Wilting Toms

Sad to say, but although the tomato plants are yielding fruit, they have been afflicted by wilt. I would suspect it is the infamous 'bacterial wilt' which tropical soils are known for.

Fusarium and Verticilium wilt are deadly because they attack the roots of the plant and stop it from receiving nutrients from the soil. The plant displays early symptoms of wilt through its drooping leaves and branches. In the intermediary stages, the branches and leaves of the affected plant look severely brown and dry, no matter how much water you give the plant. The final stage, brown discolouration may take place on the plant stems and at the base of the plant. The affected plant withers a slow, lingering death. Fruit may remain unaffected, as the plant pours all its remaining energy into it. However, fruit produced may be drier and more tart than normal.

The only way to avoid wilt is to plant in pots, using sterilised potting mix and not letting plants make contact with any soil from the garden. I thought I had isolated two Grosse Lisse tomato plants using this technique. However this was before the wilt began rearing its ugly head in the garden beds affecting the cherry tomatoes. Unbeknownst to me, I had dealt the fatal blow to the Grosse Lisse by layering the bottom of the container with regular garden soil. The wilt slowly crept upwards and although the fruit was still large and healthy, the Grosse Lisse fell victim to this grim reaper of tomatoes....

The worst thing is that the wilt has spread to the eggplants. I thought eggplants were immune to wilt, as some gardeners recommend grafting tomato plants onto eggplants in order to avoid wilt. However, I found out that this applies to only certain types of eggplants, such as the Thai variety (small and green).

Perhaps the wilt has also affected the sweetcorn plants, which took on a cardboard brown colour a few weeks back. All the corn ears being produced were dry and 'unfinished'. Or maybe it is the mealybugs that the ants have farmed, which have sapped the corn dry. I don't know. But between the wilt and the ants, I DO know that corn and tomatoes did not make it through this season. Question is, has this put me off planting tomatoes ever again?

DRIED UP CORN EAR

Small Critters

There has been an increasing number of bugs and small creatures which call our garden home. From the numerous and annoying: ants and aphids, to the useful and ever-cute: ladybirds.

I've also spotted a few grasshoppers, ranging in size and colour. The biggest is about 6cms long and is predominantly brown. There's also a camouflage expert, a green hopper which looks more like a leaf insect, but it 'pings' from my tomato plants to the garden bed, and is very hard to see unless it is moving.

There are also these orange and black winged insects. They look like a cross between a ladybird and a cockroach. For they are roach-shaped, but orange with black spots, and roughly the size of a ladybird if it was squished sideways. They have a fondness for eating zucchini leaves. This one here is traversing a dried corn leaf.

Until about a month ago, I was convinced that our garden did not have any earthworms. In my diggings around the yard, I never came across one. Also, I think the soil is far too dry for earthworms to proliferate. I was proven wrong when I was transplanting my lime seedling into a bigger pot. I found this very skinny, almost translucent, earthworm in the process.

There are also a handful of skinks and a white-striped lizard or two. The residential skinks like our garden beds and come out in the morning when I am watering to quench their thirst. They are quite tame, and will stay very still while eyeing me the whole time. I managed to snap this photo of one underneath a basil plant.

There are also, from time to time, some pigeons and birds who sit on the fence eyeballing me as I water the garden. The pigeons coo away, while the smaller birds (I don't know their name, but they're tiny zippy little grey & white things) usually wait till I am at a safe distance before descending quickly into a garden bed and making off with as much hay mulch they can carry in their miniscule beaks. They are very cute, and always come in a pair. I like to think that I'm helping in their nest construction. No photos of them as yet, as they flit away and are quite alert and wary.

Harvesting Cucurbits

Well today has been another day of veggie-picking. Two big cucumbers and one GIANT zucchini! I had already harvested two other cucumbers on a previous occasion, but had left them on the vine a little too long, and they were full of seed. I still ate them though!

I am not sure if the slow-release fertiliser I put in the beds is working, but maybe it accounts for the super growth! The size of the zucchini has surpassed my expectations, and I hope I haven't picked it too late. Guess I'll find out later when I cook it for dinner one night.

I gave away both cucumbers, this time to Mrs Mulch, as she has contributed to the growth of the veggies with her chook poo. I know this will sound weird, but it feels unusual to be taking away the efforts of a plant that I have watched over and done all I can for. As much as this is what growing a food garden is all about, these first harvests feel like a rarity! Hopefully they won't prove to be, but at the moment, I am enjoying the novelty of being able to pick my own veggies and eating them. And sharing them round too!


FEMALE ZUCCHINI FLOWER

So far, most of the plants that have 'fruited' are members of the cucurbit family. Pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchinis are all part of the Cucurbitaceae group, which also includes gourds. Pumpkin and cucumber grow from vines, and their leaves are of similar shape, and can be a similar size (small pumpkin vs large cucumber). However the flowers are quite different in size and look. The zucchini plant is quite different again. The leaves are the biggest of all three compared and sit on thick hollow stems. However, the zucchini flower is similar in colour and size to a pumpkin flower.

I like the commonalities these plants share, and it's quite obvious why they are members of the same family. But they produce such different offspring at the same time. My conclusion is Cucurbits are pretty cool! And I'm glad they grow with such vigour in my garden. There is a bit of powdery mildew on some of the pumpkin leaves, but they haven't really affected the general health of the plants.
SIX DAYS AGO

ZUCCHINI TODAY

Tidying Things Up

I harvested our first pumpkin today. The abundance of rain had caused a small split in its skin, and I knew I should have taken it off the vine the day before. It wasn't growing any bigger either, which could be another giveaway sign that it was ready for plucking. It is however very edible and still fresh.

Later on I decided to give away the pumpkin to a friend who came to visit. According to an old custom, it is a sign of goodwill to offer the first fruits of your garden to friends or neighbours, as this will increase the yield of your garden. Whether or not it works, I like the philosophy behind it, and have put it into practice.

I then went all around the garden, placing plastic container lids under all the pregnant pumpkins (as I call them), to prevent damp rot or fruit splitting.

Six capsicum seedlings are now also planted in the largest bed, in place of stunted chillies which never grew. This is the third time the capsicums have been moved, so I hope they survive. They started life in an old egg carton, then I transplanted them into a plastic seedling tray when the egg carton became too shallow for the growing roots. After a few weeks in the tray, they are finally in the soil.

A couple of days earlier, I also planted eight chickpea seedlings by the fence where the dragonfruit had been. The dragonfruit plant seems to be fading away into a lighter shade of green, despite its position (full sun). Maybe the soil wasn't suitable, thus I have re-potted it.