A lot has been happening in the garden. The sunflowers grew well and produced a fair amount of seeds. I was able to harvest, dry and sort the sesame seeds before mold set in. It was a tremendous amount of work to sort the good seeds from the bad. The result was about 1 ½ cups of seeds. I now have a whole new appreciation for why certain food items are very expensive at the store.
My experiments with growing lettuce continue. I determined that there isn’t enough sun in the vivero (old vivero, read below for news on the new one) to grow lettuce so I tried growing some in pots. I keep them on a bench in full sun during the day and when it begins to rain I move them under shelter. I quickly found out that the rain is so intense that it will disintegrate the lettuce plants. It’s a fair amount of work to move the pots back and forth but the lettuce looks and tastes wonderful.
The second crop of tobacco is coming along well. A portion of it has been harvested already and the balance will be done soon. Those who have smoked it say it is very good quality. As with the last crop we let the best plants go to seed. The hummingbirds love the flowers and seem to stop by several times a day to drink up.
The most exciting news with the garden is the new vivero. We covered in the existing raised beds with a material that is a fine screen so bugs can’t get in, but sunlight and some rain does. We had it built using materials already on hand including some freshly harvested bamboo. The bamboo will probably last only a couple of years before needing to be replaced. I chose to go with some bamboo so that we can be sure the design is right and also be sure that I plan to keep up this hobby. So far I am enjoying it. Having the enclosed space with fewer bugs is a great help.
Mario amended the beds with compost he made and the rich topsoil we hauled in from the other side of the river. Just a few days ago I planted seeds in some of the beds and some of the seeds have already germinated. I have a feeling the environment we created will be deluxe for growing veggies. I will continue to use the old vivero to germinate seeds and start ornamental plants and trees.
A lot has been happening in the garden. The sunflowers grew well and produced a fair amount of seeds. I was able to harvest, dry and sort the sesame seeds before mold set in. It was a tremendous amount of work to sort the good seeds from the bad. The result was about 1 ½ cups of seeds. I now have a whole new appreciation for why certain food items are very expensive at the store.
My experiments with growing lettuce continue. I determined that there isn’t enough sun in the vivero (old vivero, read below for news on the new one) to grow lettuce so I tried growing some in pots. I keep them on a bench in full sun during the day and when it begins to rain I move them under shelter. I quickly found out that the rain is so intense that it will disintegrate the lettuce plants. It’s a fair amount of work to move the pots back and forth but the lettuce looks and tastes wonderful.
The second crop of tobacco is coming along well. A portion of it has been harvested already and the balance will be done soon. Those who have smoked it say it is very good quality. As with the last crop we let the best plants go to seed. The hummingbirds love the flowers and seem to stop by several times a day to drink up.
The most exciting news with the garden is the new vivero. We covered in the existing raised beds with a material that is a fine screen so bugs can’t get in, but sunlight and some rain does. We had it built using materials already on hand including some freshly harvested bamboo. The bamboo will probably last only a couple of years before needing to be replaced. I chose to go with some bamboo so that we can be sure the design is right and also be sure that I plan to keep up this hobby. So far I am enjoying it. Having the enclosed space with fewer bugs is a great help.
Mario amended the beds with compost he made and the rich topsoil we hauled in from the other side of the river. Just a few days ago I planted seeds in some of the beds and some of the seeds have already germinated. I have a feeling the environment we created will be deluxe for growing veggies. I will continue to use the old vivero to germinate seeds and start ornamental plants and trees.
