Seeing new growth always fills me with childlike joy. The moments before they burst through the ground, in contrast, send fear through me: What if they do not sprout?. It was only about four days after I sowed the seeds that the first heads started poking through the ground. To my surprise, it was the garden rocket that emerged first. I wonder how much I will be able to harvest before they bolt. But that is next time's story! Only the future will tell.
They leaves are so delicate and I just love the color they present to my eyes. I want to eat them as micro greens, but that will only ruin the whole garden as I do not have more seeds!
The next ones that decided to pop their heads through the ground were the amaranth babies. At first, I could not see them, but sure enough, they emerged after about 5 days. I little behind the very eager rocket!
In their myriad, they look like tiny soldiers ready to fight. Hopefully, most of them will survive. I have seen wild amaranth plants grow almost two meters tall in this area in the open fields. So, this indicates to me that they love this part of the world. I only manage to grow them about 0.5 meters high, but some of them have tried to grow bigger. Hopefully, these ones will flourish!
I am still waiting to see the wild rocket seedlings, the swiss chard, and the garlic chives. But I am sure I am just a little bit too early and eager for them to pop their heads through the ground. I know the swiss chard and garlic chives take a bit longer. But I am worried about the wild rocket as they should also have sprouted. Maybe the 1200km flight I took them on to get them here gave them jetlag!
With everything growing so nicely, I took the chance and opportunity to make some more garden space open. It looks like this will become a regular Sunday event for me if I keep this going. In any case, this was the before:
And this is the result of a good hour or two's work:
I had some extra swiss chard seeds, and I wanted to plant some later on. This seemed to be the perfect bed for them to rest in. I really hope they grow big and strong, like the ones I grew in the Cape. The soil here looks incredibly rich, so only time will tell.
With the first batch sprouting and growing so nicely, it gave me the confidence to hope for a good yield in the coming months. Spring is technically not here yet, but the weather feels "spring-y". The seedlings popping their heads through the ground also attests to this fact. We are all looking forward to the summer! But only time will tell if the summer heat will destroy some of the more delicate plants, like the salad rocket.
For now, it is again that waiting game; to see how many seedlings will perish before harvest time, to see how many will actually grow nice and strong. I cannot wait!
For now, happy growing, and stay well! May your garden adventures be blessed and may you harvest plentitude!
All of the writings are my own, inspired my dirty hands working in the ground. The photographs used in this post are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.