Pamela Anderson and David Beckham, two names I never thought I’d have anything in common with, and yet all three of us are avid gardeners.
For someone who couldn’t keep a houseplant alive, I’ve come a long way. I’ve gone from not being able to grow a single thing to practically eating off my land. Believe it or not, my name means Goddess of the Harvest, and I can now say with complete confidence that I am one.
My gardening journey started with a few mini pots from the Checkers Little Garden campaign. IMO, still one of the best campaigns that I’m hoping will make a comeback. I remember how cool it was to plant those little seeds and then watch them grow on my windowsill. If they made science studies at school half as exciting, I definitely would have paid more attention – maybe I was just in the wrong school?
I had zero clue on how things grow. How difficult could it be? Take a seed, sow the seed, water the seed, give it sunlight, continue until seed sprouts, then continue again and again until the seedling becomes a plant, then plant the plant, fertilise, water and give it sunlight, until eventually said plant flowers and produces fruits which you get to enjoy.
When my little seedlings were big enough, I stuck them in the ground and waited with anticipation. Some of them took off (like the radishes and spinach, which will always be my favourite things to grow), and some of them died. It took me a long time to get things right. My first attempt at a “vegetable patch” was to stick my seedlings in my flowerbeds. Just sommer like that – letting them fight for a spot between the roses and the daisies. Then I progressed to a cornered off section in my yard. But when my neighbours trees took over and blocked out all the sunlight, that’s when I went full professional. HA!
We bought a greenhouse tunnel from Takealot and stuck it in the sunniest spot in our yard. I thought it was the bees-knees, and I grew everything in there! But when summer finally hit, it got hella-hot and I couldn’t take the heat anymore. I couldn’t survive for more than five minutes in there, and I felt sorry for my plants that always looked shrivelled and sad. So, I bought a mister system and installed that, which gave my plants some relief, however my over-eagerness to plant everything under the sun turned my greenhouse into a mess of plants. I had no idea that a teeny tiny tomato plant grows into a monstrosity. I had no idea green beans and cucumbers produce little tentacles that creep and crawl and find their way all over the place – even wrapping themselves around other plants.
When the hail destroyed the cover of my greenhouse, instead of replacing it, I decided that it was time for a proper kitchen garden. We called the builder and had four brick beds of 3m x 1.5m built on our property.
I love more than to walk over to my kitchen garden every morning and inspectigate to see what new goodies nature has given me.
Last year was my first growing season in the kitchen garden and I grew so much goodness in there. Cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, basil, beans, gooseberries… Talk about variety! I even grew sunflowers, marigolds, dahlias, and loofah’s.
With the success from last year’s garden, this year I’m levelling up my growing attempts. The main thing is I’ve decided to grow only the plants that I know and only the plants that I use. I always wanted a garden of Eden that had access to everything under the sun, but now I’m focusing on better quality harvests rather than a small harvest of two or three yields.
The second thing that I did was spend a little cash on a proper watering system. Last summer, if it wasn’t for my dad, none of my plants would have survived. I couldn’t take the heat, and I certainly don’t want to be out in the oven of summer this year either, so I’ve prepared myself.
I bought some soaker hoses and some Gardena contraption that connects my four soaker hoses together so that I can water my beds simultaneously. Next year, I’ll spend some of my gardening budget on getting the pipes properly laid, but for right now, I’m doing it all manually. I want to build my kitchen garden slow and steady and each year I will dedicate some funds to improving it.
In addition to the built-in kitchen garden, I kept my tunnel structure and threw a shade cloth over it. I’m now using it to grow spinach (and it’s doing phenomal). I’m also going to stick my cucumbers and zucchini in there and let the plants climb up the trellis I installed.
I’ve also carved out a section against the wall where I have a little pumpkin patch going and another one which I want to use as my cut flower bed. Again, I’m starting slow and successful and so I’ve planted only some dahlia bulbs. Some from last summer which I saved, and I bought a few more varieties that I can’t wait to see pop up in my garden.
Now all we need is some rain…
