Gardening Without The Green Fingers

I’ve been trying to grow a garden for years now. I have always been so fascinated about how people can grow their own onions or carrots. You go for dinner at the neighbour’s house, and they tell you that the tomatoes are fresh from their garden. They’ve been so blessed with green fingers they don’t even try. They throw seeds out, forget about them and boom… up comes a Rose bush. Meanwhile, I’ve managed to kill a Rose bush …and a mint bush which apparently is the easiest thing to grow.

I’m still hell bent on growing that garden though cause winners never quit. I found some gardening advice for those of us who don’t have the magic fingers on our side. Let’s try this together for six months and see if we can grow some tomatoes.

Gardener’s World suggests that we start with knowing our soil. Yes, maybe you and I aren’t the drama, maybe the soil is. Checking for soil pH levels tells us what seeds are favourable to plant there. If you managed to kill a plant that had arrived in a pot with its favourable soil, like me, then don’t be scared to prune it. Cutting off some stems can help your plant flourish as it creates room for growth and diseased or damaged parts from spreading to the rest of the plant.

Finally keep watering and feeding those bad boys. I had to learn the difference between the two because I always thought watering is feeding. But feeding requires you to add nutrients into the soil, either by making use of fertiliser or a compost heap.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to try and grow your own tomatoes. These take an average time of 3 months to grow, but I’ll give us six months just incase the first trial is a bust. You can catch updates on my gardening process every Monday on the Fresh Lunch at 14:45 where I share more advice for us to build our dream homes.