It’s the last week of winter and I’m really excited about getting my large seeds sown directly into the vegetable patch. Today I’m planting the first crops of corn, green beans, coriander, beetroot- I’ll plant a second round of these seeds in about 4-6 weeks to prolong the harvest. I’m also planting a watermelon and a pumpkin- these guys are going to take up lots of space, so there is only one of each.

To start off, I went through the soil again to remove any large lumps of grass. I turned the soil with a pitchfork to make sure all the pea straw mulch, compost and cow poo is mixed in well. I feel like I massacred lots of worms in this process, which is a shame as they help to improve the soil structure. Then I raked over the surface with a garden rake to even out the soil and ensure a good planting surface for the seeds.

Pretty much all the seeds I planted today need to be spaced about 10-15 cm apart. The greedy watermelon and pumpkin get 1-2 meters each of garden space. I’m thinking of growing some quick crops near them that will be ready for harvest by the time they completely take over the garden! I roughly measured out spacing between rows and marked with chopsticks, covered the seeds over and watered in well.

Given the time of year I shouldn’t have to water again until they germinate, as the soil is retaining moisture pretty well. This is particularly the case for the beans and the corn, as I don’t want them to get waterlogged and rot in the ground.