We have been growing our own little planter boxes of veges for the past few years. The first 2 years we had pretty good success, but in the 2008/2009 summer, we had a bad season, where most of our plants died and I got a little disheartened. I then read Glenna's blog and got inspired to try again, so at the end of last year, I decided to give it another go. I happened to read an article in Consumer about some of the plant mixes containing too much new bark and so in the process of breaking down the bark, the soil actually uses the good nutrients to do the work, rather than feeding the plant. So, I emptied out the beds and replaced the soil with their recommended plant soil mix - Yates, and boy - what a difference. We have had probably 100+ strawberries off our 2 small plants and currently still have 6 good lettuce plants, 2 capsicum plants that are full or capsicum, 3 tomato plants (currently with a combined total of over 100 tomatoes - some cherry tomatoes), a mesculan bed and a sugar snap vine (for which I will have to take a photo), just now producing - it was planted much later than the rest.
It is really rewarding making a salad entirely from items you have grown yourself and I have found that when the kids get in and help, they are more likely to try the vegetables and actually even enjoy eating them straight from the plant as little snacks. Great stuff.
My mum has just given us another 2 large pots, so at the end of this season, we will be transplanting the 2 capsicum plants into a pot each, to allow them to grow a bit bigger and which will also free up a planter box for something new. I wonder what the kids will choose?
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