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!

Another Veggie Garden

I've learnt the Bunnings is not the best place for buying seedlings. For some reason they feel that $3 for a single seedling is acceptable. I was after some tomato seedlings due to leaving my run to grow from seed too late. After much digging, I found a punnet with about half a dozen tomatoes in it. Some for the garden and some to try upside down tomatoes! I decided to go seeds for the remainder of my crop...









So back at home, it was time to give the front garden another turn and weed. The soil is nice, dark and rich so fingers crossed that it's good for the veggies this year.









I've planted about 4 tomatoes plants (went for grosse lisse this year as the Roma were duds last year!), 2 rows of corn, some zucchini and some golden nugget pumpkins the latter of which are a small individual serve pumpkin about the size of a large fist. I've grown these before with much success in both growing and eating!









This picture below is the first of the garden - look closely to the left and you can see the itty tomatoes -

The back garden continues to grow but the problem with broccoli flowering early continues to frustrate. This is most likely due to irregular watering or overcrowding, both very likely in my back garden! - I've started watering regularly and will hope for the best, but I think their season is over. After some recent rain, Another row of broccoli has emerged from previous seed plantings. These have been thinned out and will hopefully give me another chance at broccoli this year!

The silverbeet that was planted some time back has turned out to be beetroot - the first of which is just about ready to harvest- i guess theirs a lesson to be learnt here about buying cheap seeds from Go Lo! The lettuce continue to amaze. It does seem to be a breeding ground for slugs, but interestingly they are doing no damage. I'm yet to see any full grown slugs, but if they turn out to be leopard slugs, then this is good as they eat snails! Other slugs as are bad as the snails though but control will be difficult given the dogs in the same yard

Anyway, Will finish up here with a picture of Buddy and Scruff enjoying the recently weeded and sprayed lawn out the back - it is coming back nice and green and I've decided that is very likely due to the beer tonic that I'd put on it a month or two back (beer, seasol and fabric softner)

Spring!

So, we're 3 weeks into spring and not a single posting has happened - what sort of a farmer am I?

Well, its not that I've been doing NOTHING in the garden, just not much - the recent arrival of twin babies seems an appropriate excuse for that...

So lets see..

Remember the Anniversary Orange Tree? Well, I've finally got it in the ground. After hours of digging through rocks in the first chosen location, I gave up and decided to chop down the ugly shrub out the back and replace it with the orange tree. The piccie below shows the action. On the far left, you can see the remainder of the truck of the ugly shrub and on the right is its carcass. The was all eventually run through the mulcher.

You can also see the baby orange tree with a wire cage around it to keep it safe from the dogs. It may be a little close to the house, but hopefully this will be someone else's problem in a few years when we move out to a larger house!

The vegie garden out the front has been turned over and is resting before I get some summer crops started. I'm running out of time very quickly to get these going and may need to get some seedlings rather than wait for seeds to grow

The back vegie garden continues to grow. The broccoli is nearly waist height but seems to flower too quickly and the heads that form are nice and tightly packed - I'll need to do some homework on why this is!

The lettuce just doesn't stop growing and provides a constant supply for salads that are now being made as the weather warms up

I spent the other day in the front yard cutting grass and picking weeds. There was apparently about 3 or 4 different types of weed in the lawn, bindii, some sort of weed with burs and some other junk - all was painstakingly pulled by hand as I'm pretty sure the bindii sprays kill this lawn

Oh yeah, and I've also pruned all the roses including the standards out the back. These are all now getting new growth and so far looking quite healthy.

Other plants that are now flowering include the orange pigface (I'll have to thin these out soon!), the azaleas (white and maroon) the large shrub on the corner out the front (need to get a name for this!) and some other bulb plants out the front (jonquils??)

Well that's about it for the minute - Will aim to keep posts a bit more regular as some more routine starts coming back to our lives and as I get more time for the gardens

Seeya!

Broccoli!

The broccoli planted a few months back is starting to get itty bitty heads - the one shown below is about the size of a 50cent coin

So far, the bugs are leaving these alone - the bugs being slugs, snails, dogs, caterpillars and so on - I've been using some Yates Vegetable Dusting Powder to keep pests away, but tend to think its more the cold that these pests don't like




The picture below shows the broccoli across the back and the lettuce across the front - these lettuce grow very well in winter, but it seems that noone has an appetite for lettuce at this time!

I've been trying to get some other seeds started as you can see from my calender - but the only seedlings that are taking are the silverbeet - There's now a plant about 40 cm tall and another 4 or 5 seedlings on their way.

I turned over all the soil last weekend as it had packed down very firm - Guess I need to get some more sand and organic matter into the soil to help with this! I then planted some more broccoli and lettuce - seems that at this time of year, should stick to what works! The lettuce even doubles as an edible garden border!

Finally, I was going to do some work to the little garden out the front which I've not touched since the failed roma tomatoes (I'll never grow these again!!) - oops I mean "Lisa's" garden"... I was very surprised to see that the beetroot and silverbeet are taking again - may need to give the garden a little more time to establish itself

Anyway, that's about news from the patch for the moment outside of mentioning that I'm getting the odd pigface flower blooming out the front - spring on the way???

Happenings...

I've finally planted a pineapple. It's meant to be simple and yet I've never tried it until now. They say you simply chop the top of your pineapple, leave it for a day or so to dry and then plant it - will keep you all updated on it's welfare as time goes by!

I also planted some Photinia cuttings at the end of last May. For those who don't know, this is a large and quite common hedging plant. It flushed with new and bright red growth making for a stunning display. I got my cuttings from Gloria Jeans near work and had dipped them in honey and baby formula before putting into pots covered with some 2 litre bottles to keep them toasty and warm and without too much water loss. A month on and they seem to be all growing well with some even developing side shoots! Will need to get some more cuttings on my next visit for coffee.

Farmer Brown has a cold. It couldn't be a co-incidence that Lemon trees bear fruit in the cold and flu season. More of that scrummy Lemonade coming up!