Pregnancy Home Hobbies

It may still be bitterly cold outside, but luckily the sun is beginning to shine a bit more. Other than an immediate mood-boost for us humans, sunlight’s great for keeping plants happy. Admittedly, you’d probably much rather stay indoors with tea, a warm quilt and watch Jeremy Kyle than venture into the garden to tend to some vegetables. But, according to this week’s Big Issue, a sunny windowsill is all you need for plants to thrive. There is a range of tools and advice out there to help you grow plants/herb/vegetables from the comfort of your own home. These tools range from make shift home equipment (if you have time on your hands) to state of the art hydroponics tools.

I myself am on maternity leave and all I seem to have at the moment is time! Time to knit (that did not last long…one and half baby sock/leg warmer thing), read (baby name books mainly), walk (only a matter of time before this get a little more difficult) and cook! Cooking is by far my favourite new hobby so far. However, since I myself seem to be growing a record rates I considered how I am going to get fresh produce for my new found talent (I’m sure my husband will be internally protesting this…after all he is aware that my hormones are all over the place and has sensibly reframed from any form of criticism…bless him!), when nipping down to my local grocery becomes more tasking. Mobility may not be on my side for much longer and boredom may set in soon, hence why I have decided to grow my own veggies!

A simple recipe for growing tomatoes involves a yoghurt pot with a few holes in the bottom, some compost, three seeds and a bit of water. You can then fashion a greenhouse for your crops using the top half of a large plastic drinks bottle (and I don’t know about you, but there is something hugely appealing about the Blue Peter-esque way of recycling rubbish for this project). Keep your pot in the sunlight for a fortnight, watering every couple of days, and then remove the greenhouse when you begin to see some shoots.

The next stage is called ‘pricking out’ (don’t laugh) – easing out the strongest-looking four-leaved shoots from the batch and placing them in individual containers with compost in. If you still have the bottom half of that greenhouse bottle, this will work well; just make sure there are some holes in the bottom. After a few months, the seedlings should be tall enough (about 20cm) to be transported to their final pot, which could just be a bucket if that’s all you have to hand. With regular feeding and watering, and some organic fertiliser, you’ll have some lovely tomatoes in the summer.

Or, if compost isn’t really your bag (and let’s face it, who wants to do more cleaning than they have to, really), then fear not; the more lazy amongst us can actually cultivate plants without using soil at all. The system of course is hydroponics. This allows you to avoid the mess altogether, and let water do all the work. Apparently among the many benefits are a quick yield and the ability to use pretty much anything as a plant-pot, from a fancy vase to a fish tank. (Note: it should probably be an empty fish tank. Everyone else will probably be hugely impressed with your plant-growing skills, but any fish you have in there probably won’t be.)

I personally loved the initial idea of creating everything from scratch, you know embracing that mother earth persona…However, in reality I ended up opting for the easier option of hydroponics. The results are amazing; of course my husband will now be presented with tomato, red pepper and basil soup for dinner until the end of the year!