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What Are You Growing? 2021


ben 10

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Summer season of 2020 / 2021 my garden has been given a good work out in recent months due to lock down and all.  Always have had a big veggie patch as I find it very satisfying to harvest up what you grow and plan meals around whats in season.  I am the gardener and the cook in my household as my wife is only interested in the TV these days.🤫

Here is what's in my garden ATM.

VEGIES:

Asparagus, Beans – butter, Beetroot, Capsicum, Carrot – top weight, Carrot – baby, Cucumber – Lebanese, Lettuce – baby cos, Lettuce - cos, Lettuce – freckles bunte,

Lettuce – red iceberg, Lettuce - rocket, Lettuce – rouge D’hiver, Onion – French shallot – pink, Pak Choi, Pea – Melbourne market, Pea – snow, Pea – sugar snap, Silver beet

Spring onion – red, Spring onion – white, Tomato – baby girl, Tomato – cherry, Tomato – costoluto genovesi, Tomato – mortgage lifter, Tomato – performe abruzzese

Tomato – sweet bite, Zucchini

HERBS:

Banana, Basil, Chives – Garlic, Coriander, Garlic – red/pink, Garlic – white, Lemon thyme, Mint, Rosemary, Parsley – curled, Parsley – flat leaf

FRUIT:

Blueberry’s, Feijoa, Grape – sultana, Japanese blood plums, Kiwi fruit, Lemon, Passion-fruit – black, Passion-fruit – banana, Pineapple, Strawberry’s

 

I hope I don't make Thirsty Jim jealous.

Cheers - AL

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The moist weather has helped my Zuchinis onwards...  it hasn't helped with the terrible rabbit population though!

A mate recently convinced me I should harvest and eat my zukes smaller...  I would usually go for around 6-8 inch - am eating some smaller and they are nice... but will grow some slightly large too...  below some slightly bigger left and some smaller OTR : )  Am thinking I might try pickling some of the smaller ones too.... any advice?

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Edited by Graubart
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Went with a Zuke sweet sour pickle to start with - here smaller ones pickled  with Onion - Black Pepper - fresh Thyme...

and some Lavender Flowers for something slightly different : )

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I think I should try that @Green Blob zuke kraut suggestion at some stage tho - sounds like a great way to use zukers... especially if a few 'get away' on me...  😛

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Got the boxes in, stone/topping down, fire pit in place...just need to fill with soil.

The boxes aren't perfect, the edges are a bit squiffy, but I did it all! Pretty happy to say the least!

A mate is a wholesale flower grower and they use peat to grow their flowers in. He's getting me leftovers to partial fill the boxes, then will get some decent soil!

Had my school mates over the christen the firepit and a few beers! Was awesome!

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26 minutes ago, RepSpec said:

Had my school mates over the christen the firepit and a few beers! Was awesome!

I cannot tell exactly what type it is; lemon or lime.  But I bet it took a pounding that night.  Nowhere else to go unless you count the hills hoist.

Also not sure that the plastic tub lining in the firepit will last long.

You know I'm just kidding.  Backyard set up looks great, mate.

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Hahahaha @RepSpec. Yeah, your edges are real dodgy. 😂 Here's my vegie patch made from an old pallet. Now that's what you call "squiffy".
Capsicum plant on the left is finally growing now the cos lettuce have gone that were previously blocking it's sun. I cut back by half the underperforming cherry tomato plant on the right to make some room for some leeks at the front and wouldn't you know it, it's now sprouting some tomatoes.

The Valencia orange "Troy tree" is a very slow grower but it's still kicking and showing new growth. Troy is my late cousin who died last year. The tree is my memorial to him.

IMG20210110081808.jpg

Edited by MUZZY
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14 hours ago, RepSpec said:

A mate is a wholesale flower grower and they use peat to grow their flowers in. He's getting me leftovers to partial fill the boxes, then will get some decent soil!

Great job there RepSpec, ya wanna come over and landscape my backyard? 😄  Beers are free here.

When you get soil get good stuff.  A lot of garden suppliers have what they so call a veggie mix and the last couple of times I got some delivered it was crap.  Full of residual herbicide so your plants will all grow dodgy.  Ever seen tomato plants with club feet / leaves and no fruit.  It probably comes from the garden suppliers buying in recycled mulch from local councils (who get shit from everywhere with whatever in it or on it) to mix with their soils and hence the problem.  A so called solution by dilution effect (they think).  Someone else's residual herbicide spraying habits end up in your veggie patch.

Now days I buy in just sandy loam and mushy compost.  Luckily I have a cement mixer and blend up my own veggie mix, yes works up a thirst. 😛 Mushy compost is very alkaline so you have to mix in some acid in the from of sulfur powder / liquid or the like to get the PH perfect but doing it this way is far better than loosing a couple of seasons of veggies while you wait for the crap to leach out and disappear.  You can set the PH to whatever types of veggies you want to grow.  As you have separate garden beds you can have them at a different PH to suit.

Talk to your mate re this and he will steer you on the right track for sure.  Cannot wait to see pics of these chocka's with goodies.

Cheers - AL

Edited by iBooz2
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On 1/2/2021 at 12:51 PM, Graubart said:

The moist weather has helped my Zuchinis onwards...  it hasn't helped with the terrible rabbit population though!

Hmmm, I am thinking some tasty rabbit and zucchini rissoles.  Well there is garlic, spring onion, carrot, and some spices in them too, my mum taught me to make these way back.

Let me know if you can ping a couple of rabbits and I will post the recipe.  Don't aim for old bucks or milky does.  3/4 grown and though the eye is best.

Cheers - AL

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There's a house near mine that sells garlic. I'm assuming it's an Italian family based on where I live in Adelaide and the style of house. I've been waiting for them to put their hand painted "Garlic for sale" sign out for ages. My plan is to buy some of their hopefully organic garlic and build another one of Muzzy's premium quality, old pallet wood, garden beds (like the one pictured) and have my own little garlic farm going. 

IMG_20210113_183105.jpg

By the way, my cherry tomato plant on the right is only producing chickpea size tomatoes. 😒

Edited by MUZZY
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1 hour ago, MUZZY said:

my own little garlic farm going. 

That is the biz Muzzy!  Looking forward to seeing the Garlic Farm!

As for the Cherry Tommy... ah dear there are so many possible causes... suspect if you had pruned the sucker a bit and had less branch growth maybe that would help... otherwise... nutrition maybe?  i.e. lack thereof

Or maybe with cooler weather they are still small and on their way to being larger?   

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16 hours ago, MUZZY said:

@Graubart I think the branch growth might be the problem. It's in pretty rich soil and I've been fertilising it.

Yeah plant production is all about genetics and conditions... so it might be crappy genetics too...

But with tommies there is this thing about trimming out the 'Laterals'.

Now I don't think that Cherry Tommies are quite the same as the standard tall fellas... but there will be some happy medium there... cos the plant might be putting all your care and water and nutrients into vegetation and not fruit... the below might be worth a brief look... for next time.

Am also wondering whether the tiny fruit are still in development and might get a bit bigger still - we can hope that is the case?

https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/pruning-tomato-plants/11892614

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Thanks @Graubart. I should read up a more before planting things. I tend to get a bit impatient. I look up what things will grow at that time of year and just stick them in the ground. Usually I'll try and use the correct fertilisers but if I don't have them I tend to improvise with substitutes. I guess if I continue to get poor yields it will smarten up my thinking a bit.

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Yeah and @MUZZY Muzzler mate there is a bit of suck-it-n-see trying things out yer know...  sometimes it takes a few goes.  Sometimes the weather is against us with super hot dry and then wet wet wet.  Do you eat zucchinis?  Might be getting kinda late... (don't like frost at all) but growing those suckers if yer got ok soil and water... seem to go ok... can be hammered at very early stage by snails... powdery mildew with extended wet weather...  blossom end rot w Calcium deficiency or up-n-down water regime but usually once plant gets going less so...  If you get them in still in Jan --> maybe seedlings... and get some non-toxic iron chelate snail and slug pellets... Bunno has it.... and attched link to the SA friendly guide below... haha and of course they say plant as seed - but think we have run out of time.. then again our winters seem to be coming on later these days and have been less severe these last few years (whether you believe in Global Warming or not). 

Mmm and the plants can get big - like two might take up your whole veggie patch... plant them closer to the corners maybe? ; )

https://www.localflourish.com/growing_guides/110-growing-zucchini-in-south-australia#:~:text=Sow zucchinis into the garden,are best planted from seed.

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Edited by Graubart
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19 hours ago, MUZZY said:

@Graubart I think the branch growth might be the problem. It's in pretty rich soil and I've been fertilising it.

Could be residual herbicide in your soil Muzz,  cannot quite see from your pic but some of those new leaf branches look a bit club footed, what I call it anyway.

My wife bought two cherry tomato plants from our local green grocer as they were in quite big pots she though they were bargain.  Anyway with my nurturing and care they produced bugger all fruit and I first though they had a disease as they looked weird and the fruit trusses were all mutated and crazy, so were the leaves.  Looked it up and sure enough the same images show what happens to the plants when there is residual herbicide still in the soil.  See above conversation with RepSpec.

Check out these pics of the two plants my wife bought and compare closely with yours to see if anything like it. 

Photo 1 shows a leaf which is not a normal cherry tomato leaf, looks more like a fat caterpillar.  Photo 2 shows the mutation that's gone on with the fruit truss, its grown much flatter, wider and looks weird.  Stems coming out were they should not be and looks more like an praying mantice or a flat bit of sea coral.  We are reluctant to eat what little fruit these plants are producing as down the bottom of the plant they look normal but as you go up the plant to the top and new fruit they look like small birds eye chilies.

I've included a photo of one of my own cherry tomato plants which I grew from my stock of seeds (harvested from prior years) and its been grown in my mix of soil, just to show the difference in the leaves and plant health.  The plant immediately behind it is one of the suspect ones so you can compare the leaves in right of pic.

Cheers - AL

Cherry Tomato from my seed stock resized.jpg

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Edited by iBooz2
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On 1/13/2021 at 6:36 PM, MUZZY said:

There's a house near mine that sells garlic. I'm assuming it's an Italian family based on where I live in Adelaide and the style of house. I've been waiting for them to put their hand painted "Garlic for sale" sign out for ages. My plan is to buy some of their hopefully organic garlic and build another one of Muzzy's premium quality, old pallet wood, garden beds (like the one pictured) and have my own little garlic farm going. 

I went to the house of garlic today and it appears I got lucky. A lovely, little nonna was there and she told me, "I sella da garlic for mya sun. He hazza da farm in de hills but heeya sella da farm. Dissa da last year to sella de garlic."
She had one Tip Top bread tray of garlic left to sell. She said yesterday she sold 10 of them. I bought a 500g bag for $15. It's not real cheap in the scheme of things but at least I know it's locally grown and should be good to start my own crop with, as well to use in cooking. 🙂 

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27 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

I bought a 500g bag for $15. It's not real cheap in the scheme of things but at least I know it's locally grown and should be good to start my own crop with, as well to use in cooking.

It is pure Gold Muzzy and worth every cent I reckon!  Good job.  👍👍👍

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11 minutes ago, Graubart said:

It is pure Gold Muzzy and worth every cent I reckon!  Good job.  👍👍👍

I agree, the artist formerly known as Bearded Burbler. Nonna cut a clove in half for me. The aroma was sensational.
She also told me to plant in April. which was really good to know because she'd know the local conditions.

Edited by MUZZY
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