I’ve spoken in earlier posts about me being behind this year with sowing and growing due to some large home improvement projects taking over and the torrential rain and floods here in sunny Yorkshire. As I got started with my plot, clearing the beds for new growth it occurred to me that I actually didn’t have anything to plant out.

After a brief PANIC I thought I would give Rocket Gardens a go. I had bought a couple of their seed boxes for stocking fillers in December for gifts (and some for myself too of course) I love that they’re ethical and organic. So Rocket Gardens to the rescue to fill my sorry-looking beds with what I had missed out on sowing earlier this year.

The order process was very straight forward, select what you would like, in my case that was sweetcorn – 10 x Sweet Nugget, Cabbages – 10 x Savoy and 10 x Red. Add to your basket and checkout. I also had a code for 10% discount too, which was a nice little bonus.

The order  takes a couple of weeks to dispatch depending if what you have ordered is seasonally available at that time, and you very kindly receive and email a week before to let you know your order is almost ready, in other words get your beds ready for your new babies.

Due to a well-known courier service make a huge error, of not delivering my parcel on time and then delivering it to the wrong address 3 days later. I  spoke to a Rocket Gardens customer service advisor who was so lovely and friendly, they sent out replacement plants for me. Thhey arrived 2 days later, which was fantastic customer service, they also advised that the original package would still probably arrive too and if the plants are able to be salvaged would I make a home for them too.

I felt bad for Rocket Gardens incurring a loss due to someone else’s cock-up, they were so pleasant and made sure I received my order. This is great quality customer service  and so far I was so happy with them.

My deliveries both arrived Friday, just in time for the weekend, luckily my original order was completely salvageable too. I suspect this was due to its fantasic eco-friendly, compostable packaging. I gave my mother-in-law the original batch of Brassicas as hers had been attacked by Cabbage Moth up on her plot. Anyone who’s grown cabbages before know that they aren’t the smallest crop around and only having a half plot  I  just didn’t have the room to home them.  The extra sweetcorn however I kept for myself, we LOVE corn in our house, and the more the merrier.

I was amazed with the health and vibrancy of these beautiful little plants, such great quality, full of green, with great root systems, they weren’t dry, they were perfect and ready for their new home!

 

As you can see in the background the straw wasn’t going to waste either, here it’s being used for soil protection until my other seedlings are big enough to go in the ground.

 

So this is the Brassica bed, all sown and ready to grow, grow, grow and is now on lock down until harvest time.

Literally…… I’m not even kidding, Brassica are one of the worst vegetable crop to succumb attack, whether it’s pigeons, caterpillars, slugs, snails and bloody new infestation on are allotment site of cabbage moth, they all seem to love brassicas. I plant a few companion plants in with them too, a few nasturtiums, but I am not taking any chances, I staple down my trusty scaffolding debris netting and the net does not come off until harvest time!

 

The sweetcorn went in a second bed, which is going to be a ‘Three Sisters’ bed, which is a traditional companion planting method which I will discuss in a future post, so keep a look out for that. The sweetcorn plugs were small but strong-looking with a fantastic root system.

With Sweetcorn you have to plant in blocks, not rows or they won’t pollinate so I did my blocks 5 x 4 and a spacing of 35cm x 60cm  as I had 20 healthy corn plugs to plant up.

In this bed I also Added a 3 of my Rocket Gardens squash plants that I grew from seed, from the Stocking filler squash box I bought in December.

They were slow to germinate taking over 2 weeks but once they did they were off to a flying start.

 

The squash varieties I added to this bed were Bon Bon, Ulchiki and Honey Bear. I have some other squashes on the go too which I will also be planting out soon.

Once they have put on a bit more growth I will add the final sister, Borlotti beans.

So it’s more than certain to say I am over the moon with delight with my ‘Rocket Gardens’ experience, and if you fancy placing an order or having a look at what products they have you can find them here : Rocket Gardens

They have some fantastic offers and if you have no greenhouse, polytunnel or space to sow your seedlings they are a brilliant source delivering your seasonal garden throughout the year right to your doorstep!

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

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Brightest Blessings ,

Bo x