Sunflowers

We normally plant a few random flowers around the vegie garden. I'm not too big on growing flowers myself, being the son of a florist and having enjoyed the delights of de-thorning roses and lugging around lots of heavy, wet things in my teenage years. But whatever, they look pretty and people passing by really like them.

This year we planted a few sunflowers for the first time and they certainly attracted a lot of attention. A little too much attention from someone (or something) in the case of sunflower #3.

It vanished without a trace one day, apparently ripped off by an admiring member of the public. One gentleman whose English was not the best, was trying to tell me an alternate theory:

"It was the bat! The bat ate it!"
"The bat?"
"Yes, I grow them once, I see bat come down and take them! Eat them!"
"A bat??"
"Yes, the big white one!"

It dawned on me at this point that he meant a bird, a white cockatoo in fact. Quite plausible actually, but since I hadn't seen (or heard) any around for a while, I still suspect it was some form of human.

We'll grow some more next summer.

The Professional

We had some friends around for lunch yesterday, one of whom is a professional gardener. I'd been keen to show him our little garden for some time, but started feeling a bit nervous a few days ago. You see I cast a critical eye over the place and realised it was not looking its best. The fig tree is covered in scale and has some nasty outbreaks of furry caterpillars, the kale has become the cradle of a new aphid civilisation and even my prized tomatoes were looking a bit brown and sad in places. So after talking vegie growing with him whenever we'd met, I was a little uncomfortable at the thought of showing him around a distinctly unimpressive looking garden.

I forgot: he is a professional gardener. He's seen it all before and was quick to dismiss my ego-destroying disasters as being just what happens in a humid summer when you grow temperate-climate vegetables. The weather lately has also been particularly well suited to helping all our pesty little friends with their breeding and eating.

Our conversation served to remind me that growing things is always a bit hit and miss. Farmers with generations of growing experience still experience crop failures so why would it be any different for a home gardener? In my case half of the fun is trying new things, and with failures hopefully comes knowledge gained. And anyway, the kale can still be used (after some scrubbing) and the fig tree still has figs on it, (at least until the bats notice them)... So while it would be grand to have a picture-perfect weedless, pestless, embarrassing-dead-thing-free garden, that's just not going to happen. Our front yard farm is on display to the world (or at least to the street) as an honest example of home vegie growing. And while I do have a few plans to neaten things up a bit, all of our successes, failures and ill-conceived experiments will remain visible for all to see, at least until they harvested... or the bats get them... or the aphids...

Down on the Farm

Just to give you an idea of how not big our garden is, here's a photo.

This is from December 2008 showing what was going on back then. Clockwise from bottom left: random flowers, sweet corn, tomatoes against the house, wire potato silos, dead lychee tree, leeks along the fence, zucchini, dill and parsley (top right), carrots and snapdragons, and dwarf and climbing beans (centre).

We got heaps of beans, tomatoes, parsley and corn. I haven't staked corn in the past, but it can get a bit windy in this garden. I looked out one day and they looked like they were about to be uprooted. So I staked them all with bamboo. It seemed to help.

I planted the potatoes way too late (November) and probably got fewer than I planted.

The carrots were excellent, although we got a few mutant ones. They still tasted nice.

Zucchini numbers were a little disappointing.We needn't have worried though, I'll explain later when I write about zucchinis..

Leeks didn't do that well, probably not enough sun and poor drainage in that bed.

Dill grew quickly giving us more than we knew what to do with, but went to seed soon afterwards.

Finally, the obligatory produce shot:

Tasty.

Tomatoes: how?

It's not hard to grow some tomatoes. It really isn't. But if you want loads of sweet shiny bug-free tomatoes that go on for months then you need to know a few basics about what tomato plants like, and what likes tomato plants. Hopefully by keeping things general here, what worked for me will work for you, but you never know given all the possible combinations of soil, climate and location. My aim here is to get you started, for more info grab some locally written vegie gardening books and talk to some other gardeners in your area.

Soil

Tomatoes, like most vegies, don't like wet feet. They need a well drained soil or they're just not going to grow too well. Tomato plants are nutrient hungry, so FEED THEM. Composted animal manure is ideal, pelletised chicken manure is fine too. They also appreciate the occasional dose of potash (potassium sulfate) and fish emulsion or seaweed extract as a liquid fertiliser to keep things kicking along.

Sun

Generally, unless you live in a very hot, dry location, full sun is the way to go. I've grown them in partial shade (maybe with 7 or 8 hours of direct sun a day) and they did just fine. If you stick them under a big tree they will hate you.

Climate

Tomatoes need a reasonably warm climate to fruit. Frost will make them dead. Most sources say germination and transplanting require a soil temperature of at least 15C. I've tried to get seedlings going at this sort of temperature and it takes a long time. A little greenhouse or heated propagator would no doubt help. I have neither so just wait until it's warm enough. Of course you could just buy the seedlings to get a head start, but that does limit you to the more common varieties. Warmer weather still is needed for fruit production. One trick in cooler areas is to grow them against a wall which faces the sun and retains the heat.

Bugs!

You won't be the only one in your garden who likes tomatoes. I have two main competitors where I am; caterpillars and fruit fly. Caterpillars hatch from eggs laid on the underside of leaves and quickly begin chewing holes in them. It's no problem losing a few leaves but they very quickly tire of foliage and take the express train to fruit city. Diligence is your first defense. Whenever you're in the garden look closely for holes in leaves and caterpillar poo. Check the underside of the leaves nearby and you'll most likely find the culprit there, trying very hard to look all green and tomato planty. The other pest I get is fruit fly, which appears here late in the summer when it's more humid. These are little fly things that inject their eggs into the fruit, where they hatch into yucky maggoty looking things that eat the fruit from the inside. The only evidence of this is tiny black spots on the skin, but when you cut open the fruit you find a whole load of wiggling nastiness. Rather than setting off some kind of toxic bomb I use fabric drawstring bags to prevent the fly getting to the fruit.

A few years ago we made a big batch of these bags, made from pale green organza fabric and they've lasted well with only a few needing repairs. I've also seen them commercially available if you don't have a sewing machine. They allow light and ventilation, but so long as the fabric is not stretched tight against the fruit they are effective in foiling the evil plans of both fruit fly and caterpillars. It's best to bag the fruit as soon as they start to form, or even when they're still flowers. Tomatoes self pollinate so do not need insects to pollinate the flowers.

Good luck and good eating.