22 Feb various

Tomatoes; still being massacared. Have resorted to cutting away bad bits and using the rest.

Beans; fruiting! Well hidden though so I didn't realise until I saw them through the garage window. I think some have been left a bit past optimal picking.





Beetroot; still picking first batch. New batch coming along. Will plant one more lot on next few days.

Caulis; totally decimated by horrid caterpillars.

Lettuces. Most bolted. Iceberg still doing well.






-- Post From Sandra's iPhone

Cucurbits 22 Feb

Pumpkins... 4 now. This one is 23cm diameter.


Zucchinis still fruiting well.

Cucumbers, can't beleive how many on one plant! Have got 5 last week, there are another couple nearly ready and lots of babies. Am going to have to get creative to use them.

And, um whatever this is. I thought it was a cucumber until it started fruiting at which point I was baffled but now I'm thinking maybe a rockmelon?



-- Post From Sandra's iPhone

Pests and fertilising

Horrid little hump backed caterpillars are eating my tomatoes.




No idea what to use to stop them. Have had to cut off a bunch of damaged fruit.



But yay. Fruit is ripening!




Have also discovered I'm supposed to fertilise biweekly. Luckily there was some tomato food in the shed so they just got their first food post planting.

Notes for next time:
Plant earlier! Late September perhaps.
Fertilise regularly and the plants might not be half dead.
Figure out organic control for nasty humpback caterpillars!
-- Post From Sandra's iPhone

** Ok apparantly the control for the mini beasts is digital (squish) which is no good as they can do too much damage before being found.  Or Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) spray which is only harmful to caterpillars BUT takes 3-5 days to work, in which time they can do some serious damage :(  Oh well.  Needs must.

Herbs Feb 2010

Basil
It's in with the tomatoes but a bit shaded.  Next year I'll aim for it around the edge of the bed.

Sage
Flowered massively and then died right back. I've transplanted it into the new herb area as well as one little self sown seedling

Parsley
I sowed seeds but they had very low germination rate. I got more from self seeded in store punnets.

Thyme
Transplanted to new herb area and taking a while to come back

Mint
Planted about 2 months ago. Starting to take off now but being eaten by caterpillars and white fly.  Damn pests.

Other
I've got:
Lemon Grass
Oregano
Chives (from punnet as seeds failed to germinate)

Garlic 2009

Wow!  I miss a couple of bulbs last year.  They grew this year and I have about 2kgs of beautiful garlic.  Without a shadow of a doubt I'm aiming for an annual crop of this especially given it grows over the worst time of the year for growing.

Potatoes Feb 2010

We dug a few potatoes up from under the rose and transplanted them into the vege garden.
Most died but two grew really well. One has died back completely and the other is on it's way.  I would dig them up but they are in a bit of an awkward place being almost under the zucchini. I may have to wait until the zucchini dies back.

Potatoes are so easy to grow and expensive so I'm keen to try and plant them in some kind of raised planter next year .  It will be interesting to see how many potatoes are dug up.

Beets Feb 2010

Silverbeet
Planted from Diggers seed didn't get anywhere but a couple of self seeded ones from last years have grown nicely.

Beetroot
Diggers Heirloom mix.  Growing great and some lovely beetroot.
I planted 1 lot in November and another lot in January.  The November lot are picking now.

Lettuce Feb 2010

I've planted HEAPS this year!
Cos punnets from the shop and Baby Cos from Diggers.  All of them have done great.
Mesculun mix from Diggers.  Also great.
Iceberg punnets also fab.
Buttercrunch.  Bolted in the heat and pretty pathetic really.  Which is fine because I don't like em anyway.

Beans Feb 2010

I planted Blue Lake from Eden Seeds along the netting.  They were attacked by snails and slugs in a big way but eventually made it to climb up the netting.
About 1/2 the netting is quite badly shaded by the zucchinis and the plants are sparse.  The other 1/2 has clear ground with sun and they are very healthy although being attacked by some kind of caterpillar with a humpy thing.
So far so good with the beans.  Although an organic caterpillar treatment would be very welcome!

Cucurbits Feb 2010

Zucchini
I planted 3 zucchini because I bought a punnet. They are ridiculously large and taking up a full 1/4 of the garden.
They are overcrowded and hard to find fruit and often we end up with Marrows that in turn stunt the growth of other fruit on the plant.

Pumpkin
1 pumpkin self seeded right at the edge of the garden. I've loaded it up with cow poo and straw etc and it's already got 3 baby pumpkins on it. Yay!!

Cucumber
I planted 3 cucumber.  Damn snails ate 2 of them on the first night!  The last one has been slow to get going. I put a stake with it but it hasn't climbed it.  I need to work out what they climb.  A cucumber has self seeded and in 1/2 the time is healthier looking than the one left that I planted.


For the future:
1 green zucchini
1 yellow zucchini
2-3 cucumber with something to climb
1 pumpkin plant