Hi there fellow Steemians! I hope you are having a wonderful start to the week?

It was a busy weekend for my family. The sun has been bathing us in all her glory, we've had a beach party, I've been getting creative with stinging nettles again and the vegetable seedlings that were sown during this last new moon are finally starting to appear. (In case you are wondering, the wood for the BBQ was sourced finding dead branches laying around on the walk down to the beach. We are also very environmentally conscious people so all trash was taken away with us.)

Our gathering at Grand Grieve Beach on Saturday
The week ahead looks like a fun-filled adventure too! Some basic maintenance is needed in the garden, teaching the little dudes to swim while the weather is hot and I've got an upcoming meeting, about the Environmental Exhibition I am involved with. The aim of this is to raise awareness to the local community and beyond about the current state of environmental pollution and what we can do to reduce it.

Writing this while my stinging nettle tea steeps

Anyhow, back to the point of this post. I am super excited to see that my seeds are finally doing something. As a newbie to permaculture, I was rather afraid that my attempt at sheet mulch and direct composting last Autumn would be a failure and nothing would grow. So you can imagine the feeling of excitement I have right now.

Nasturtium seeds just popped up

I planted nasturtium seeds in a few of the beds to help keep the pests away from the food. They have lovely flowers which are also edible and often used for decoration, so I can't wait for them to bloom.

Cherry tomatoes I planted out yesterday
I shall be foraging some seaweed to put around the tomatoes. According to my friend who is a more seasoned permaculturist, the seaweed helps strengthen the plants and their fruit will be strong and abundant.

The pea bed

This bed is sheet mulched. To raise it slightly I used an old patio door frame that someone was throwing away. In here I am growing garden peas, french beans, carrots and round lettuce, and little gems. Note the bale of straw next to it for top ups on the mulch.

The french beans that have just popped up
I think I may need to put a larger trellis up for the french beans. This is the first year I've grown them and I didn't realise they would come up so big, which makes me think that perhaps they are going to need a bit more space on the up.

The garlic bed

I love garlic and this will be my first year growing it. I don't intend to harvest all of it as I would like to try and see if some will regrow next year. For now it's just sprouted. Also in this bed are Red Baron Onions and a potato plant seems to have found its way in there. Must have been from the peelings I used when direct composting. I did have some broccoli and marigolds in there, but unfortunately something ate them. So I'm waiting for the new seedlings to mature before they go in there. My intention with this bed is to leave some of the plants to go to seed so that they will grow again next year.

Replacement marigolds, fingers crossed these ones don't get eaten!

My Herb Bed
I love my herb garden, it's starting to get well established now. I planted it about 2 years ago. It has proved to be very useful. I have sage, mint, lavender, English Thyme, Lemon Thyme, oregano and chives.

The unintentional new bed

The bed in the images below was created using an old rug that we chucked outside last year. As you can see the grass has rotted down. I wouldn't normally dig it over but I'm running out of compost so a little fluff won't hurt it. I intend to plant some cucumbers in there and will probably grow some more lettuce alongside them. I still need to build some kind of support for the cucumbers. Once they are planted I will feed and top the bed with straw mulch. I have now put the rug in another location to kill the grass and prepare another bed.

The cucumbers

An Ever Evolving Organism

It's not a huge area where I am growing food, but it's a start. Last year we only had the one bed. I've been studying how the sun travels round my garden and the seasonal changes. Getting to know where all the little microclimates are in the garden, in order to place the plants in the best place. This is also the first year I haven't been preoccupied with Breastfeeding my little dude. It's amazing how much free time I have now. So with all that in mind I thought it would be good to start small, and add more as I go.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to upvote, resteem or comment. I love to hear feedback from fellow growers, any hints or tips would be fabulous.