Oh dear. Picked too early

It had been munched by damn portugese millipedes a bit on the outside. But they didn't get past the skin. Perhaps that ought to have been a sign that it was not ready for picking.



Still a bit green but the orange bit was tasty. Post From Sandra's iPhone

Rockmelon?

It was hosting a massive number of portugese millipedes underneath, who I'm sure were eyeing it up for dinner.  Well I'm working right now on how to trap the little beasties, meantime I've lifted the melon up off the soil.

-- Post From Sandra's iPhone

Bean Harvest

I've been leaving them too long. They need to be picked before the beans can be seen in the pods, otherwise they are stringy and chewy, and everything that put me off beans as a child.
They are fruiting really well now, probably 10-15 beans a day.

6 March. Other growings.

Two this size!

One mystery fruit

Heaps of ripening peppers

Also...heaps of beans growing, beetroot still doing well. Bok Choy being eaten by caterpillars. Iceberg ok but being swamped by pumpkin. Celery coming along.
Herb garden growing well.



And this... Ok not garden but still pretty. Don't know why it's volcanoesque though.




- Post From Sandra's iPhone

6 March, today's haul

Tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, zucchinis and chillies. Could have picked beetroot but they seem to keep better in the garden.

And this zepplin, 60cm again!

Tucked right in underneath again so really hard to spot.

Post From Sandra's iPhone

4.7kg Zucchini

This us what happens when you have 3 plants too close together.... Sneaky marrows grow. I thought the previous one at 50cm was big, but this beastie eclipsed it.



60cm long
13cm diameter at the fat end and 4.7kgs.


-- Post From Sandra's iPhone

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)