Sibo came to our site in the middle of the afternoon. As always, he was in a happy and cheerful mood. I took him around the green house again to show him how the plants had developed and to give him some ideas on how to use each one, once we had harvested them at the end of the session.

We got straight into planting more of his seedlings, namely the cabbage and the swiss chard. Our second attempt at germinating the swiss chard went without a hitch, and so there were plenty to pop into the ground. Sadly, some cabbages had been eaten by bugs, so we carefully replanted some new ones in their place.

I showed Sibo the ways in which one would have to space the cabbages and swiss chard, so that they can grow close to one another, without overgrowing each other. An important element to this part of the session was teaching him about companion planting. I had chosen these two vegetables, not only because he enjoys them, but also because they grow well next to one another. With the inclusion of some celery, which we transplanted from the green house, we had diversified our little vegetable beds, so that there would be a reduction in pests, as well as less competition for the same nutrients.

Most of our time was used for planting and then covering the beds with the wood chip mulch. So to reward Sibo for his efforts, I offered that he could pick vegetables from our green house. He happily grabbed a bunch of beetroot and swiss chard leaves, as well as spinach and some varieties of salad. He was extremely pleased!

The beds need to develop on their own from now on and probably won’t need much attention. I’ll be sure to teach him about irrigation and pest control. Other areas we still need to touch more on would be growing microgreens and finding ways to optimize Sibo’s diet. I will also consult him to see what topics he’d like to cover.