A couple of weeks ago I finally planted all my bok choi and lettuce seedlings in my garden. I'm pretty chuffed because this is the first time I properly planted anything in an outdoor garden. To save me digging around with my little hand shovel, I planted most of my seedlings in plastic containers and these two old planters left behind by the previous tenants.
Then I used the wooden borders I bought to make three more planters, at least they're sitting on top of weed free soil and have more room to grow.... if they make it that far. All good so far.
That was two weeks ago. Since then, I've been really good in looking after my seedlings. I've even been moving them around a couple of times a day to avoid too much sun in the afternoon. Plenty of exercise there! About 10 days in, my nightmare started. Aphids started to appear and were slowly consuming my veggies. Within a few days some of my young plants had practically disappeared altogether. It was heartbreaking to see my healthy veggies growing and then being eaten away by these nasty little bugs.
| 11th June | 14th June |
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Here's the rest of my bok choi plants. Whilst the aphids are consuming my veggies I'm sat here consuming by grief ðŸ˜
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My other three planters faired a little bit better. Some of the leaves had been nibbled away, I don't know if they're going to last much longer. I may pick some leaves, if there's still any left over, in a couple of days time before they're all gone. In one of the planter, something weird happened, and I don't know why. These plants are only about 5 or 6 weeks old, but some have started to flower already. Two have really shot up these couple of days, and some of the smaller ones are starting as well. Does anyone know what's going on here?
| 5th June | 16th June |
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The lettuce in the third planter is doing much better. They are growing very healthy and definitely looking good.... so far. I notice there are some small green bugs on the back of the leaves, almost translucent like. I try to water them off when I water my veggies or flick them away with a stick. Also, there may be signs of little holes. I will have to keep a close eye on them as I don't them to die on my watch as well.
| 5th June | 16th June |
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My new seedlings
With my first batch of bok choi out of the window, I sowed a second batch two weeks ago. Last month I got greedy and sowed too many and they ended up overcrowded. This time I only planted six seeds in this box - I had about 30 last time!!!
And I have five seedlings in this box.
I keep these new seedlings on my kitchen window sill and they are coming along nicely. They should be due to be replanted outdoors now, but I am so worried that they may be gobbled up by aphids again. I feel like keeping them indoors to protect them from the nasty world outside. What should I do?
I tried asking kitty next door, but she doesn't know either
