Leeks

Hi! It's been a couple months since my last post, I seem to be getting slacker and slacker with this thing.

I've been picking leeks for ages now and they're nearly all gone. They have been an excellent crop. I'm always banging on about the best crops are the ones you can harvest over a long period and leeks are one of these. I started picking when they are young and sweet, between finger to thumb thickness, (I think this is when they're at their best and cooked whole), and continued until they were nice and fat. Here are some young ones just picked and then trimmed ready for cooking.



Remember the white tubes I used to blanch the stems. It worked! The one on the left of the board didn't have a tube and here's another comparsion below. Also below is one of the later picked fat ones.



Chillie Winter

Amazingly, given the cold winter in Perth and general logic, I still have a producing Jalapeno plant in the garden. This was a volunteer last summer from the summer before, so it's a real survivor. I think I'll keep this one going this season, it only seems right.

Spuds and Radishes

Just a quick pic of the radishes I pulled this morning. These ones are the aptly named Scarlet Globe. Everyone should grow radishes, they are really simple and quick. I usually put mine in any spare pot I have. Don't bother with seedlings just get a pack of seeds and sow direct. Over sow the area slightly then thin once they're up and growing. H from The Colour H liked them too.

Meanwhile the spuds have gone from being in trenches to mounded up with soil, straw, compost and manure. Now the straw's down I'll need to keep an eye out for slugs that love to live in it's rotting depths.

Tip Shop Greenhouse

I needed a greenhouse to get my tomato seeds in early but all the ones in shops are either too expensive or look they'll fall apart in a light breeze. A visit to the Balcatta Recycle Centre, better known as the Tip Shop, produced this old bread bin for $10. I think it's going to work out well and it will hold about thirty 100mm pots.
 This summer I'll be trying heirloom varieties Tommy Toe, Jaune Flamme, Costoluto Genovese and Wapsipinicon Peach. I grew Costoluto Genovese last year and they didn't work out but I have some plans to correct that this year. If last year was anything to go by Jaune Flamme will always have a place in my garden. Wapsipinicon Peach is from Iowa with tiny hairs on it's skin like a peach. It's reputed to have a better taste than Tommy Toe which is one of thhe best tomatoes I've tasted. I've also put in some capsicum seeds from a pack of Mixed Italian Fryers that include Jimmy Nardello, Cubanelle, Golden Marconi and Bulls Horn. I have no idea which ones are which in this packet or what any of these look like. A bit of research is in order. All of the above were bought through Diggers.



Winter Veg

I've been slack again with my posting so here is a quick run down on what's going on in the veggie garden. To date I have in some Broccolini, Brussel Sprouts and Cavelo Nero. I've been eating the Broccolini for a week or so now so all the little main heads have been eaten so I'm now looking at all the little side shoots. I've also been eating the Cavelo Nero which for me is maybe the best winter veg you can grow.

There's also some Radicchio, which I've never grown before, that is just starting to form hearts. My garlic went in a while ago and is going well along with some leeks and red onions. The white tubes are an effort to
blanch the stems of the leeks. I'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I've got some more leeks in a pot without tubes so I'll be able to compare the results.

Last weekend I put in my potatoes in two trenches. These will be filled up as the potatoes grow and will end up being mounds. After a futile search for some Royal Blues I ended up finding some King Edwards at Zanthorrea Nursery that I'm happy with. They are a floury potato so great for roasting and mashing which is all I really use potatoes for. It's really hard to find interesting seed potatoes in Perth and the guys at Marmalade Cottage just use interesting varieties that they find at markets. Everything you read tells you not to do this due to the risk of bringing in disease but they've never had any problems.

Slaters

Here's a pic of the first pumpkin to dry off. As you can see it's been lying on the ground rather than on the trellis and the damage you can see is down to slaters. A lot of stuff you read will tell you they're harmless and they only eat decaying vegetable matter. This just isn't true once the population gets out of control. And if you're an organic gardener who uses plenty of mulch it doesn't take long for this to happen. I haven't found an organic way to keep their numbers down but when I do I'll let you know. Any advice out there would be appreciated too. I've tried using orange halves as traps but all these seemed to do was attract ants. Those blue snail pellets work but I don't really like using them.

As this is the first pumpkin to be picked and I'm not going to store it it's no big deal. Roast pumpkin for dinner tomorrow!

As you can see they have also chewed the stems of my zucchini. The zucchinis are still going but their growth isn't what it should be.

Golden Lyre

Not a lot happening in the veggie garden at the moment so I thought I'd show some pics from out the front including the Golden Lyre in flower. With only a couple of waters all summer everything is going well. I only wish I had room to plant more.







Waltham Butternut

A new header and a new pumpkin post courtesy of H from The Colour H. Check out her stuff at the link  to the right under Good Stuff. Good stuff it is too. Thanks H.

These are Waltham Butternut developed in Waltham Massachusetts. I bought the seeds through Diggers. All's well so far but with a scorcher of a week coming up I'm afraid they might split like last year. I've put up some shade and I'm concentrating on even watering so hopefully they'll stay intact this year.

Put up a strong trellis and grow some next year. I concreted in 75mm x 50mm steel posts and strung them with steel wire around 2.5mm in diameter. They would work well strung between patio posts provided your patio faces north or east.



Costoluto Genovese

Here's one of the few Costoluto Genovese that made it through the blossom end rot that wrecked most of it's cousins. There's no denying it's a good looking beast. And it has flavour to match. Despite it's general failure this year I might give it another shot and hopefully, with a bit more care on my part, it will work out a bit better.





Jaune Flamme

  Have I mentioned I really like this tomato? I think I have. It really is perfect, a good combination of sweet and tart, really meaty and perfectly formed. It's a French heirloom that seems to be completely free of the problems that are being experienced by the rest of my crop, particularly blossom end rot but also no bugs! I only found one plant up at Zanthorrea Nursery when I was looking for something else. I found it after I had planted out the bed for this year's tomatoes so it ended up in a pot. Pots can be a bad deal for tomatoes in our environment, they dry out easily and the roots get hot. You need to have a spot where they get full shade in the afternoon. This one does get shade in the afternoon but so does the Amish Paste that's sitting right next to it and that one's as good as dead.

Jaune Flamme will feature highly in my garden in summers to come.



Tomatoes in the heat

Summer hit yesterday and today with 39 degree days. To prevent sun scorch and and general ruin I've put up some shade cloth to help them cope.

All my varieties are performing differently. The Costoluto Genovese are fruiting well, after that initial mutant flower, but none are ripe to date. There's a bit of blossom end rot on these especially the one in the pot.

The Mortgage Lifters are about the same but with fewer fruit. I'm unsure as to why the blossom end rot is happening, I feel like i'm doing everything right with regards to watering and the ph is right. The Amish Paste are the worst affected, particularly the one in the pot, so much so I may as well pull them out.



Mortgage Lifter



Poor Amish Paste

Meanwhile the beautiful Jaune Flamme, which is in a pot, continues without problem. As do the indesctructable cherrys and romas. All of which add up to a nice breakfast.

Bean Screen

I planted beans around two of my beds to shelter them from the hot afternoon sun. It's working well and giving me plenty of beans. Here's few I picked tonight to go with those tomatoes for dinner. There's a mix of Blue Lake and Purple King.



First Pickings

The tomatoes are starting to come on line and here's some picked tonight. Hopefully a start to a good season. There's some Tigrellas, Cherrys and a couple of Jaune Flamme. I'm pretty happy with the latter, a really beautiful tomato.



Predator

I've noticed a few of praying mantis in the garden lately. Always good to see some predators instead of the usual hoards of destructive insects. A good reason, if another one is needed, to lay off the spraying.



Tomato update

I've had a problem with the first Amish Paste fruit set with what looks like blossom end rot. This usually appears as the fruit matures as a result of uneven watering making it hard for the plants to take up calcium. This plant is in a pot but I was very careful with the watering and as you can see the Jaune Flamme growing in another pot right next to the Amish Paste is unaffected.

 I noticed the problem right after a hot day of about 36 deg C, which sprung up in the middle of some mild weather. Maybe it was just the sudden temperature fluctuation that caused this and Amish Paste are more susceptible, some varieties are. I checked the ph and it was just below 7.0 so all should be well. I've moved the pot so it gets slightly less of the hot afternoon sun and given it a sprinkle of dolomite lime as a precaution.

Amish Paste



Jaunne Flamme

Onions

I've never grown onions before and while I'm happy to have a crop I'm not sure I'll bother again. They take up bed space for such a long time so eat deep into spring planting time. I planted out two varieties from seed what seems like an eternity ago back at the beginning of April and pulled the majority of the crop today. I chose the two varieties at random, Hunter Valley Brown and Early California Red. Most of the brown ones, which were the majority of the crop, bolted to seed but despite Peter Cundall’s advice I kept them anyway. This is supposed to affect the keeping qualities. The reds seemed less inclined to bolt and, because of this, and they're a bit more versatile, they may get another run
Like garlic you're supposed to wait until the tops die off completely to improve the keeping qualities and the red ones clearly haven't. I just had to get them out of the ground though.
Now what to do with all these onions that may not keep so well? I suppose I could make a big batch of onion soup and freeze it. Then I could..um..eat a lot of onions I guess. I've already given half a dozen away and there's another half a dozen growing in an old styrofoam box.
They're pretty variable in size, between tennis ball and softball.



Broad Beans Finished

The broad beans got hacked down and dug in last weekend after yeilding just over 8kg of pods. This was from a plot around 1.5m x 1.8 m plus another row around 2m long. I don't know if this is a good yield or not but I do know I've eaten an awful lot of broad beans over the last month plus given plenty away. Broad beans must be one of the best crops to grow. Apart from supplying plenty of beans they are great nitrogen fixers and supply loads of material for the compost heap or to simply dig straight into the soil like I do. Possibly the perfect crop.



Corn and Beans

The corn is coming along and the beans are starting to curl their way around the stalks. Last year I planted the beans a bit too late and they got shaded out. This year I planted at the same time as the corn. I'm a bit concerned that the beans may choke the corn, but with my trusty secateurs I'll be able to control things. You can see the third sister, the pumpkins, up in the top right hand corner of the photo. These are just about ready to start their rise to perpendicularity.



Mutant Tomato

My Costoluto Genovese tomato has a large mutant flower cluster where the growing tip of the main stem shoud be. I think this is called fasciation. There are conflicting views on what causes this, genetic mutation or a virus. Most views lean towards a mutation. I'm going to take a risk that it is a mutation, leave the plants in place and simply chop of the mutant, and hence to top of the main stem, to encourage the side shoots. Hopefully all will be well.