Posts Tagged ‘vegetables’

All I Needed Was Garden Stakes

Gardening, Herb, Fruit and Vegetables | Posted by Dean
Jan 10 2008

Yesterday I needed some garden stakes to assist my now bushing beefsteak tomato. It has stopped rocketing skyward and is now going sideways. One of the longer branches was as such in need of staking. So rather than trapes to the the big kids toy shop we opted for Mitre 10. It is about 5 minutes away and has a reasonable selection of gardening implements and supplies.

Upon walking in we had an armful of supplies but not the garden stakes. Included in the supplies were a new set of excellent garden gloves. These have leather fingers and palms with a stretchy blue rear. They are really comfortable and are great. Definately good replacements for my recently deceased Jamie Durie gloves.

So we headed out to the nursery where the stakes are kept. Of course I had to take a quick look the plants. Almost immediately I spotted a Cherry tomato literally laced with fruit. Some was even ripe and ready to harvest. After confirming the price was good it was in the trolley.

This of course dictated a suitable pot. So off to the pots I went and located some nice round tuscan style pots. We already have a number of these in the garden, so I decided to go with one of those.

I then remembered that I wanted a larger pot for my stunted exiting cherry tomato. My theory is that the healthy but dwarf tomato bush is severely by its small tub. So quickly there were two pots and drip trays, the gloves, the tomato bush, some other supplies, but still no garden stakes.

I then finally grabbed them and a bag of Yates premium professional potting mix and headed to the checkout. Over $100 later I headed home with my less than $4 grden stakes and a whole lot more. Gardening can be expensive.

So after repotting the tomatoes I freed the fairy lights and the Red Coral Lettuce from their constrained environments. The Red Coral Lettuce severely neededits own spot due to the Green Coral Lettuce growing so well and crowding it out of the wheeled planter. It was growing upwards and was jokingly known as the Christmas tree lettuce due to its shape. It now has a nice large pot to grow in, I will be trimming the Christmas tree shape out of it tomorrow afternoon.

I am now looking forward to a better harvest.

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A Tale of Woe

Gardening, Herb, Fruit and Vegetables | Posted by Dean
Jan 08 2008

As I have written numerous times I like the taste of zucchini. In fact on Saturday I cooked a rather safe beef stir fry that had an entire home grown Lebanese zucchini sliced up and quartered. However, this article is a tale of woe, not a celebration of my culinary successes. After another attempt to grow Blackjack zucchini I have lost another four seedlings.

The Blackjack zucchini seedlings showed positive early signs and went into a growth phase. I thought finally I have some success and could look forward to some long, slender standard zucchini. However, all have subsequently perished. I simply do not understand what it is that I am doing wrong with these plants. They are getting the exact care and growing conditions that the Lebanese zucchini receives, and that plant is absolutely flourishing in the conditions. In fact it is currently full of flower.

I am now shelving the Blackjack zucchini dream for a while. I will concentrate my zucchini growing efforts on the Lebanese variety that is giving bearing great success. Perhaps I will give the Blackjack variety another crack once we have moved to Wollongong. A move that will be happening soon as we are all ready for a change of scenery due to no small part the cats next door. Another dedicated post coming on that soon.

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Location, Location, Location

Gardening, Herb, Fruit and Vegetables | Posted by Dean
Jan 07 2008

As with real estate success in the garden often has a lot to do with location. In my garden I have noticed that some plants are thriving, yet sister plants in a different location are struggling to continue. So I have relocated several plants in the last few days. The reason is to encourage increased growth and to ensure the plants are all getting a fair share of the conditions.

On the chilli front I moved the producing mystery chilli forward slightly to an even more sun drenched location. I have also turned about 90 degress to hopefully encourage the jalapeno into action. I have also moved the ebony fire with these chilli’s. So now all my chilli plants are together and overseen by the Mexican Guitar Playing Burrow Rider looking from above.

I also clustered the grape tomatoes with the beefsteak and grosse lisse tomatoes. This just looks better to my mind, and has not changed the conditions the plant was already experiencing very much indeed.

My sisters lavendar has been moved to a more sunny position to encourage further growth. It is right next to our flowering dwarf lavendar that is thriving. Given that both lavendars require the same conditions it should really thrive in the new location.

Finally, I managed to repot our pink rosemary. The plant was seriously constrained in a little pot and was becoming root bound. It is now in a converted stainless steel cooking pot that was simply sitting near the barbecue for the past six to twelve months. I have now put it to a good productive use. In its new surrounds the pink rosemary should thrive.

Will keep you all posted.

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Snow Peas on the Way

Gardening, Herb, Fruit and Vegetables | Posted by Dean
Jan 02 2008

I am happy to report that the snow peas are now doing very well indeed. After carefully training them over the last few weeks to climb the tower I made from three stakes and a roll of cable ties the peas are growing of their own accord. Three of the plants are even in flower, so I am hopeful of a small harvest soon. I love snow peas and add them to most dishes I cook.

Whilst speaking of cooking, it is looking increasingly likely that the vegetables required for my stir fry or laksa likely will be sourced from my own cultivation efforts. I have spinach going well, pak choy going ok (it could be better and soon will be), the snow peas, the chiili (including the firebrand Ebony Fire), and of course the Yolo Wonder capsicum. At a push I could even use runner beans and roly poly carrots. It will be a proud day indeed when I do cook a stir fry with my own grown vegetables.

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What I Have Learnt So Far

Cat and Pest Control, Gardening, Worm Farm/Vermiculture | Posted by Dean
Dec 19 2007

I thought that I would compose an article on what I have learnt about gardening to date. Of course this focuses on my experiences in my little urban patch. Here is the list and my thoughts behind each principle learnt.

Expect Failures
No matter how good and diligent you are, some plants will fail. For example I have a thriving Zucchini seedling out the back, yet two out the front planted in the same base material and receiving similar sun are struggling like the billy-o. I expect that they will soon be fed to the worms for reprocessing.

Expect Success Beyond Expectation
At the same time of expecting failures you also need to expect success beyond your wildest expectation. I am for example trying to work out what I will be doing with the plethora of chillis that are either here, or en route. For me I will be distributing that amongst family members and preserving the remaining crop.

Premium Potting Mix is Worth the Extra Coin
Premium potting mix is indeed worth the coin. Plants that are in the premium potting mixes such as the RichGro Pro Mix that is enriched with Seasol, Osmocote, and Ezi Wet are thriving. Those in the cheaper standard potting mix, such as that available from Coles, although for the most part are alive are not exactly thriving. Definately fork out the extra few dollars and get a premium mix.

Worm Farming is a Must
If you have the room a definate requirement is a worm farm. The farm produces a magnificent liquid fertiliser and a supreme compost. Both of which provide established plants a great boost or a kickstart for new arrivals. Also, it helps keep the costs down, as you can appreciate liquid fertiliser and rich compost purchased from the garden centre is expensive, and when you are worm farming is a completely unnecessary cost. Also as a real advantage your rubbish bin will not be as full or smelly.

I Need More Worms
Currently in my Can’O'Worms I have 1000 worms. I though now believe I require a considerable amount more. As a rough idea I have read that you should have 1000 worms per household member. Given Christmas is days away, and we are again hosting the family dinner, we will no doubt have stacks of peels, fruit and vegetable waste. As a direct result I will be adding at least 500 more, am considering perhaps adding 1000. I am also considering a second Can’O'Worms and utilising the stacks of cardboard that I currently have.

Recycling Rocks
Recycling our own waste is both good for us and the planet. Gardening offers a wealth of opportunities for reuse. For example, worms will eat our food scraps, paper waste, and cardboard. Also whilst on cardboard it is great as a pot liner to prevent water simply seeping straight out, further in the pot it provides a barrier for insects and other bugs climbing in. Finally, on paper I am about to embark on making my own jiffy pots using wet newspaper and the many seedling pots as a mould. Essentially its a paper mache jiffy pot.

Planning
Gardening, in particular gardening for cultivation, requires planning. It is silly to pick plant varieties that require deep roots or a need to achieve a tree size for growing in the urban environment within pots and tubs. Also, need to ensure that the chosen varieties needs are going to be met.

Dedication
Dedication is a must for any gardening project. Although many plants will survive a few days of neglect, few will sustain that for very long. Especially when contained to pots and tubs. The urban gardener needs to keep the water, nutrients, and defences up.

Keeping Felines Away is a Pain
For me I have learnt that keeping near wild cats away from the garden is a real pain in the keister meister. Cats like those currently next door are once removed from being feral. I do not want them anywhere near my garden, especially the producing plants. However, keepng them away is a real pain and requires its own commitment. I am looking forward to obtaining my CATWatch in the new year. Hopefully that will reduce the burden.

For now that is the end of my current learnings. No doubt this will expand over the coming days, weeks and months to come. As I have said before, I am a novice, but learning fast.

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