We have two raised garden boxes, with some seats attached, near the back of the house. They are very convenient and we normally grow herbs (and currently strawberries) in one box and various greens in the other. However, I cleaned the second box out a while ago and refilled it with some partially composted tree clippings and mulch. The box has been lying dormant for a little while now and I thought it was about time to replant it, but with what? Indecison gripped me like a vice and nothing happened!
Late today, just as it was starting to get a bit dark, I had a rush of blood to the head and went though my store of seeds. I had several packets of different types of lettuce, some mixed basil, rocket, bok choi that were close-to or well-past their best-by dates. Perfect, I thought, let’s put some of those in and re-establish a picking bed of greens close to the house.
It was starting to get darker as I grabbed a few things to finsh the job. I quickly dropped the seed packets in the bed and arranged them until I was happy with the layout.
But, how many should I plant? Well, since the seeds were getting a bit old I decided to go for broke and toss in the lot! I can thin them out if they germinate better than expected.
Once the decision was made, I just broadcast the seeds in the respective areas without bothering too much to keep them separated. After all, the idea is to grab handfuls of different things to put in the salad (with the exception of the Bok Choi).
The other thing I had to do was protect the bed from the birds. They love turning over the mulch searching for tasty critters and seedlings. They can easily destroy a newly planted bed in well under an hour. I found some leftover mouse mesh from a previous project in the shed which looked perfect. It only has to provide protection for a few weeks until the plants establish and then it can be rolled back up to be used again for something else. “Waste not, want not”, as my grandma used to say.
I don’t know why it took me so long to do such a simple but important job in the garden, but at least it’s done and we’ll be eating some more yummy homegrown salad in a few weeks.