Netting The Strawberry Patch

 

Today's job was to secure the bird netting over the Strawberry patch to keep the birds out. We made hoops out of poly pipe and secured it each side with saddles, then it was time to do the important part. Along each side of the bed, I screwed in plastic covered upside down cup hooks so the bird net had something to hold it, taking out the slack in the net.

 

Now it's just a matter of unclipping the net, pick the strawberries and then re-clip the net. This works well on the garden bed as it's made of sleepers.

 

Mulching The Zucchini's

 Another important job in the garden got done today, that being mulching the Zucchini garden bed with Sugarcane Mulch. The plants have a square pot with the bottom cut off, surrounding them to act as wind breaks, but after the mulch went on, the pots were put back on in the upside down position as the plants are almost too big for the pot the correct way up.

These Zucchini are a cross done here in 2019 between Gold Rush Zucchini and one called Jade Numbat and these are now growing from F3 seeds.

Yellowing of Leaves - Trait of Parent

What you see here is a trait of the parent plant coming out in this plants leaf. There are 6x of our own Zucchini cross in the garden and only one so far that is showing the yellowing of the leaves. The main parent in the cross was Gold Rush which is where this comes from. This plant is one of 3x of this seed, but the others are not changing.

 

Our New Murnong Is Flowering

 New flowers forming on my young Murnong (Microseris walteri). I won't harvest these for another year, but will get lots of seeds from these plants.

Italian Tomato Seed

I did a swap with my nephew, some tomato plants for some tomato seeds.  His in laws have Italian heritage and they love growing tomatoes, so yesterday I delivered the tomato plants and was rewarded with three types of tomato seeds. One is a Roma, one is a heart tomato and the last is a big flat tomato.

Our Three Tomatoes

Here's a photo of three tomato plants that you can't buy in the shops. In this photo are UK2000, Village Red & Macalister all tomatoes I've had a hand in.

 

UK2000 originated in a garden on a dairy farm I was working on at the time. The farmer said to me he had these self sown tomatoes come up in his garden, would I like some. That was nearly 30 years ago and these were the only tomatoes we grew for over 20 years. If they were hybrids, we have stabilised them in that time.

 

Village Red is a tomato that originated in plant pots that I had grown some Yellow tomatoes for a grower from Canada, so is a sport of this variety, but red in colour and a nice beefsteak. It has thrown both regular leaves and potato leaves in that time, but I have now settled on the regular leaf form and it is now stable. The very first fruit off this variety was cut in half and it looked like velvet inside, so I originally named it Red Velvet, but was told by a well know tomato person in the USA that the name was taken, so I just named it Village Red, after where we lived and the fruit colour.

 

Lastly, back in 2019 I grew an orange fruited tomato, but found it too sweet for me, so I took the pollen from it and crossed the plant with Nicoleta, a red Romanian tomato I had growing in the garden at the same time. The following season, the resulting fruit was a yellow globe tomato, with fantastic flavour, which we loved here. I named this variety Macalister, after our river here in Maffra and last season when I grew seedlings for this variety, I got a plant that threw pink coloured fruit which was also tasty like the yellow. So this year I am purposely growing both the yellow and the pink forms of this tomato.

 

When I grow tomatoes here, I always try and pick tasty varieties, whether the ones I grow for myself or ones to sell. Sorry, but only UK2000 has been given out, the other two are just grown here, because we love them.

 

 

Digging The Garden

 A recent photo of the big garden bed getting turned over again, prior to planting tomatoes.

Strawberry Plants Loving The Weather

With a change noticeable in seasons and Spring is definitely here, there is a noticeable change in the habits of the Strawberry plants.

This year we are just growing Torrey variety and have removed all the Red Gauntlet.

Looking good after a dose of fertiliser.

Fertilising Your Seedlings

I'm not sure who fertilises their seedlings prior to planting, but they'll thank you for it. The two I'm using to start my season off with are - Charlie Carp and Dynamic Lifter Liquid Fertiliser.

 

Don't over do the ratios and kill your seedlings before you start, but 50ml of Charlie Carp or two capfuls of Dynamic Lifter in a 9lt watering can is sufficient in the early stages. (Not for tiny seedlings)

Both of these are Organically Based.

 

Potted Up Tomato Plants

Today, I potted up my own tomato seedlings into bigger 140mm pots, as the small cups I've been using, don't hold enough water in them before drying out. Now that the pots are done, I'll soon do a drench for Fungus Gnats, which seem to have moved in, so out with the Hydrogen Peroxide.

I grew plant varieties for myself, some that except for a couple of varieties, no one else will get to grow, here's what made the grade this year.

• Longhorn (2)
  
• Uptown Funk (2)
  
• Karkiano (2)
  
• Liz Birt (2)
  
• UK2000 (3)
  
• Macalister - Yellow (3)
  
• Macalister - Pink (3)
  
• David's Ivory Pineapple (2)
  
• Village Red (3)
  
• Red Rose (1)
  
• Rosedale (1)
  

Plus we'll be growing a couple of Totem and Kotlas for seed.

We Still Have Seedlings

There are still Tomatoes, Mixed Peppers, Candy Cane Capsicums, Zucchini's both yellow and green. plus odds and ends.

Hopefully by the start of next week, the bigger tomatoes will be gone.

First Plants Doing Well

Our Zucchini's and Candy Cane Capsicum plants have been in the ground for about 3 weeks and doing well. In the last photo is the first flower on Candy Cane.

 I still have seedlings for sale if you want to come to Maffra.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Corn is Germinating

 Our Sweet Corn (Snogold Bicolour) is starting to germinate after two and a half weeks. This crop was planted deeper this time to help with stability in the wind here, hence the longer germination time. We had a frost this morning, so good timing on a great sunny day.

Murnong - Yam Daisies

Today is when I planted our Murnong (Microseris walteri) which we purchased last week and I must say the garden bed looks good with the plants in the ground. In the photo, the timber frame is to attach bird protection and is just sitting on the ground below.

These plants have tiny flower buds on them, so hopefully we'll be able to harvest some seeds this Summer. Also included with the 20 plants we purchased, are 4  plants I grew from purchased seeds.

What do you think?

Frost & Sun Covers

We have our Passionfruit trellis set up with its own Shadecloth cover attached on the trellis frame, and a simple way to just pull it up and drop it in front of the vine. There is a wire which protrudes about 20cm so the shadecloth doesn't touch the vine, then a couple of octopus straps to hold it down in a wind.

This is also designed to drop down in Winter when frosts are forecast, so its dual purpose all year. Tonight with the temperature dropping to 1C, the covers are on, including Capsicums, Zucchini & Capsicums.

Some Of Mine

 Here's are a look at some nice tasting tomatoes, well plants actually. The middle plant is Village Red, while left and right are Macalister, this year I get to grow a pink fruit and a yellow fruit plants. The Village Red is a sport of Casey's Pure Yellow I had come up in a tub after growing the yellow. The Macalister is a variety I crossed in 2019 from a red, using pollen from an orange tomato.

After The Seedling Sale.

I'm sorry I didn't take a before the sale photo, but here's what it looks like inside the hothouse after all the plants from the sale went back in.

I did sell some, but it's the chance you take when growing seedlings.

Hydrogen Peroxide Uses

Winter is when Fungus Gnats are active and are attracted to wet potting mix in plants, indoors or outdoors. For the last week I've have my seedlings out in our alfresco area to harden off before the seedling sale, but did notice there are a few Gnats in the garage after I packed up today.  

There is a simple control to eradicate then from your pots and that is to make a drench to kill the larvae that maybe in the potting mix. This is an old nursery trick which is safe for your plants while killing the larvae and hopefully any gnats resting on the surface.

What you need is a 200ml bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide from the Chemist and a container containing 800ml of cold water, mix and then apply so as to wet the potting mix. Easy or what.

Other uses for Hydrogen Peroxide :-

(1) Use it to kill Aphids on your plants*. 

(2) Use it as a Fungicide*.

(3) Soil Aerator. 

(4) Disinfects Garden Tools.

(5) Sanitise your seeds.

(6) Kills Weeds.

*Refer to Google to get the strength you require for your usage.

Buy your Hydrogen Peroxide 3% at Woolworths, Chemists etc.

So You Bought A Tomato Plant

 So you have bought yourself a tomato plant and now you need to know what to do with it to get it ready to plant in the garden, but what do you do to it, you may ask.

First thing is to look closely at your plant and see if there are any flowers visible, as this will determine your next step prior to planting. In the first photo you can see that there is a lot of lower growth, which you'll need to get up close and personal with. The lower foliage needs to be removed up the plant at least the depth of the pot it's in, I'll explain more in a minute.

Notice the leaves on the bottom of the stem, well these need to be cut off and the cotyledons and small leaves too.

With the lower leaves removed, a tall plant like this can be planted deeper in the soil than usual (at least the depth of the pot extra) as what will then happen, is the bare stem will actually form roots once planted and this will make you plant stronger as it grows. Once this is done, look for a forming flower truss and then you can side shoot the plant up to the flower truss but don't go above it. You will see these sideshoots growing in the leaf axis of the plant as these are what will form new leaders on your plant, but you don't want them forming below a flower truss. These next two photos will show you what the side shoots look like, so you can just nip out with your fingers. Note too the flower truss in this next photo.

So, this simple task will help when you're ready to plant. Happy gardening.

The Seedling Sale - Any Good?

Well, the morning of the Seedling Sale arrived with some fair weather considering what's on the radar, I started setting up about 6.45 a.m. then sat and waited for the rush. Over the next four hours we probably had about a dozen actual buyers, plus a few lookers.

I've done these sorts of sales in the past and the results have always been good, so I'll put today down to experience and tell myself not to do it again. Anyway, the end result is that I have still got plants left and will try and offload them to the Op Shops if I can't find a sale for them. The Op Shops like getting them, as I've done it a few times before, without a sale.

I've culled a few plants as I was packing up, so I didn't really empty the hothouse for very long. I can see a boot load going to the relatives after I get the next week over and done with.

 

 

Saving Seedlings From Damping Off

For new gardeners and old, keep an eye on your seedlings for damping off, a mildew problem associated with damp soil at the base of seedlings and below the soil level.

 

This year I was given a quantity of small square pots that fit in a 10 cell tray, but little did I know these would be a curse for me, losing almost everything grown in them as they don't drain well enough for seedlings.

 

I've dusted some remaining seedlings with Cinnamon to try and save a few.

 

 

 

Seedling Sale

I think I jumped when I should have stepped with a seedling sale that hasn't been good to me, as I have lost so many seedlings due to the cold nights and wrong selection.

Anyway, I have a seedling sale planned and advertised as I just hope it goes well enough to try and break even and be able to clear my stock. Time will tell,  The sale will consist of Tomatoes, Chillies, Capsicums, Eggplants, Rhubarb, Peppers, Pumpkin & Cucumbers.

I'll check in after Saturday and post a reply as to how things went, but on here and not Facebook. So much to do, so little time, plus trying to organise a couple of days away to see my sister who isn't well and with a six hour drive each way, it means we have to stay overnight, but then I have a couple of medical appointments I have to work around.

Anyway, the sale is all systems go for Saturday, so fingers crossed.

Murnong Misstep - Microseris walteri

I saw a post about Murnong (Microseris walteri) and thought I'd like to try and grow some, so I ordered some and got off on the wrong foot immediately. When the seed arrived it was labeled from the distributer as Microseris lanceolata a different species to what I'd ordered. I tried to inform the seller that I'd received the wrong seed, then eventually I was told I had the right seed in the wrong labeled packet.(Can you believe it)

I ended up planting a lot but not all of the seed, but keeping it damp enough on the heat mat was hard so I planted some in native tubes. Not expecting anything to grow, I eventually got some to germinate.

I had intended to buy more seeds but plants will give me a crop of plants now, rather than later, so I bought 20 tubes of young seedlings, some with flower buds. (last photo)