Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to solve your dilemmas! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden. This week: what to grow in a limited-size garden – in winter.
Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!
Q: I’m wanting to start growing a few herbs in little pots and maybe a few vegetables. What are the easiest to grow this time of year on a small scale? Preferably inside as I don’t have much of a garden. –Adrianne
A: Why not try growing microgreens? Bigger than sprouts but smaller than salad greens, microgreens are delicious and you can turn your kitchen window sill into a gourmet potager garden!
Microgreens are simply herbs and salad greens harvested when they are about 5cm tall, when their first true leaves have appeared – this only takes two to three weeks. There are loads of tasty varieties to try such as snow peas, basil, radish, kale and beetroot. They are delicious in salads and sandwiches. Your local garden centre should have a good selection.
To grow your seeds find a seed tray (or shallow container with drainage holes in it) and fill it with organic seed raising mix. Sow the seed evenly and generously over the surface and sprinkle a little seed raising mix on top to cover the seed then water well with a spray bottle mister. Cover the trays with newspaper and keep damp for 24hrs to help the seed germinate then place them on the window sill in a warm, light spot.
Keep up watering with the mister everyday. And voilà – two weeks later when the first true leaves appear, harvest the microgreens with scissors and enjoy the fruits of your miniature garden!
–Zoe Carafice
Adrianne won a bottle of Eco-Pest from Tui Garden Products. Tui Eco-Pest combines the insecticidal properties of three natural plant oils to create an organic miticide/insecticide. It is not harmful to beneficial insects (like bees and ladybirds) so will not upset the ecosystem in your garden.
Meet Good’s new gardening expert
Zoe Carafice is a landscape designer and photographer. She won gold at the Ellerslie Flower Show in 2007 and has a keen interest in sustainable design and organic gardening.
Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!
One question will be featured in each magazine and in each Good Fortnightly e-newsletter. Don’t receive our newsletter? Sign up to get it here!
