New from Old

Have you been saving your laterals from your tomato plants??

This is a very simple way to increase the amount of tomato plants you grow in your garden, with very minimal effort, but the reward is huge.

You may ask if this is the same as taking a cutting from a shrub, the answer is yes, all you need do is to cut the lateral with a knife, lessen the head growth a little, then plant it. I prefer to grow in soil rather than potting mix and usually find somewhere where the sun won't stress it too much. You can use a hormone powder to treat it, but it will work without just as well. A cutting of about 150mm long is ideal, then use a stick or similar to make a hole, then plant and water - then wait.

Sowing Seeds - Flowers would you believe.

Well, I've bitten the bullet this season and completely moved away from propagating cuttings and have now taken up 'trying' to grow flowers from seed instead. It's a bit early to say one way or another, but I do have a few things to show for my time to date. First up I grew Russell Lupins, which are doing really well for me at the moment.

Then came seeds for the likes of the Snapdragons, Petunia's, Alyssum, Carnation, Cosmos, Lavatera, Nasturtium's, Gazania's, Marigolds etc, etc. some bought and some given to me by my sister in law Pam. Then I've ordered three special lots of pelleted forms of Petunia seeds, so I can see another sowing as soon as the parcel arrives from Sydney.

In The Garden After The Rain

We've had 40mm of lovely rain here over the weekend and the garden is looking a treat at the moment, so I thought I'd post a few photo's of what's growing at the moment.

Bounty Peas

Peas in their pods.

Coloured Silverbeet

Miel du Mexique Tomato (Honey of Mexico)

Tomato plants in the garden.

Bathtub Strawberries.

Jostaberry plants in pots.

Parsnip & Carrots

Baby Beetroot.

Black Jack Zucchini.

Jostaberry bush.

Last but not least, here is one for my Canadian and UK friends, Kirsti & Leslie as these are my Burnside's Yellow Romeo
and Japanese Onion Tomato plants.

Bush Beans & Snow Peas

I've finally got something to show from my bush bean seeds that I planted 'ages' ago, but maybe it was too cold for them, or as I've been told 'too deep'. Either way most of the row has germinated and should now grow like they should.

Close by is a row of Snow Peas which are just starting to hold the trellis with their tendrils.

Left Overs

Some left over plants from my stall at the Sunday Market. These are mostly Tomato and Sweet Peppers....

Planting Started

I planted a few tomato plants in the garden yesterday and just to be different I planted two plants per hole on some of the rarer European varieties, like this one from Spain.

Merciano Amarillo

A Single Seed

Amongst the tomato seeds this year, was a single seed for a tomato variety with the name Malakhitovaya Shkatulka which was sent to me from Scotland, which I managed to germinate successfully and actually planted it in the ground today (4/10).

The start of a new growing season

We'll, lots have been happening here in the past few months with me and not the garden, so I have neglected to update the blog, so now for some catch up. July 28 saw the tomato seeds sown, which include plants for my October Sale.

Here's a couple of photos of some that were germinated.

Chillies almost Done

I've almost pricked out and potted up the 300+ Chilli seedlings I'm growing this season. They'll manage another week or so in the hothouse before taking residence in the Cold Frames as the Tomato seedlings are a little over a week away from being pricked out and will take the place of the Chillies.

Countdown

Four (4) days to go before I sow my tomato seeds for the season. I can hardly wait. :-)

Gotcha

I lost several Eggplant seedlings last night and could find no sign of the culprit, so decided to check again tonight and found this snail on the tray next to the Eggplants. A small snail with a big appetite - until tonight.

A Sight for Sore Eyes

The start of another season and it's always nice to see the new seedlings emerge in the seed trays, like those in the photo below. These are mostly sweet Peppers and Capsicums, with a few Long Cayenne Chillies amongst them. This is one of four trays in use this season, the rest are mainly hotter varieties.

Eggplants and Chillies 2010

Well I'm off and running with my Chillies/Capsicum/Eggplants as I've sowed the seed for my Sale stock, with the following varieties done.

Eggplant
Vittoria
Thailand White
Chinese Pickling
Rosita
Striped Toga
Listada de Gandia
Udumulapet

Chillies/Capsicums
Californian Wonder Capsicum
Ariane Hybrid Capsicum
Turkish Cappia Pepper
Long Cayenne Chilli
Corno di Toro
Jimmy Nardello Pepper
Giant Aconcagua
Gogosari Pepper
Red Romanian Chilli
Little Red Devil Chilli
Pepperone Cayenna
Green Ball Chilli
Thai Birdseye Chilli
Aji Amarillo Chilli
Takanotsume Chilli
Gindungo Cahombo

Today, I have my first baby, lets hope the rest aren't far behind..

Seed Saving - Vittoria Eggplant/Aubergine

Well, third time lucky and my 'Vittoria' Eggplants have given me mature seeds. I left the fruit on the plant until the snails decided they were tasty before seed saving.

After posting the above, I happened on an article on how to save seeds from Eggplants/Aubergines, making the task easier, so I went and tried it on another Eggplant. The result is the lot of seeds on the right, using the new method. This method uses a large container of water and after cutting the fruit into chunks, simply sift through the flesh with your fingers and extract the seeds while immersed in the water, so simple I could hardly believe it. Just a matter of getting the seeds from the bottom of the container and onto a filter paper to dry.

At Last - An Un-named Variety Ripens

Here's some Peppers from seven tiny seedlings I had given to me after Xmas last year. They are very mild on the end, but can get hot towards the seed end and come in the oddest array of shapes and sizes. I haven't been able to name them yet.

Edit** - I've been asked to explain the ribbons on some of the above fruit. The ribbon denotes a flower blossom that was bagged for seed saving purposes giving fruit with 'pure' seeds.

What's Growing?

I have over 100 Chilli/Pepper plants in the hothouse which I'm hoping will survive through our Winter and will give me advanced seedlings when Spring arrives and some warmer weather. That's my goal at this stage and the plants are still growing well.

I took a few outside to get a photo, but it didn't work too well, but here is the result. I managed a few of the smaller plants, but too many varieties to get them all. Plants like Joe E Parker, Aji Lima, Beaver Dam are starting to get some size to them and I'll need to rethink how I'll stop them from getting spindly being so cramped. Maybe the smaller plants will need to go into the cold frame now so I can spread things out a bit.

A few more photos, some of these are from my friends in the Northern Hemisphere.

Hot or Not?

These Chillies are available in Supermarkets, this one is just listed as 'Yellow Chilli - Hot', but when Jan taste tested them, she though they were fairly mild (3/10), or maybe got a cool one.

So why are they listed as hot - Do you know them?

Taken on camera in Mobile phone.

Vittoria Eggplant (Aubergine)

I decided to save some seeds today, so I sacrificed a ripe eggplant and set to work.


Then about 30 'slow' minutes later, I ended up with these.

What's In The Hothouse

You wouldn't think we're heading into our Winter here if you saw what I have growing in my hothouse at the present time. There are over 130 Chilli plants, with about 32 varieties, plus 6 Tomato plants and they'll be joined soon by a couple of mature plants that will be potted and will 'over-winter' with the others. Some think I'm mad, but my strategy is simply to come out of Winter with mature plants, some of which will be sold, some given away to friends, some will be kept as stock plants. Well that's the plan anyway.

Here are some of the plants:-

Anaheim Chilli

Beaver Dam Chilli

A Volunteer than came up in a pot in the hothouse.

Siletz

What's about for seed you ask.

Here's a recent purchase, an un-named variety of a long Cayenne type from a Fruit & Veg Shop near where we ate lunch in Black Rock and I'm hoping to recoup my 20 cents with a lot of seeds.

Our friend wants us to rate these chillies, but they aren't going near my mouth. Extracting seeds from these is bad enough as the fumes coming from the seeds when wet make my throat burn.

These are 'Red Romanian'.



I seeded my long Cayenne chilli, so it would seem it was a worthwhile venture for the 20 cents it cost.

These will warm up the cockles of your heart, but don't touch your eyes after washing seed as they burn badly. I got these as 'Thai Silk', but it's a name I cannot find anything on.

On the sweet side - Turkish Cappia Peppers on the left and Corno di Toro on the right.

Ready, Set, Go.

I've decided to start sowing a portion of my Chilli/Pepper seedlings now (late February) instead of June/July when I'd normally start. The reason is that I want to try and get some sizable plants by the time Spring rolls around, giving me a head start with my stock plants that I'll use for seed saving purposes. I think I have about 30+ varieties sown and currently have about half germinated as sowing has been staggered.

Here's something that always amuses people, "Tricots", or seedlings with 3 seed leaves or cotyledons. Of the 7 seedlings in the photo, 3 are tricots.