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.



More Spuds

When I planted out the bed wth potatoes I put a couple of spare seed potatoes in a 40cm pot. I turned them out on the weekend and ended up with 2.8kgs. So the pot was a lot more productive than the entire bed which yielded 7kgs, mainly due to avoiding the slug attack that stopped the ones in the bed from growing to their potential.



More Paws

Here's another of the Kangaroo Paws that are flowering out the front at the moment. These ones are Yellow Gem and have multiple red stems to nearly two meters.