Digging Deep For Broccoli

My Broccoli Experiment

Potted Broccoli Seedling

I have now planted my 3rd succession of Broccoli seedlings that I have germinated from seed. This time I decided to plant them deeper than before as a result of watching one of the experts on Gardening Australia doing that with some seedlings and also some small shrubs and trees. I was also inspired to do that after watching Chuck do that with his tomato seedlings in his Tomatoes For Health and Wealth DVD.

These seedlings have been nurtured by potting them into larger pots and keeping them my mini greenhouse over the colder days, before preparing to plant them out.



In The Ground



The soil was prepared by adding compost and some manure. A hole deep enough to take the plant so that all of the base of the stem, up to first leaves, was then dug. After the seedling was taken from the pot, I placed it in the hole to check that it would at the right height, and backfilled the hole with soil.



All Mulched Up and Ready To Grow



Finally some mulch was added to help maintain moisture around the root system, and the plants were watered in. At the moment the seedlings look a bit overwhelmed sitting in their mulch, but it should not take long before they dominate the patch where they sit.

It will be interesting to watch and monitor this group of brocccoli plants to see if they benefit from the deeper planting.

The Broccoli plants that I first panted has now finished producing their heads, and are flowering with cute yellow flowers that are attracting the bees, The bees are then moving on to the broad beans to help fertilise them, so the first crop of broad beans is not far away.

And that is just touching the surface of what is happening in the garden right now! 

Growing Tomatoes Down Under: Part 1

Time to start Tomatoes Down Under (Australia that is)

After nearly 2 weeks away from home I was really thrilled to see that some tomato seeds that I had planted some time ago had finally germinated.

There were 3 different methods that I tried and amazingly they all have started to germinate at the same time.

Mini Greenhouse, Plastic Cover Removed

One group were started in small pots with seed-raising mix, started in mid-July and placed in my small greenhouse with the hope that enough warmth would be provided to get them started. After several weeks of no action they were moved into the shed near a north-facing window that has several hours of sunshine (when the sun is shining, of course) each day. Still no action, despite making sure that the pots did not dry out. I was about to give up on these so I set up another couple of trials.

Another group were sown in a small wicking bed, and a transparent plastic meat tray placed over top to act like a mini greenhouse. These were sown in mid-August, and nothing appeared to be happening by late September, when I was away from home for about 2 weeks.

The other group were sown like the first group, in small pots and kept in the small greenhouse. They were also sown in mid-August. They also had not germinated by late September.

The results:

Wicking Bed Seedlings
Small, but germinated at last!

When I returned home on 13th September all 3 groups had started to germinate. The group in the Wicking bed had the best rate of germination, the pots left in the shed had dried out a bit, because they could not be watered while I was away, but 1 seed had germinated. The 3rd group had a couple of germinating seeds.

What next:
The seedlings that have already started will be nurtured so that they can be planted out when the weather warms up a little, and after the last frost.

I will keep some of the plants in the wicking bed, because I want to check how they go in there, and also because it can be moved around the yard into the best position to help with growth.

I have been surprised how much the simple act of growing a few vegetables has excited me, and that is the perhaps the prospect of having fresh and nutritious food to eat when they mature.

Progress reports should follow in the next few months. I might even have some extra tomatoes to share.



Small Tomato Seedling