Summer Seeds and Quirky Containers

Thanks to Rebecca for the great photos!

The gardening group was a little bigger this time, as we included two babies and a grandmother this month! We began the workshop discussing what we did last month and comparing successes and failures.

Clement had experimented with sprouting lentils having seen the green manure last time which led naturally over to the outside wall of the garden where Lise’s lentils are now a flourishing patch.

Rachael explained about legumes as green manure and the group discussed the planting of peas, beans, clovers, broad beans and lentils, how to let them grow, slash them, allow them to begin to flower, then chop them into the soil as a means of fixing nitrogen and adding organic bulk matter to the soil.

We looked at all the flourishing weeds and discussed weed control, then moved back ‘within the walls’ to discuss what Rachael considers her less-than-successful garden. “It needs soil!” was the verdict. And short of importing some, or double digging to improve what there is, Rachael has decided to sheet mulch it.

We looked at the different plants and discussed pests such as snails and aphids and what to do about them, dug up an almost-ready garlic bulb, and talked about collecting seeds from the flowering rocket and coriander. Sheet muching the 25 square metre plot will be the bulk of next-month’s workshop and Rachael and Lise are working on gathering the materials – thick cardboard, manure, topsoil/compost mix, and straw.

Coffee-break came next and we all had a sample of Allie’s bagels and look at the books and magazines that Rachael had brought. She discussed resources: how most of the literature written in English is not applicable to Cyprus’ growing season, but that the newly re-vamped Department of Agriculture is now a resource to be reckoned with and recommended.

The practical half of the workshop involved planting up containers of flats of summer veg. People looked through the selection of seed packets, considered what might work in their own garden, and under Rachael’s supervision planted up their own flats to take home. Several people also did large containers with rocket, coriander, and lettuce, as well as trying Rachael’s experiment for Lise – the companion planting in a deep cardboard apple box of corn and cucumber. Rachael also planted some lettuce, coriander and rocket in a large wide container, and delegated the old galvanised bath to carrots and radishes. The studio’s sheet mulch garden will not be planted until next moth, but in the mean time, Lise will have some greens to be going on with and of course they will provide a platform for us all to learn from over the coming months.

Rachael’s big theme this month was ‘Don’t be afraid to learn from your mistakes’. We discussed what had gone wrong – and right – with other’s seed starts of last month as well as the garden at the studio, and kept reminding ourselves that the best thing you can do as a gardener is ‘try it and see’.

We will all miss Rebecca and little Alice who will be moving back to the UK next month. Alice and Edie (Allie’s daughter), as you can see from the pictures, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and are sure to file today’s experience for future use.

We have decided that the garden workshop will be a monthly feature -- taking place on the last Wednesday of every month. Come and join in, make friends, and gain confidence in your ability to produce food organically in your own back yard!