Tuesday 24 February 2015

Gardening Update: Lots of progress. And some vendors....

All is gong very well in my green world. I cannot wait to share the updates below - which by the way are not all that I have growing.
 
Before I get into the gorgeousness growing, I get a lot of questions about where I get my seeds an supplies from. Someone on Instagram mentioned seeing seeds at Shoprite at the Ikeja Mall so yesterday, I went to the Shoprite at The Palms in Lekki and found a small garden aisle Pots of different sizes, garden hoses and pressure pumps and seed packets. A decent selection of vegetable packets including onions, tomatoes and some squash as well as some herb packets including parsley and cilantro. I also saw some flower seed packets including marigolds....I scooped up a few packets of flower seeds and a few vegetable seeds I do not have. I will plant them this weekend and see how they do. I also checked out the garden aisle of Game and found a lot of pots and hardware for the garden at decent prices. So yaay for that.....
 
Onto the updates:
 
 
 
Butter Crunch Lettuce - this type of lettuce will have a head like cabbage but you can also eat the out leaves. Remember I had these growing before? I obviously planted too many seeds in a very small pot. This pot has just one plant and it is flourishing



Golden Jubilee Tomato plant - it is time to add supports to this pot so the plant can grow without breaking especially as the fruits come in

Copenhagen Market Cabbage - this plant is going to grow very full before the cabbage head comes in. I expect I will move this out of the green house in the next week or 2

Of all the herb pots I have planted, these 2 are doing so well. They sprouted very quickly and the sweet basil smells so good already

Clemson Spineless Okra: I have read that okra plants over produce fruit so I am already thinking of as many ways to use the pods as possible.

Scarlet Nantes Carrots: These are doing so very well too. I have been told that I planted them too close together and the resulting carrots will not be a good size. Lesson learnt.

Collard Greens: This is another plant that will get pretty big. I don't mind that at all seeing as I love greens

Bok Choi: Chinese cabbage that is excellent in stir fries. These sprouted in 4 days. Super fast

Broccoli: I suspect I should have planted just one seed in the pot as these are going to grow very very big before the broccoli head comes in

Bunching Onions: I had given up on these plants and actually have another pot with 2 plants going. However, I did some research and it was recommended that I scrape off the top layer of soil and add a fresh layer. I did that and the plants have taken off

Cherry Belle Radishes: I had a pot of these that just turned yellow and died. I definitely had too many plants in that pot and also over watered the plant. Now I tried to do 2 seeds in a row and these are doing so well . I can actually see the tops of the radishes poking out of the soil

Mustard Leaves: I got these in a herb set and planted it like I would herbs. I really hope these are not mustard greens  which are giant plants...

Forage Premier Kale: This replaces the other kale plants that fell and got destroyed.

Brandywine Red Tomato: Seeing as I don't like raw tomatoes and I have quite a few types of tomatoes, what sense does that make? Well my boys love raw tomatoes and I have a lot of recipes than need tomatoes so why not?

Golden Bantam Corn: I am watching these with a lot of interest. We have ears but not kernels yet. Which requires pollination to happen. I will watch videos on how to self pollinate and try that.

Beets: I planted a few beets and this is the only survivor. The birds kept eating the seedlings.

Sugar Baby Watermelon: This is a huge experiment. Watermelon in the biggest pot I could find. Fingers crossed

Green Zucchini: Flourishing and producing male flowers. No female flowers yet  be pollinated but apparently a rash of male flowers first is normal

Mixed cacti pot

Blooming flowers

Blooming flowers

Lemongrass: This is used by a lot of people in a malaria treating concoction but it is delicious used in Thai style dishes. This plant grows voraciously so I have to be ready

Jalapeno Peppers: I am so so happy with how these plants are doing.


I have a few more pots not pictured here as they are just sprouting- I expect I should have a harvest post next in the series - the radishes I believe.

I would love to hear from any budding gardeners

Enjoy!!!

1 comment:

  1. This is wonderful, Uzo. There's nothing quite as satisfying as eating plants from your own garden. You've obviously put in a lot of hard work, learning and patience into your garden. Long may it continue to thrive

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