January 2017

Lil only has a small hand, but this Amish Paste tomato is still a whopper.  Amazing what will grow in soil fed only with compost but with an Ecobed's continuous supply of captured rainwater.

December 2016.

Its the last week of December and the weather is getting hot.  Today is a very warm 32C, and thunderstorms are predicted later on with up to 25mm of welcome rain in our area.  Every plant in this photo is coping well with the hot windy conditions despite their disheveled appearance.  

I'm particularly pleased with the Anzac peach which is growing strongly despite a bad start with leaf curl in spring.  By removing the damaged leaves as they appeared, new leaves are given a boost and the tree recovers.  

I always swear I'll revert to using a spray of lime sulphur to control the leaf curl the following year when I see the dreadful damage on the tree, but I would rather invest the time removing damaged leaves than use chemical fungicides.  Easily said, of course, when you are retired like me with the time to do it.

My tomatoes are growing well despite limiting fertiliser use to a 60mm dressing of homemade compost and a 50mm covering of sugar cane straw mulch.  

I nip off all laterals as they appear and nip out the leader after 5 trusses have set.  It keeps the plants compact and manageable in a small garden space like mine.

Amish paste tomatoes are ugly looking plants, at least in my garden, but the fruit is lovely.

Tommy Toe Tomatoes on the other hand are much better to look at and the fruit grows in lovely even trusses.  They are just starting to ripen, and I usually remove them before they are fully ripe to avoid damage from birds.

My Blue Lake climbing beans are growing quickly and will soon shade out the plants in front of them.  When that happens, I will need to be ready to move the threatened plants to a new location.

Hybrid thornless blackberries grow strongly but are not too invasive.  They make great jam and combine well with apples in pies.  I will need to net them soon to stop birds taking the fruit, and to lessen the drying effects of the sun and wind.

September 2016(2).

I have just harvested a small crop of beetroot although there is nothing small about their individual sizes.

They were pressure cooked at 5psi for 45 minutes, and emerged nicely cooked through, sweet and succulent.  I got 4 jars of sliced beetroot pickled in a sweet spicy vinegar, and made a cake with the rest..

September 2016.

The peas are setting pods and we have a small harvest ready for immediate use.  The broad beans are still a few weeks away though.

We had a great display of blossom on our dwarf espalier apples last year, and this year is shaping up to be even better.  Unfortunately last year, due to inclement weather or possibly inappropriate use of chemical pesticides by neighbours, my pollinators did not turn up for work and I lost the whole crop.  There seem to be plenty of bees around this year and I have more flowering plants available to keep them interested, so I am hoping they clock in on time.  If not I will have to sack them and hand pollinate the apples myself.

My potatoes have broken through and are growing strongly.  I had a 97.959183% success rate, in other words I lost 1 of the 49 seed potatoes I planted.  However, ever resourceful, I emptied out my bag of shop bought organic potatoes to find 1 of them, near the bottom, putting out new shoots.  So I planted it in the vacated space.

Here is my production line of mini cabbages and red iceberg lettuce.  I hope we never grow tired of their fresh, crisp tastiness, because if we do, I don't know what I will replace them with.  In the top left hand corner of the picture is a small patch of recently sown Nantes carrots under a protective covering of shadecloth.  

I think I've found the ideal plant to grow in Ecobins.  Just 4 broad bean seeds in each bin produce this vigorous healthy growth and hopefully a substantial harvest of beans.

These 9 root cuttings in the centre of the picture are taken from the edges of my lawn.  The propagator will, hopefully, nurture them so that in a month or two I will be able to randomly plant them out in my nature strip amoungst the wild grasses and flowers growing there at the moment.  It will be interesting to see if they can stand the competition.

August 2016.

This space contained 3 mini cabbages and 2 Romanesco broccoli.  When I harvested them I cut each plant down to the ground, and left the roots to rot so the soil structure remained undisturbed.

Debris and old mulch were removed to expose the soil and a 60mm layer of compost was spread over the bed.  To keep this layer moist and the soil microbes active, I covered the compost with a fresh layer of organic sugar cane mulch (seen here only half complete).  In a couple of weeks time I will be planting more mini cabbages and Red Iceberg lettuce.