Taking Gardening Leave Literally
I’m on “gardening leave” from work for a few months, so I thought I should do some actual gardening. If I can do it (with my corporate rather than green fingers and my left-handedness), you certainly can, and the end result is delicious. Here is a brief guide on how I got started.
First I bought some basic equipment—gardening gloves and shoes, shovel, trowel, rake, trays, bamboo sticks, good soil and, most importantly, seeds. You might also consider growing a beard to help get you in an “at-one-with-nature mood.” (Note: Beards are not recommended for women and should be strongly discouraged.)
The majority of the hard work is making the beds. Because I had no idea what I was doing, it took me about three days to dig out the area and refill it with decent soil, but with help from friends, you could prepare beds in a day. Ideally, you need somewhere with good drainage and decent shade. Short of space, I rented a power chisel and cut out some hillside behind my house. A rake breaks up the soil and helps you pull out rocks and stones. For soil preparation, I found that potting soil mixed with peat moss works well.
After my first attempts, heavy rainfall washed away the soil, but I’ve since solved this problem by lining the bottom of the beds with fabric from potato sacks and building rock walls around them. I also dug small trenches between the beds and the hillside, encouraging rain to wash around rather than over the beds. One bed could not accommodate rocks, so I used wood to box in the soil nearest to the hill. Alternatively, you can make raised, wooden-framed beds, set them over some landscape fabric and place them anywhere (even on a balcony). This is what I plan on doing for my next beds. (Note: Do not use treated wood in your beds as it contains harmful chemicals which somewhat defeats the purpose of growing your own food.)
I bought various different seedlings and started them in seedling trays. So far, rocket, beetroot, bok choy, basil, peppers, aubergine, celery and lettuces seed easily. I gently water them before sunrise and after sunset and keep them in a well shaded area that gets a little morning sun. If you find that your seedlings get too tall and spindly, plant them deeper next time.
Once the seedlings were well established (two to four weeks), I carefully transplanted them into the beds. Transplanting when they look like they are outgrowing their pot is a pretty decent rule of thumb. I also do it in the evening to give them a chance to settle before the sun attacks them. After transplanting, I start new seedlings so that I always have something new on the back burner. If you don’t do this, you’ll probably have one crop and never do anything again.
To reduce the full force of the Caribbean sun, I bought fabric to filter direct sunlight and tied it above the beds. These canopies make a big difference and also make it look like you know what you are doing, so you can impress your friends. (Note: If you have friends that are impressed by this, you might consider getting new friends.)
It’s now a couple of months from inception, and I eat something from my beds nearly every day. I learned fairly quickly how much water and sunlight to give plants by whether they remained dead or alive. Dead plants are a pretty decent indicator that something has gone wrong. Bok choy and rocket have been prolific and delicious, and all the vegetables and leaves mentioned above are growing well.
My hope is to whet your appetite to garden or at least to support local farming and buy veg that tastes of veg. I recall the Pick Your Own farms of my childhood and regret that I’ve forgotten what most vegetables are supposed to taste like due to years of consuming mass-produced, pre-packaged produce.
If you know anyone who is an experienced gardener, take his or her advice if it conflicts with mine. But if there is enthusiasm for more from me, I’ll let you know how a left-handed novice with power tools made a tumbling composter.
