My extra seedlings and rows this year
My last year’s plans in sharing vegies didn’t go too well, so I’ve been trying to improve this year. Basically, last year my plan was to grow surplus seedlings and give them away. The problem was, my surplus seedlings were mainly summer vegies like tomatoes and by the time I was giving them away A. Most people already planted what they wanted as it was late spring and B. Those who don’t have greenhouses are a bit scared of growing heat loving vegies in Dunedin. This year is hopefully better planned.
Being restricted in space I decided I can grow some vegies to give away, but to maximise the benefit they have to be ‘lots of small vegies’. I chose to grow some extra garlic as I think this is the most cost-worthy giveaway thing, they are quite pricey at the supermarket. And my second donation vegie is carrots, as I recon I can grow quite a few extras in a couple of small spaces around the garden. I hope to take my extra vegies to Presbyterian Support Dunedin. On the photo you can see my second ‘extra’ bed of garlic looking very lonely as its going to have pumpkins and zucchinis all around it in a few weeks.
I have also grown some extra seedlings but for one person mainly – my friend who is having ‘not a very easy’ pregnancy but keen to start a vegie patch for her future family. She was super scared of growing from seed, so to show her that it wasn’t so bad I gave her some freshly sown punnets. I hope the fact that they hatched in front of her and she didn’t kill them will encourage her to try seeds next year :) We’ve started with Greenfeast peas (as they are easy growing), Purple King and Scarlet runner beans (very satisfying to grow from seeds – very powerful little plants) and loads of lettuce. Can’t wait to see how her wee vegie patch grows over summer.
Also question for people who companion plant/have small spaces: Could I grow something substantial (not a herb but, say, root crops) in between tomatoes? I strip lower tomato leaves and there is technically a lot of space between them that seems wasteful. Let me know if you’ve done anything like that!
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