How I grew my first vegetables.

by Theekshani
(Colombo,Sri Lanka)

It was not easy to come up with my own bed of vegetables although I am studying for a degree in agriculture, and it truly is a great story.

My problems were very serious...

First, the threat of floods, which occur very often even under an hour's shower. Second the dogs, they used to dig and crush all my seedlings. Third and the most serious was the administrators of my little house, who not only gave no support but also restricted ...

I wont talk about the third any more, but the first two.

I managed to find some used containers, which were of one foot high. I thought if I could plant in them I could move them from place to place. So when the floods come I can place them at an elevated place.

This also solved the dogs problem, I managed to get an old table to keep my buckets where they could not reach.

I filled the buckets with top soil and compost which I found in the back yard, mostly the decomposed leaves of the nearby trees.

The first to be sown were my favorite: carrots, lettuce, cabbage, capsicum, tomato, leeks, beans and ladies fingers(okra).

One bucket for one type.

The buckets could only bear two or three plants in each, though I had sown many seeds in each one. So I had to carry on thinning to leave only the preferable amount in each bucket. I watered twice a day and as I had created holes at the bottom of the buckets the drainage was not a problem.

In the first days after seeding I covered the soil with fresh Gliricedia leaves to retain the moisture which, in time, decomposed to add compost to my plants. In two to three days my seeds germinated and I could see the emerging seedlings. Beans and the ladies fingers were the first.

I knew well about the N,P,K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) requirement of the plants, but my third weakness that I mentioned above denied my access to fertilizer. So I started getting fond of organic matter. I used the kitchen waste and tree leaves for preparing my OM and my plants showed no deficiency. They certainly grew well and are bearing now.

I regret I lack a camera to make photos of what I speak. But I hope to get one soon and share this beauty with you.

One thing I learned from all this was that it is tiny the satisfaction we get by eating vegetables from outside, in the face of joy we get by growing from the date of sowing to tasting.