Hey SuperForest
As you may have seen I’ve recently started my own attempt at growing things – Yes! It’s no Zero One in scale, but in terms of satisfaction it’s undoubtedly been an eye-opener to me.
By way of recap, in a fit of enthusiasm I planted seeds of nasturtiums, french marigolds, rocket (the British name for arugala), spinach, sunflowers and, the big one, zucchini. I’ve been terribly excited at their initial growth and would encourage all of you to give it a go.
The weather has been quite lovely for the last couple of weeks here in London and I think that my seedlings have reaped the benefits. The faster growing plants seem to grow noticeably between when I leave for work in the morning and when I return in the evening. Here’s an idea of the developments in just the last couple of weeks:
the marigolds have gone from their foil windowsill dish to their own pots AND my first flower!
the sunflowers have shot up to 11 inches!
the peppers, which I had thought were non-starters, turn out just to be late developers!
And then, the zucchini. Oh, the zucchini… At the moment, the All Star standouts of my growing experiment. If , when I planted the seeds a little over a month ago, I was told that I’d be dealing with a surplus (an abundance?) of zucchini plants (although no flowers or fruit yet) I would have laughed, mildly hysterically, in the face of it – primarily at the very idea that they would grow. And yet! We have gone from this:
no sign of the zucchini on the left, teeny spinach on the right
To this:
To this:
To now:
SuperForester Mhairi tells me scale factors are important in taking photographs – thus, my clawlike foot, to enable you to judge the size of the zucchini!
The eagle-eyed will notice that the plants are now outside. I re-potted the healthiest looking young plants into containers on my flat roof, where they catch the sun but are fairly sheltered, and since venturing into the fresh air they seem to be flourishing.
I learned that courgettes (the British name for zucchini) are fast growing, hungry plants and, according to Gardener’s World, two zucchini plants should produce enough zucchini for a family of four. So, um, I have 12… But, rather than a mistake, I’m choosing to view this as an opportunity to gift my abundance to friends and colleagues who may not have grown their own from seed but have the space to give them a loving home. Surprise bonus? Carrying a box of seedlings on the Tube en-route to their new homes seems to engender an interest and solicititous goodwill from the jaded London commuters. I hope that, if they bear fruit, I will be able to offer zucchini to friends, neighbours and colleagues in just the same way.
If you’re interested in growing your own zucchini, here is a helpful video from Monty “The Don” Don from Gardener’s World.
And, by way of a refreshing perspective check, here’s a wee taster of my parents’ garden that I was lucky enough to see (and subsequently eat) last weekend:
potatoes, raspberries and insane 4-foot tall parsley
Oh, to imagine.
Love love
P
no zucchini (yet! [SPOILER!]), first sprouts of spinach, note the seed-tray: “liberated” from the skip outside the super-fun and socially responsible 
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