Grow you good thing

What might happiness look like right about now? Well for one my crypto holdings could be growing exponentially and at a great rate of knots...Would it be too much to ask for?

I'm just messing around of course, things in that area will run their course and I'm not one to sit around willing it to grow. [Ok yes I am.] But this grow you good thing post isn't about crypto, it's about the growth of my vegetables which I started off a couple weekends ago.

Those photos were taken yesterday afternoon some two weeks after planting and I'm happy to say everything looks happy and healthy - All growing, and I'd go as far to say thriving. I know I shouldn't call the VegePods a success until I'm harvesting the produce but I'm really happy with things right now and the VegePods have performed faultlessly.

The overflow wicking-reservoir's catch the excess water and have overflow points so the soil doesn't flood, but it permits a self-watering effect simultaneously; the beds need watering still of course. The cool thing is that I'm collecting the overflow water which is full of nutrients and decanting it into a big drum with a tap on the bottom. I decant that into a watering can and use it on other plants around my garden, my herb pots and flowers and so on. It's super smelly because of the nutrients captured there. But that legit smelly-juice is going to do wonders for my other plants!

In the image above you can see some buckets I use to collect the smelly-juice from the overflow holes. I've actually installed small pipes to direct the flow better. Once the reservoir get's lower than the hole the water stays inside and does the watering for the garden bed itself - I'd say a pretty good all-round situation right?

As you can see everything looks really healthy and there's been a lot of growth as well; it's actually really amazing how much they've gained. I've been leaving the shade-cloth lids of the pods open a little for the bees to get in and I've got marigolds and lavender growing around in pots which helps attract them so any pollenating duties are taken care of by those buzzy little things and it's nice to see them spending time in my garden.

Above you can see the irrigation pipe for the sprayers that keep the beds watered from above. I generally turn them on every second day but as the weather warms up it'll be daily, or as required, and the reservoirs will keep the soil moist in between watering.

This image from the VegePods website shows how the system works.

I know it may seem like I'm belabouring the point but this whole process has brought me so much happiness and enjoyment. It's been weeks in planning leading up to the purchase, construction and preparation of the beds for planting. Once planted I was so impatient to see growth and now, a couple weeks after planting, there's visible growth and the plants are all looking so healthy. The sharp-eyed among you may even not a few strawberries on the plant in the main image. It's very rewarding indeed and I can only imagine what it'll feel like when actual vegetables begin growing and then also when I harvest and eat my produce!

I'd like to accelerate the process in truth, but then I guess that would rob me of weeks of enjoyment. Growing these plants is only ever going to happen the natural way and no matter the power of my will they will take exactly the amount of time they need to do what it is they're going to do.

I'll find my happiness by helping these plants along a little and doing my bit to give them the best conditions to grow into...And yeah, willing them along also I guess, although I don't usually waste energy worrying about things beyond the power of my will.