Apologies to anyone who has tried to email me recently – there have been issues with my email account. Liz@suburbantomato.com has now been fixed and is working normally.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend and come back tomorrow for a Monday Harvest post.
Last winter after the chooks attacked the garden for the umpteenth time I made a decision to segment the garden in two – the chooks would be allowed the free range in one section while I would grow most of my veg in the other.
This has worked reasonably well in the main, the chooks occasionally escape but mostly keep to their side. The downside though is because they now have a smaller area they have done a lot more damage to it – as you can see there is very little grass left:
The solution I decided was fruit trees – hopefully the chooks would fertilise them but most of their foliage would be too high up to be eaten. I was going to buy trees plural but they are really quite expensive so I bought tree singular.
And I didn’t even get to choose it – that pleasure belonged to by my eight year old daughter who was so excited by the idea of a nectarine plum cross that I couldn’t bear to disappoint her and buy an apple instead.
So this is a ‘Spicezee’ – awful name isn’t it?
But a beautiful plant. I love the purply red colour of the young leaves. They turn greener as they age but they are still beautiful.
I also love that the chooks haven’t destroyed it. It doesn’t seem to mind them scratching around beneath it and I’m sure their poo is doing it good.
But best of all are the beautiful fruit.
We got about 10 this year which I know isn’t many but its young and hopefully has years of abundance to come.
I’m not sure where exactly the plum comes in because the fruit are pretty nectarine like, from the colour, to the shape, flavour and stone.
The fruit also grow close to the branch like nectarines. It doesn’t matter though because I love nectarines and these taste particularly good. Especially straight from the tree…
I have an ongoing problem with black aphids in my garden. They lay waste to my spring onions, garlic chives, normal chives, garlic (when I grow it) and pretty much anything else I plant in the allium family.
Black aphids thrive in moist conditions and particularly enjoy weaker plants. Because my garden gets less than full sun I think my plants are particular susceptible.
Here are some attacking a baby garlic chive plant:
I have tried squishing them. I have tried spraying them off with the hose (a technique I find effective with normal aphids). I have tried chilli and garlic sprays. No success. The only thing I can find that gets rid of them is pyrethrum.
Hence the question – should I use it? I know it’s generally considered a ‘safe’ pesticide, but not necessarily by everyone. I also know it can kill beneficial insects if they come into contact with it.
So should I use it? Do you use an insecticide? Or another method for containing the bugs?
It feels like we are having a pretty mild summer this year, according to The Age newspaper the second coolest in the past decade, although still above the long term average. What we have definitely been spared so far this year are the extended really hot periods. Last year we had spells when the temperature was over 40 for 4 days running whereas this year I can only remember a solitary day when the temperature hit 40.
Of course a hot February may change all this but so far its all been very civilised and it isn’t just the residents who are happy – the tomato plants also seem very grateful for it. They seem healthier than in previous years and they have set a good amount of fruit.
This is a Black Cherry, the most vigorous of the varieties I am growing this year.
Other than Black Cherry I am also intentionally growing Tigerella and Grosse Lisse. I wanted to limit my tomato plants this year because I haven’t had huge amounts of success with them in the past few years.
But this year is different (maybe because of the weather) so I am glad that as well as the intentional plantings I have a few volunteers around the garden.
Of the volunteer plants I think I’ve identified two as Broad Ripple Currant and Principe Borghese but the other’s are unfamiliar so far.
Fruit has yet to ripen on a couple of the volunteer plants so may things may be clearer when it does. Which leaves one with ripe fruit remaining unknown. It appeared in the chook area and is bearing slightly stunted (but then I haven’t fertilised it or anything) orange coloured fruit. There are 3 in the basket below, the small orange ones that aren’t the larger Tigerella or the smaller yellow Broad Ripple Currant (or the clearly purple Black Cherry):
This lot vanished approximately 3 minutes after this shot was taken. I think Black Cherry remains my favourite, although I am partial to the (more than) occasional Tigerella. Now I am looking forward to the Grosse Lisse, a week, perhaps two and I reckon its fruit will be ripe.
YAY for mild weather and ripe tomatoes!
We were away last week, playing in Phillip Island’s surf. I love boogie boarding and spent an enjoyable week in the waves (mostly in a wet suit as it hasn’t been particular warm here for the past week or so). Happily the garden thrived in my absence and has started producing new crops.
I arrived back to find a couple of oversized cucumbers (all Lebanese as that’s what I planted this year) and a couple of proper sized ones.
There were also the first of this season’s tomatoes. I’m not entirely sure what this variety is as its a volunteer but it bears a remarkable similarity to a variety called Principe Borghese that my parents grow so maybe….
There was also an abundance of beans:
I picked all the Gourmet Delight that were ready but decided to leave the climbers to develop into drying beans. It will be interesting to see which ones work best.
For more harvests head across to Daphne’s Dandelions where you should find delights from around the world.
