Heat Today will be hot in the south of the Netherlands: up to 33 degrees! Check whether your reservoir is still full, whether the mix is still moist, shade vulnerable plants around midday, and wait with sowing until it cools down.
Plant, sow or start seeds indoors?
When filling your Makkelijke Moestuin, decide for each square whether to sow directly outside, start seeds indoors or buy a seedling from a garden centre.
Before that, you have already considered several things:
Before that, you have already considered several things:
- how tall the plants grow
- whether this is the right time of year
- which plant family they belong to
- how many plants fit in the square
Then it is time for the next question:
Will you plant, sow or start seeds indoors?
You sow the vast majority of vegetables directly in their squares:
Starting seeds indoors
Summer vegetables that cannot tolerate cold, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, need to be started indoors. By the time it is warm enough outside, sowing them then would be too late for the plants to grow large enough to harvest.
Raise these plants indoors and move them into your vegetable garden once the weather is warm enough.
Most people use potting compost, but that does not always work well. I use our specially made MM seed-starting mix.
Raise these plants indoors and move them into your vegetable garden once the weather is warm enough.
Most people use potting compost, but that does not always work well. I use our specially made MM seed-starting mix.
I use small MM-Airpots because plants develop an especially healthy root system in them. Together, the mix and Airpots work brilliantly.
Read more about starting seeds indoors.
Read more about starting seeds indoors.
Planting seedlings
Other plants, such as parsley and many herbs, take an extremely long time to grow from seed.
You only need a few, so it is easier to put young plants straight into the raised bed. They cost very little at a garden centre.
Read when buying seedlings is useful and when sowing them yourself is better.
You only need a few, so it is easier to put young plants straight into the raised bed. They cost very little at a garden centre.
Read when buying seedlings is useful and when sowing them yourself is better.
Putting home-grown or shop-bought seedlings into your raised bed is easy.
Use a trowel to push the MM-mix aside and make a hole, then place the plant in it with its root ball.
Gently press the MM-mix back around the plant. Do not press too firmly because the mix needs to stay airy.
Use a trowel to push the MM-mix aside and make a hole, then place the plant in it with its root ball.
Gently press the MM-mix back around the plant. Do not press too firmly because the mix needs to stay airy.
Looking after your plants
You now know how to fill your squares with vegetables. If you use our seeds, the free app or the sowing calendar in our Dutch book, everything follows naturally.
Because the raised bed and MM-mix prepare everything else, there is very little to do after sowing or planting.
Add water, remove any wind-blown weeds and check occasionally that everything is going well. Look for pests, for example, or help a plant climb the trellis.
Not every plant is the same, and some need a little extra care. Tomatoes need their side shoots removed, while bush beans benefit from a small support over the square to keep them upright. You will find these details in each vegetable description.
If you use the app, it will tell you what to do.
Because the raised bed and MM-mix prepare everything else, there is very little to do after sowing or planting.
Add water, remove any wind-blown weeds and check occasionally that everything is going well. Look for pests, for example, or help a plant climb the trellis.
Not every plant is the same, and some need a little extra care. Tomatoes need their side shoots removed, while bush beans benefit from a small support over the square to keep them upright. You will find these details in each vegetable description.
If you use the app, it will tell you what to do.
Sometimes things do not go to plan
It is still nature, of course, and something will occasionally go wrong. It may be too cold, too wet, too dry or too warm, or a hungry family of slugs may arrive before you notice.
Sometimes there is no clear explanation. You do everything by the book, the weather is perfect, yet seeds fail to emerge or a plant refuses to grow. Grrr!
After the first few times you tear your hair out, believe me, it becomes much easier to accept.
Besides, these will be exceptions. The vast majority of your plants will grow perfectly well.
And that brings me to the subject we do all this for:
Sometimes there is no clear explanation. You do everything by the book, the weather is perfect, yet seeds fail to emerge or a plant refuses to grow. Grrr!
After the first few times you tear your hair out, believe me, it becomes much easier to accept.
Besides, these will be exceptions. The vast majority of your plants will grow perfectly well.
And that brings me to the subject we do all this for: