets them used to direct sunlight and prepares them for the eventual move into the patch. Whilst outdoors, we placed the pots in a pool of water around 1cm deep to allow them to feed whilst in direct sunlight. We didn’t want to directly soak the plants when watering as the last thing you want is the leaves to burn in the heat of the sun whilst wet! 

Once they’ve reached a certain height and strength in their new, bigger homes we’ll move these outside permanently with the others and let them flourish. 

​The seeds we sowed directly into the patch outdoors offered a different set of problems. After 2-weeks we still hadn’t seen any signs of growth and though the weather was on our side, there was a concern that either birds had had their way with the patch, early morning frost had affected the seeds or that the ground itself just wasn’t right for the array of veggies we’d sown. 

But then, thankfully, after a sweltering few days and damp nights, we came out to a whole range of tiny sprouts peeking out of the soil. 

​We’ve still got a long way to go but seeing those first few plants sprout strong and healthy was a fantastic feeling and gave us all a sense of accomplishment you seldom find anywhere else. Not only is it therapeutic to tend to your own patch, but it’s the idea of self-sustainability and growing your own that motivates you to go that extra mile. Essentially, we couldn’t recommend it enough! 

Are you growing your own vegetables? Do you have any tips, questions or queries to share? Either way we’d love to hear from you! Just leave us a comment below and one of the team will get back to you ASAP.