Full Wet Season

It has been raining just about every day. The Wet is - without a doubt - finally here.

The buckets I have strategically placed about the garden are doing their job and I have plenty of rainwater to water the undercover plants with.

The passionfruit trellis has sufferred a setback; the vines are so vigorous they have collapsed the archway! Hmm... I'll have to motivate myself to do something about it soon, but have been busy entertaining a visitor from south.

A strange thing has been happening to the capsicum plants. The capsicums are growing and ripening, but when picked, they are soft and rotten. I have a feeling it may be the Neem oil I have been spraying to deter mealybugs, which are everywhere in the garden.

Although deemed organic and has been used for centuries, Neem oil is also harmful to certain plants. It seems to kill mealybugs ok, but may also be responsible for the rotten capsicums. So I have stopped spraying Neem and am now just waiting for a good capsicum. If I'm wrong about the Neem, then it must be a rotting disease - heaven forbid!

Oh, and the zucchini plant has well and truly died. It had blossom end rot. The rot starts at the flowering end of the fruit and spreads, rendering malformed lumps on the fruit and eventually the whole fruit decays - from the inside. The zucchinis looked almost normal except for the external lumpiness. I guess the rot spread throughout the rest of the plant and the leaves started wilting and eventually the whole plant died.

I REALLY hope this is not the same thing happening to the capsicums... The chillies are going strong though. Brilliant yellow colour. When will they turn red? It's been at least 6 weeks already...

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

The Moment Arrives

Yesterday was a momentuous day indeed. It started in a normal enough way. My boyfriend and I went to a couple of nurseries to buy vegetable seedlings. We ended up with tomatoes (Grosse Lisse), eggplant (Supreme), cucumber (Lebanese), parsley (Italian and Afro) and coriander.

We couldn't resist trying out the local markets as well, and ended up buying some bigger plants, among them were a couple of mulberry and passionfruit (Panama Red). But the big buys (or boys?) were the Indian Guava and Banana! I already have a small guava, but couldn't resist this 1.5m guava for only ten bucks!

MULBERRY AND PASSIONFRUIT

INDIAN GUAVA

BANANA AND MARIGOLDS

Finally... the day came when I put the first of the veggies into the awaiting bed. I chose to start with the middle bed as it is a good size and does not receive as much sun as the biggest one. In this dry, hot weather, I figured the seedlings would not need as much sun at this stage.

It took me about half an hour to plan where things would go in the bed. Then another two hours or so to measure and put the plants in the soil.

The first plants to go in were the Cherry Tomato. Six of them create the border on the left and right sides of the bed. I figured this would make staking them easier.

CHERRY TOMATO

Next were two marigolds in the centres of the bed (if divided into left & right). I learnt marigold make good companion plants for tomato, basil, garlic chives and parsley. Their bright colour attracts bees and the plant itself supposedly deters nematode pests.

MARIGOLD

CORN

Next came seven corn stalks. Apparently they should be planted in blocks, as this encourages the pollen from the tassels to fall on the silks of other corn plants. Then I planted the sole zucchini plant in the entire bed, followed by three Lebanese cucumber. I read in Norrington's book to create a 'tripod teepee' so that air can circulate freely in between. Apparently cucumbers hate humidity and grow best in the Dry.

Last but not least were the six eggplants. Apparently they do not transplant well, so hopefully this will not spell the end of them.

EGGPLANT

All in all a good evening's work. There are now 25 new plants in the middle garden bed. With more to come...

THE END RESULT