Growing Tomatoes Down Under: Part 1

Time to start Tomatoes Down Under (Australia that is)

After nearly 2 weeks away from home I was really thrilled to see that some tomato seeds that I had planted some time ago had finally germinated.

There were 3 different methods that I tried and amazingly they all have started to germinate at the same time.

Mini Greenhouse, Plastic Cover Removed

One group were started in small pots with seed-raising mix, started in mid-July and placed in my small greenhouse with the hope that enough warmth would be provided to get them started. After several weeks of no action they were moved into the shed near a north-facing window that has several hours of sunshine (when the sun is shining, of course) each day. Still no action, despite making sure that the pots did not dry out. I was about to give up on these so I set up another couple of trials.

Another group were sown in a small wicking bed, and a transparent plastic meat tray placed over top to act like a mini greenhouse. These were sown in mid-August, and nothing appeared to be happening by late September, when I was away from home for about 2 weeks.

The other group were sown like the first group, in small pots and kept in the small greenhouse. They were also sown in mid-August. They also had not germinated by late September.

The results:

Wicking Bed Seedlings
Small, but germinated at last!

When I returned home on 13th September all 3 groups had started to germinate. The group in the Wicking bed had the best rate of germination, the pots left in the shed had dried out a bit, because they could not be watered while I was away, but 1 seed had germinated. The 3rd group had a couple of germinating seeds.

What next:
The seedlings that have already started will be nurtured so that they can be planted out when the weather warms up a little, and after the last frost.

I will keep some of the plants in the wicking bed, because I want to check how they go in there, and also because it can be moved around the yard into the best position to help with growth.

I have been surprised how much the simple act of growing a few vegetables has excited me, and that is the perhaps the prospect of having fresh and nutritious food to eat when they mature.

Progress reports should follow in the next few months. I might even have some extra tomatoes to share.



Small Tomato Seedling



Back Home Again. And It's Raining

After 2 weeks away from home for a minor operation, I arrived back home to find that the weeds had grown another 30cms or more. I just had time to have a quick walk around the yard before the rain set in, AGAIN!

Every time I come home it seems that the rain starts immediately. At least this time I think the gutters will hold up and I won't get any overflow into the bathroom.

This is what it looks like out my back door. I can't get any further, it's too wet!

The Back Yard.

The weeds are almost hiding the vegetables. Broad Beans (on the left) are the most visible, because we cleared the garden beds in front of them just before our time away.

In the centre, the telephone peas are just peeping over the weeds, but everything else is hiding.

There are 2 wheelbarrows in the yard. Can you spot the second one?

On my quick trip around the garden I found:

• 
  
  The Broad Beans will need support around them to stop them swallowing up the vegetables nearby. The poor old Globe Artichokes can hardly be found. The Beans have lots of flowers but not much evidence of setting pods yet.
• 
  
  I have about 10 or more meals of Snow Peas to pick, when the rain stops.
• 
  
  The Rainbow Chard are doing well. Growing in size and showing great colour.
• 
  
  The Telephone Peas are starting to set their pods, and there are lots of flowers. They got battered around in the storms when we were away.
• 
  
  The Rhubarb is starting to develop new leaves. We thought we might have lost them in the cold, wet winter.
• 
  
  New leaves are developing on the Thornless Blackberries. They also went quiet in winter.
• 
  
  The bugs still love the Tuscan Kale. I'm not sure we'll get much from those plants this year.
• 
  
  The Broccoli is starting to flower, so it looks like I'll have a few meals with fresh Broccoli in the next few days.
• 
  
  The Horse Radish has sprung back to life.
• 
  
  In the Wicking Beds, the Rocket has gone to seed, Lettuce has reached maturity, Broccoli (planted later) are growing well, new plantings of Rocket and Lettuce have stablished themselves. See the photo below.
• 
  
  I have some Tomato and Capsicum seeds that have germinated. Now to nurture them to get started with this summer's crops.
• 
  
  And that's just the vegetable patches!

Wicking Beds in the Rain!

As I was coming into town I just had to check what was happening under the bridge, and YES the Rocky River has water in it!

With today's rain I guess that it will get some more, so I'll have to get out in the next few days to take some photos.

In the flower beds, we have some progress too. A couple of Nasturtium plants have flowers, so I'll be OK if hay fever sets in soon. I chew a Nasturtiun flower at the first sign of hay fever, and it seems to work a treat.

The Herb Robert Geranium is going crazy, as is the Fruit Salad Sage. These are 2 plants that we have had difficulty with in the past.

I just can't wait until tomorrow to have a closer check of all that is happening as Spring starts to make its presence felt.

From The Garden

After the first few months of preparing some beds (both in the garden and in boxes) for growing some vegetables and salad plants we are starting to be able to pick a few.

This evening my meal consisted of several items from the garden, plus a few things from elsewhere.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what I dished up for dinner tonight.

Yes, a delicious fresh salad wrap.

Working from the base up I had:

• Gluten Free flat bread wrap. I'm trying gluten free to see if that is going to help with digestion, etc. On the advice of my Naturopath.
• Lettuce from my wicking bed.
• Salad Rocket, also from my wicking bed.
• Fenugreek and Lentil Sprouts from the sprouting trays on our kitchen bench.
• Snow Peas from the very first vegetables I planted in autumn.
• Flat-Leaf (Italian) Parsley, from the near back door herb patch, in a raised bed.
• Half of an Avocado (bought from the shop).
• Cherry Tomatoes (also shop bought because it's too early and cold for home grown ones).
• 1 egg (boiled). Free Range from a neighbour, since we haven't got any chooks yet.

I will admit that I cheated a bit and had to eat some of the goodies before I rolled it up into a wrap, because there was no way I could do that with all of the goodies.

It was a delicious meal, made even more so by the thought that many of the ingredients came from my garden.

A New Wicking Bed

Now that we have started harvesting from the lettuce and rocket in some earlier established wicking beds, they will need to be replaced in the near future. Another bed has been set up to plant some more lettuce and rocket.

 

In this post I will outline the process that I have used for this new wicking bed.

 

I used a foam "brocolli" box for this new bed. It was one that was just begging to be used after sitting empty for a few weeks.

 

First I made 2 holes in each side of the box, about 30cm down from the top of the box. This will allow for about 30cm of compost/soil to be established above the reservoir of water at the bottom of the box. (more about that later).

 

 

 

 

Next prepare the material to used as the reservoir to hold the water that will be stored in the bottom of the bed. I used several plastic water bottle. I cut tops and bottoms of all the ones to be laid on the bottom of the box, so they fit together to make a long tube, the length of the bed. If the ends of the tube are closed, any water added will seep more slowly along the length of the box and be stored at the base of the bed to be taken up the soil above it. But once again I am getting ahead of my self.

 

In one end of the tube, cut a hole to allow another plastic bottle to be fitted at right angles above the tube you have made. See the photo below.

 

 

 

 

Next, collect some stone, rocks or building rubble to pack around the tube made in the step above. This will keep the tube in place and also allow water to be stored among the packing.

 

 

Collect compost to build up the soil for planting. Put this over the tube and rubble packing that were added in the previous step. I add approximately 25 to 30cm of compost, which becomes the growing medium for the plants to grow in. Sometimes I also add some commercial potting mix to get the best consistency in soil.

 

 

To help the wicking bed to perform effectively I also add some worms. These come from my compost heap, and at this time of year they are easy to collect from there.

 

 

Next, plant the seeds (or if using seedlings, plant them out now). And add water.

 

 

 

 

 

The wicking bed is now set up. All that needs to be done now is to monitor progress and occasionally top up up the water when necessary. This can be checked by looking into the bottle used  for filling. 

 

And finally, here is one that I prepared earlier. 

 

 

Finished and operating Wicking Bed, with Rocket and Lettuce.

How does a Wicking Bed work.

 

If you have seen the "self-watering " pots that you can buy at your local nursery, or even at the supermarket, then you have seen an example of a wicking bed.

I believe that it works like this:

• The bed is set up with the capability of keeping a reservoir of water in the base.
• This water can be topped up by having a pipe at the end that be used to add when when the level gets low.
• The soil above is prevented from a falling into this reservoir by the pipe(s) laid along the base, but some of it comes into contact with water that spills from the reservoir into the packing materials.
• Capillary action (similar to the way in which a candle wick takes up melted wax) makes the water work its way up the soil. This makes the soil damp, but for the plants I have chosen in my beds, not too wet.
• Water is thus conserved and put to good use as there is less evaporation and leeching out of the bottom of pots.
• This keeps beds (pots) moist and requires minimal watering. In fact I have not needed to water my beds once established. All that is needed is an occasional top of the reservoir.

I have used Wicking Beds for small scale vegetable growing, but I believe that it is also possible to this on a much larger scale, with great benefits in water conservation.

Good luck with your own Wicking Bed experiences. Let me know how you go. 

  

 

In The Garden Part 1

It's now 4 months since we made the big move, and summer has gone to give some great days for getting out in the garden.

The size of the new garden is taking a bit of getting used to as it is 1200 square metres, compared with the 300 square meters of the last house, and it had been let go for some time.

Summer was a time for assessing what to do in the garden because

• It was too hot to do much.



• The ground was too dry and hard.



• Renovations to the house were a higher priority.



• and what little time was left had to be used keeping the plants we brought with us alive.

The inspiration for getting in the garden comes from many sources, with one of them being the quality of the fruit and vegetables that comes from freshly grown produce. This is evident in the goodies that we have been able to buy at the local Farmer's Markets (at Wirrabara and Port Pirie.) I have never seen better looking organic fruit and vegetables. Nothing like the small, shrivelled and bug eaten stuff you find in the city and suburbs.

In the past few days (and weeks) there has been some activity in both the flower and the vegetable parts of the garden.

The small area at the front of the house has been cleared and several small shrubs and perennials planted. Over time these should grow and cover the area at the front of the house. In a later post I will provide a list of the plants used, and hopefully provide some more photos.

The vegetable garden has been started, with some seedlings being germinated and a few seeds being directly planted.

Snow Peas (also know as Sugar or Snap Peas) have been directly planted under the trellis over which they will grow. The germination rate was great, and the young plants are contunuing to develop. Their tendrils will soon be able to reach the bottom of the trellis.

Similarly some Telephone Peas and Broad Bean seeds have been planted, but that was just last week so I am waiting for the seedlings to appear.

In the seed raising box I have some broccoli, radishes, leeks and chives that have all germinated and are waiting to grow before planting out.

I have also make a Wicking Box to grow some Pick and Come Again Lettuces, and they are growing well, and needing thinning out.