Today I will mostly be growing

It is very interesting learning about how temperature and light levels affect the growth of seeds at this time of the year. As I have been working on my plot since last April I can now compare times of sowings and emergence of seedlings at different times of the year.

For example Radish seedlings.

4 Weeks Growth (April - May 07)

4 Weeks Growth (Feb - March 0

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I would just like to say a big thanks to Celia Brooks Brown for quoting my veggy blog website link on her article on The Times Online newspaper on 25 October 2007. I will be following her blog with interest from now on and definately trying some of her wholesome winter recipes as well.

Please click on the link below to view the article titled Week 32 Cabbage Patch Goals on Times Online and Celia’s own website:

Times Online Article
Celia Brooks Brown website

So its official my veggy plot is at least now famous for five minutes.

Well it seems there is an actual documented technique to what I was doing with my 16 cubes/squares on my plots without me even knowing it, its called Square Foot Gardening written by Mel Bartholemew.

I was wondering whether I had spaced my seeds rows too close together as some of the seed packets say 30 inches between rows which is a bit excessive on a rasied bed with not alot of space. Earlier today I was reading a post on the BBC Gardening Forum and the Square Foot Gardening concept was mentioned.

So for example this method suggests that your plot should be divided into 16 squares (or in my case rectangles) and the spacing should be as follows:-
One plant per Square for large plants like Broccoli, cabbage etc,
Four plants per Square for medium plants like lettuce,
Nine plants per square for spinach
Sixteen plants per square for small plants like onions, carrots etc.

Click here for more details.