2016-04-26 04:52 Lettuce, lettuce everyday
Y (Kuma's owner)
Cultivating vegetables was one of my dreams. This dream came true a year ago. My husband made two big veggie patches for me. One is a Decagon-shaped veggie patch and another one is a long rectangular veggie patch. I was excited to grow vegetables and flowers because when we were in Japan, there was not enough room to plant them.
I was a beginner of growing vegetables and wondered what vegetables are easy to grow. I searched for information on the internet, and asked my neighbor who is good at growing vegetables. I also bought some gardening magazines.
First, I bought some seedlings of lettuce. I followed my neighbor, Rebecca's recommendation. Before I had started growing vegetables, I didn't know that growing lettuce was convenient. I used to buy lettuce or a pack of salad leaves at a supermarket. These leaves had to be kept in the refrigerator. So, my refrigerator was almost full. After I started growing lettuce, I could get leaves at the veggie patch as I wanted.
Being pleased with my lettuce, I started growing other vegetables. There are various kind of vegetable seedlings and seeds at Bunnings (One of the hardware shops in Australia). I have liked seeds since I was small. I think of seeds like a time capsule. It has been waiting for the day of opening. Every time I see a germination, I'm happy.
I have started sowing Capsicums, Tomatoes, Zucchinis, Brussel Sprouts and Japanese vegetables. I knew buying seedlings was easier and quicker than sowing seeds, but you know, I love seeds.
I thought I could manage it well, but gardening was not as easy as I thought. Usually, seeds don't germinate 100%. It depends on temperature, pests or how old seeds are. That was why I sowed seeds generously at once, this was my mistake.
Not every time, but most of the time, seeds germinated well. I didn't expect it. According to the specialist of cultivation, I should have sorted out the seedlings. The weak seedlings had to be pull out and throw them away, but I couldn't do it. I felt sorry for them. This was my second mistake.
Then, what happened after few months was lots of lettuce. Lettuce, lettuce everyday. This was the first wave. Second was tomatoes, and capsicums followed. If I were in Japan now and read this journal, I'm sure I would have said "I wish I had that problem." Please imagine eating lettuce everyday. Even if I changed dressings I couldn't stop from getting tired of it. I gave some to my neighbor, but there was still some. I didn't want to throw food away, so I ate them all.
Since I have learnt from my mistakes, I haven't sowed so many seeds at once. However, there are still seedling that I showed lots before I noticed the mistakes, and I'm paying the price of my failures now.
Okra, okra, okra...