So my question to you is “Have you started your veggie patch yet? And are you planning on growing tomatoes?”. Well of course you are. Some people have a bit of trouble growing those delicious, plump, juicy tomatoes, so I’ve got a few tips for you.

Tomato Cultivation

Tomatoes need a long, warm to hot growing season. If you live in a cooler climate you will need to start your seedlings under glass so that the fruit will have time to develop before frosts return.

Plant in well drained, fertile soil, high in organic matter. The position you choose will need to receive at least six hours of direct sunlight.  Rotate your tomato crops in the garden to help control nematodes organically, as they are found in nearly all areas.

If you are planting varieties that need staking, position your stakes before planting out your seedlings about 60cm (24inches) apart. You can plant your seedlings as deep as the first true leaves – this helps strengthen the young plant and allows more root development.

*My personal tip – To stake your plants without damaging its tender stems, wrap cotton ties or strips of pantyhose around the tomato stake first, then loop it around the stem and tie it loosely with a knot or bow to the stake.*

Choose strong varieties that grow well in your area, as tomatoes are prone to several pests and diseases. Grow disease-resistant hybrids and reliable heirlooms. Did you know that most heirloom varieties will usually perform better the second season from seeds you have saved yourself?

Keep the soil moist, but not wet. Mulch around your tomato plants once the soil has warmed to keep weeds at a minimum and to keep soil temperature and water levels more even.

Feed with organic fertilizer every fortnight or so until the fruit sets, then again after each flush of fruit. Use a balanced organic fertilizer or alternate with a liquid fish emulsion in water – the steady release of nutrients makes for the consistent, vigorous growth that is needed to keep your plants healthy and productive.

Fruiting

Harvest tomatoes when they’re just starting to ripen, to prevent birds from pecking at them and to avoid invading insects that follow them from destroying your fruit.

Any plants that still have green tomatoes on the bush as winter approaches can be pulled up by the roots and stored in the shed. They will keep ripening over the next few months as their stems keep feeding them for some time.

Now if this isn’t quite enough information for you and you want some expert advise I can highly recommend How To Grow Juicy, Tasty Tomatoes . I own a copy of this book and although not all the recommendations are ‘organic’ options it is still well worth having. The information is detailed and covers all aspects of tomato growing, including a long list (with photographs) of varieties.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

Below is a photo of a new patch where I wanted to expand my veggie garden. I actually put in a few things before we got around to putting together the irrigation, but we installed it long before summer hit hard.

The irrigation system is quite simple and easy to install. I think that’s always (almost) the best way to do things. Simple is almost always best. Just in case you’re wondering, the frame and wire setup is for my scarlet runner beans.

And below is the irrigation we put together for the area. The main plot is irrigated in a rectangle and several areas set out behind the trellis in cross sections for curcubits (pumpkins, cucumber, melons and zucchinis).

I’m not sure how much time I save, but I know it’s a lot. And with the tap timer I never have to wonder if I forgot to turn the water off.

If you’re starting out with your own organic vegetable garden, you might like to look at my e-book “Organic Food Gardening Beginner’s Manual” for more step-by-step tips to get you started on the right foot – so to speak.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

I must say, I’m really impressed with this under-valued vegetable. It is really easy to grow and seems to laugh at our 40 degree C days. It really loves the heat. And it seems the more we pick it, the healthier and faster it grows.

I mean, just look at those healthy leaves! I can’t believe it really – everything else (except the basil, which is also loving the heat) has either suffered massively with the heat or turned up it’s toes and died. Not the Kale – it’s gorgeous.

The only problem we had was with aphids, but we kept squirting them off with the hose and they have been aphid-free for some time now. Besides, they don’t do that much damage and you can wash them off when you’re preparing it to cook or pull off the small part of the leaf that they were growing on.

Kale is delicious quickly fried in a little olive oil with onion, or included in a stir-fry.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

You can see here that we’re growing in quite sandy soil. They are OK with that as long as the water is kept up to them – especially on hot days – and you fertilize (organically, of course)  regularly.
Unfortunately with sandy soils, when you water it leaches the nutrients from the soil, so you need to replace them regularly to keep your plants growing healthily and producing fruit.

Again, they are another vegetable that benefit from a long growing season and won’t tolerate frosts. So plant them in your organic garden as soon as the frosts have passed and the ground has warmed. They’ll reward you with glorious dark fruits for several months.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

Here’s a photo of one of my artichoke plants with several developing heads – taken a couple of weeks ago – mid summer here.

You have to learn when to harvest the succulent heads, cause if you leave them too long you’ll end up with a beautiful thistle flower – pretty, but not edible.  

Once you’ve harvested all on the stalk, cut it off near the base. New side-shoots will grow next season, which will produce your new heads.

Give them a go – they’re really easy to grow, make a beautiful, contrasting architectural plant and they’re yummy.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

And when I say hot, I mean heat wave. I think we’ve had a week of temperatures over or around 40 degrees C. One day it got to 45.7, now that’s 114 degrees fahrenheit if you’re wondering. And we’ve still got a week of 35 – 40 degrees to look forward to!

Seeing as it’s so hot here, I thought I’d share some seed saving tips. You need to wait until your seeds or pods have completely dried. If it has rained at all, or you have any dew at all you’ll need to wait until it has evaporated. Late in the day is usually a good time to collect your seed.

I usually pick off the pods (if it’s peas or beans), or little umbrellas (for all in the parsley family), or stalks for a lot of herbs, then leave them a few more days or a week – then clean them up further.

Once you’ve got the seeds out of their capsules or in their ‘naked’ state, it’s a really good idea to label them with what seed they are, when (and maybe where) they were collected. This way when you come to use them next season, you’ll know exactly what they are and how old they are.

These are my broad beans growing through winter. They got to at least twice this height, about 1.5 metres tall. Just by the way, I harvested enough beans from this small plot to sell about 3kg at our Farmer’s Market each week, for about 6 weeks.

This is what beans need to look like before you save the seeds for next season. Yes….  I know it’s really messy and it does tie up the space for a while, but if you want to be self sufficient this really is a great way to go.

Personally I don’t mind how it looks – what I see is next years potential beans!!! I mean really, how cool is that?

OK, that’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll will absolutely be posting again in the next few days.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

The right hand photo is of one of the zucchini (courgette) plants we’re growing. This variety is “romanesque” – a pale green vegetable with ribbed sides.
I’ve also got “lebanese” zucchini growing and must get some “black jack” in soon. Zucchini is such a wonderful producer. I get so many that if I didn’t have the farmer’s market to sell the excess to, I’d have a real problem.

I’ll have more updates in another few days.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

As you can probably tell, it’s quite dry already. We’ve had some very light rain the past few days but it practically evaporates before it hits the ground.

Another way we grow some of our food plants is with nutrient film technology. Take a look at the photo below to see some of our salad veggies growing. There’s lettuce and basil in the photo, but we also grow mizuna, tatsoi, rocket, coriander and kale as pick and come again salad veggies.

So you can see we’re really steaming ahead. And that’s not all! I’ve got a few more pics to share with you in a couple of days time – so please check back in a few days.

And again, please leave a comment. Other gardeners would love to know what’s happening in your garden… just as I would.

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

The left photo shows a couple of artichokes. The rear one is starting to shoot – so we should be eating them soon.

The right hand photo is of our scarlet runner beans. They are a perennial bean. Once they have finished producing they die down and will shoot again the following spring. I just love perennial vegetables!
If you look hard you’ll see tomato plants at both ends of the trellis and lebanese zucchini plants along the plot. I love to companion plant.

And here in my main bed you can see the spring onions planted amongst the carrots – another great companion planting combination. I’ve been harvesting the spring onions for a while now and have even sold some at the market. I’m just pulling a few carrots as we need them….  and they are delicious!

I’ll have more photos of what’s going on in my organic garden in the next few days – so pop back for a look  

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…

Not to mention the fact that I’m producing potted herbs to sell at the market every week and of course they’re selling like hot-cakes now that the temperature’s warmed up. Everyone wants to get their herb and vegetable gardens into full swing now.

So just what have I been doing in my veggie garden lately?

I’ve planted tomatoes (and staked them), basil, flat and curley parsley, beetroot seeds, perrenial beans, several varieties of pumpkin, zucchinis and cucumbers, globe artichokes, spinach….  I’m sure there’s other things that haven’t come to mind just now too.

I’ve even got hubby out in the veggie patch too. He’s planted more tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, basil, leeks, watermelon and eggplant. Plus he’s set up a hydroponic system so that we can grow a heap of unusual herbs and strawberries. Any strawberries we grow in the soil here are devoured by millipedes before they are really ripe – little buggars!

Then there’s the other very satisfying task of harvesting some things. Take a look below at how tall my broad beans grew this year! And I’m 5’7″.

This is my second picking (about 3kg). I picked about the same a week ago. The beans are tender enough at this stage to eat the pods too. I’ve sold most of them at the market, keep enough for ourselves of course. And they’ll keep producing good size pods for at least a few more weeks yet.

I’ve also been harvesting parsley (see it next to me in the photo going to seed) and leeks and numerous herbs for market, oh and snow peas too. People love the fresh produce.

And we now have 23 hens and 2 roosters. So we have eggs for market too. Can you tell I’ve been a little busy? And because it doesn’t get dark now til after 8pm… well it doesn’t leave time for much else once I’ve made dinner and cleaned up a little. Not complaining though. I love being in my garden.

If you want to share what’s happening in your garden, please, please, please leave a comment.  

Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…