Lily Rose tends to the Veggie Garden

Upside Down Tomato and hanging strawberries

Quick update on the upside down tomatoes. You'll recall that the UDT eventually rotted at the base and dropped dead.

Well - you'll be happy to know that it actually lives on - the roots from the UDT had travelled all the way to the other side of the bucket from which a new plant developed - it seems the tomato has some sort of fear of hanging upside down - this same plant has now started developing fruit and continues growing right way up

But my determination didn't end there and another plant that had started developing quite nicely was flipped on its head - interestingly, the overall quality of the plant deteriorated - the leaves thinned and have gone yellowish but still flowers grew and fruits have started - see bottom left. Still this plant strives to grow right way up and the stems have all bent upward. - In short, seems Upside Down Tomato is not a great success for me - will try again next year but using tiny tom (cherry) tomatoes instead

Something that has taken well to be hung - but not upside down - is my strawberries - the yield is still quite low (only 1 strawberry every 2 or 3 days) but Lily enjoys the wait and gulps them down in a single bite - YUM! - I'm expecting the yield will increase next year after the plants are more established but I do still have a good stock in a Styrofoam tub which I'll use to make up some more hangers - lots of berries next year!

Zucchini

Again, reviewing my garden calendar, the veggie garden out the front was planted 25th September - this is only 2 months ago

Already veggies are just about ready for harvesting - first up is the zucchini. Lisa wanted to know when the zucchini was ready to pick - for those of us in the know, please don't sneer at my wife's naive-ness - Zucchini can be picked as soon as it is a size that you'd like to eat it at - generally this is about 15 to 20 centimeters. The longer you leave it, the bigger it gets - the bigger it gets, the tougher, but they're still very edible

A problem I've been having with these zucchinis is that shortly after a "fruit" starts to develop, the ends turn yellow and brown, eventually shrivelling up and dropping off. Some casual observation sees that there are no bees in my garden and hence the problem.... no pollination.

Zucchinis will grow male and female flowers. They're easy to tell apart since the female flower will have the actual fruit under it, whereas the male just has a thin stem. Taking matters into your own hands, pick the male flower and peel the petals off to reveal the middle bit (pistol) - dab this around in the similar area of the female's flower (stigma) and you've now hand pollinated your zucchini and put a bee out of a job.

Incidentally, there is a world wide bee shortage which is severally impacting the farming world - to the extent that many commercial farms are having to build their own bee colonies or hand pollinate! Many blame this shortage on genetically modified (GM) crops whose time of introduction is coincidentally aligned to the start of the bee population decline

Anyway - here's the zucchini that was lucky enough to be picked first

Beetroot!

Reviewing my calendar, I'd planted some silverbeet from seed back on 22nd June 2008 (6 months ago). This week I've harvested some of this crop - however it is actually beetroot - not silverbeet

This is what you get for buying cheap seeds from Go Lo!

Anyway, the beetroot is massive! Note the size of the peg on the bottom left and no! Its not some magical miniature peg....

BTW - what can you do with beetroot? After some research on the net they can be boiled, pickled, eaten raw in salad or baked

I pickled mine and they taste great - not many steps involved - boil the beetroot till soft (mine took over an hour and the house took on a very earthy smell!) - make a mix of vinegar, water, sugar, cloves, bay leaves, Cinnamon - slice the beetroot and chuck in the mix and voila! you have pickled beetroot

more detail here - http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Pickled-Beetroot-L257.html

And not to forget - Buddy was amazed by the size of the beetroot too but kept calling them beet-woofs!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

Well!... 

The garden's growing - its growing well. MOST of everything has taken well, however 1 tomato plant and a few corn stalks had a not so good start to life because I started mulching with the gumnut tree leaf litter which apparently doesn't agree.

So i bit the bullet, opened the wallet and bought some sugar cane mulch. Incidentally, Sugar Cane Mulch is a by-product of the sugar cane industry. It is the thrash that grows on the cane which is generally burnt off. It is a very soft and rather sweet smelling mulch that composts quite quickly. It is also reasonably expensive....

I have a mate who grows sugar cane in Queensland, so it seemed reasonable that I ask him for some sugar cane mulch. He had no issues in me taking some - really as much as I want in fact....  The issue is transport and hence the reason most QLD farmers simply burn it off and also the reason that I won't take him up on his offer... 

Anyway....

The tomatoes are above knee height now and some are starting to flower and even develop some very small fruits. At the advise of my dad (a seasoned tomato grower!) I've dusted them with veggie dust to prevent grubs getting in the tomatoes from the very onset

The zucchinis are flowering and actually have a few very small fruits developing. I'd expect these will be ready over the next week!

The corn is about waist height and mostly looking thick green and luscious - maybe we'll see some corn at Christmas??!!

Only 1 pumpkin plant survived the snails. This is growing well and looks nearly ready to start flowering too - YUM! I've actually tried planting some more seed, but no more want to take.

Here are some pictures for you - the last one is a picture of my strawberries.  A very lovely and wise lady from Canberra suggested I hang them to prevent the snails/grubs eating my fruits - so i did, and it's worked a treat!

Upside Down Tomato Plant Has Gone Belly Up!

Well, the upside down tomato plant apparently had a single but lethal flaw. Where the base of the plant is sitting against the soil, it seems to have gotten soft and  possibly some rot due to always being damp (this is afterall where the water comes out too!)

Anyway, in the recent winds, the combination of the soft stem, coupled with the continual swaying back and forth at that same pivot point led to the stem eventually being severed. The result was a very sad and limp looking plant that was/is being held by little more than a thread.

Not to be discouraged, the next plan of action here is to give the other 2 plants growing in tubs the right way up a few more weeks to develop and turn them upside down

But for now, the UDTP has gone belly up!

An upside down tomato

Why would anyone grow a tomato upside down? 

This is a question I keep getting asked after recently boasting my latest endevour to turn tomato growing on its head. 

The first answer is simple - It's different. 

Couple this with the expectation of a crop that is more resistant to soil-born disease, fungal diseases due to increased air circulation, pests such as snails,, slugs and dogs and then there's no need to stake the tomato plant. The question probably should be why would YOU grow a tomato any other way BUT upsidedown?

So here's the first picture of my UDT - I'm as curious about its progress as I'm sure you are, so I'll keep updates coming. 

Wish me luck!