2012 Tomato Plantings (thus far)

It may only be August (well ok September by a whole 10 hours, but these seedlings went in a week ago so I'm still claiming August) but it is tomato time again on the balcony. This time of year is still pretty cold and wet and wintery so most Melbourne gardens can't plants such frost tender crops yet but the balcony garden has its own little microclimate and it is awesome. It means tomatoes are best planted as early as possible, to get the most out of them before the myserious wilt hits. Last year I didn't plant many because of the disaster the year before (see aforementioned wilt) but this year I returned with cautious optimism to a slightly larger planting of love apples.

In the first corner we have a red tumbler, first 'mato in and already growing strong.

In the green pot we have two mortgage lifters (my favourite) and a slightly sickly looking black russian. I couldn't get a decent photo of these and the perspective is really out on the first one - but they do have quite a bit of room in here. I've grown corn in this pot before, and zucchinis and other large plants so the 'matoes will have plenty of space.

In here we have four cherry tomatoes, two golden, two red.

And this lone ranger is another golden cherry. He isn't in the best spot in the garden, tucked away behind the mint but really he is just a leftover seedling so if he thrives it is simply a bonus.

Mega pot will also be housing some tomatoes, namely another black russian and two green zebras plus another one or two depending on my whims. Just have to wait to find seedlings. The balcony garden may be ahead of the rest of Melbourne but the nurseries are catering to the masses and don't have a large selection in stock yet. I just lucked upon these seedlings in Van Loon's nuresry in Ocean Grove while visitng the lovely other half's mother, but most Melbourne nurseries aren't stocked with as many yet.

I can smell the BLTs already - or maybe that's just the roast veg and quinoa salad I'm making for lunch!

Oh and here is the  new birdseye chilli. He just wanted to say he was planted last weekend too!  Whatever ... you're just a chilli!

Harvest Monday

Well wont you just look at my lovely harvest. The corn, the pumpkins, the apples, the potatoes.

Ok so that's just the latest jigsaw. It took me 3 days, not bad for 1000 pieces.

But wouldn't that be just a wonderful harvest. No balcony garden harvest this week, only because I am not there!!! Good old Mr M is looking after my place while I am off in Adelaide visiting the parents. But just because I am away doesn't mean there was no harvest. From this garden we have had all sorts of goodies from eggplants

to rockmelon

and chillis

I cooked the eggplant and chilli in a pasta sauce for the family the other day which was yummy. The rockmelon you see here actually fell off the vine so I am not sure it is ripe which is a shame. I will be checking later today to see if it is salvagable. How was your harvest this week? Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions for more harvest posts.

Harvest Monday

I am so so so close to getting the first full draft of the thesis done, but yet so far from the end goal. In the meantime here is what I have been harvesting of late ...

There have been cucumbers, plenty of cucumbers, enough that I have to eat them every day to keep up, but here is just one. I am going to post soon about the world's funniest cucumber which is shaped like a piggies tail but for now it is normal cucumbers.

The seeds were a little big, maybe I left it on there too long, but it is hard to keep up with them. Tasty in a salad.

That was my lunch, these little red lovelies went in something else,

my breakfast!

I have been going through a phase of eating fruit salad in the morning, usually blueberries and rockmelon with whatever else is affordable at the markets. It was lovely to be able to supplement it with my own home grown strawberries.

In the garden harvest there were eggplants and beans, both of which made it into curries.

I am planning on trying salt and pepper eggplant with some of the rest. I have been harvesting chillis to give to friends, basil leaves for lasagnes and silverbeet as needed. Even in this strange weather it seems to be putting out some good food. With more eggplants, the crazy corn possibly beginning to come good and the figs turning colours it might be an interesting harvest next week. For more harvests from around the world pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions.

Wet Weather and the Balcony Garden

Overnight we have had rain, not a lot, just a light and steady smattering which means I won't have to water today and possibly even tomorrow (depending on if the sun comes out and if the wind stays away.) This gives me a good 20 minutes in my day in which to blog. With the final few memoirs for the thesis to be read and significant other work on my life has been busy. A little too busy for a regular blog and even too busy to remember to photograph things in a timely manner. Time management skills can only work for 24 hours in a day and until I master the art of getting 36 hours out of a day I will have to make to with these little snatches of spare time. But yay to now getting to post.

I love when it rains. Just look at the picture above of my lovely little chilli all covered in drops. Not only is the hand watering a non-necessity, I get to sit by my large windows and watch the rain fall onto the garden. Drops collecting on the green (and slightly yellow) plants, pooling into their soil. A few hours later they look taller, stronger, happier. Rain just has this natural boost for plants that they simply cannot get from tap and/or grey water. Mind you this summer has been the wettest on record, and it hasn't been that good for many gardeners and farmers. Some had their crops and top soil washed away while others like stone fruit growers were damaged by wind and hail. It has also caused a few problems in the little balcony garden, such as increased risk of powdery mildew, problematic pollination and issues with drainage. What are these problems, how have I gone about fixing them and what do these excessively watery days mean for balcony gardeners?

1. Powdery Mildew

In a warmish moist environment powdery mildew is pretty much a given. Zukes, Cukes and others in that family usually fall victim to it. The picture below shows the beginning of it on a yellow zucchini (if you strain your eyes.) White dots appears on leaves, under leaves and on stems. They slowly defoliate the plant and kill it.

Though hard to prevent it is pretty easy to control. I have always used a milk spray, one part whole milk (skim, lactose free which I have in my tea won't cut it, it has to be the full cream stuff) to 9 parts water. This ratio makes it work for my balcony garden though you might have to tweak it for yours. Spray all affected areas including the underside of leaves and stems on your plants in the morning and the evening and the powdery mildew tends to fix right up. It also helps to remove any really badly affected leaves and dispose of them (no composting of those or it wont help.) While the weather is favourable to powdery mildew you may have to keep spraying but it isn't too much hassle and the small amount of milk in it means it won't smell too bad.

2. Pollination Issues

Plants need to be pollinated to produce the good bits, the yummy bits, the foodie bits. The tassles from corn need to meet with the silks to make heads of corn. The eggplant and tomato flowers need to be shaken at just the right speed and at just the right time to mingle the male and female bits. For cucumbers and zucchinis you need to introduce Mr male flower to the bits of Mrs female flower (she is the one with the baby zuke or cuke attached) for anything to happen. Wet weather isn't good for this. Corn particularly wont set well in the rain. But what to do besides a backwards rain dance? The best policy is just to keep trying. Hand pollinate again and again. Perhaps save some of the bits like the corn tassles or the male flowers of cucurbits in the fridge overnight and then see if the weather has improved thus hand pollinate the next day. Rain doesn't completely stop pollination from happening, it just gets in the way. So when wet weather sets in practice some hand pollination and time it well, otherwise you mightn't get much from your balcony crops.

3. Drainage.

Drainage, good drainage that is, has to come from the very beginning. It can be rectified later on if needs be but it is tricky and some plants wont survive the move. My advice is make sure you have the right pot for the right thing, and make sure it is big enough. If it isn't a self watering pot make sure to include plenty of drainage holes. If these holes are only on the bottom then make sure the pot is up away from the ground or off a surface otherwise they get closed over. Make sure you have enough holes, but don't go overboard otherwise you will lose too much water. Plates underneath the pot are a great way to collect water but it is best to raise your pot off them again as otherwise it could lead to drainage issues.

The plant below, my lime tree, doesn't drain that well and at times the new growth will wilt when there is too much water (and indeed when there is too much sun but that is a whole different matter.) See how the supple green limbs are hanging loose in the picture below. That shows poor drainage.

In the bottom of your pots add things like stones or foam or something to add pockets for drainage. I prefer the latter as it is cheap, light and effective.

In this weather, for balconies, make sure your drainage pipes are clear of debris. Dirt, leaves and other bits a pieces can accumulate in them and black them making your balcony a virtual swimming pool and dooming your plants.

Overall these problems are seasonal, and not always a summer issue. But with the world's weather wildly changing it is good to know what to do in these times. Do you have any other issues that come with the wet weather? Any other solutions to the problems listed here?

Harvest Monday: Red for Hallmark Day

Another Harvest Monday rolls around way too quickly. And in keeping with my least favourite day of the year - Hallmark Day - the produce was lovey dovey red. More berries this week and more chillis than I knew what to do with. At the moment they are in the freezer waiting to jump into a nice hot chilli con carne when the weather seems appropriate.

All that red was all right, I suppose but the the piece de resistance this week had to be the fig. My first fig. Mr Fig twig was generous enough to give me an early sample and he didn't disappoint. Into a sandwich it went, with proscuitto and lettuce. Totally delicious.

This coming week there will be another eggplant harvest and maybe even a cucumber. I only planted them a little under a month ago but they are already fruiting!!!

How was your harvest this week? For more yummy stuff from the ground see Daphne's Dandelions harvest monday round up.

Cooking with Garden: Wild Mushroom Pasta

This post needs to start with a disclaimer. I would love to say that these mushrooms were homegrown, but they weren't even home foraged. I'd have no idea of the difference between a safe mushroom and an inedible one, so it'd be expiration via death cap all the way. These mushrooms I sourced at the Vic markets, slippery jacks and pine mushrooms. They are only on sale for a few weeks of the year and they are totally divine. Not cheap, but as I didn't need too many they came in under my student budget. I added them to a linguine for a very decadent pasta. Also in this pasta ... rocket and almost rocket (random green that tastes the same) from the balcony garden, chilli from the balcony garden, and store bought other mushrooms, onion, garlic and lemon. I wish the lemon came from the garden but there are only four lemons on the tree, and they are as green as the greens in this dish.

First step wash the greens, rip them a little and leave them aside. Apparently I should also have cleaned the bench of red pasta sauce which I was making at the same time. Ooops.

Second step, admire the mushrooms. Seriously who could not want to just stare at these things - they are amazing. After breaking gaze prepare them so they are of relatively equal size. I chopped each different variety a different way so they would be even easier to recognise in the final dish. I added in some button mushrooms and some larger white mushrooms to give it a variety of flavour, and some enoki, (only add the enoki after cooking off the large mushrooms first, otherwise they become too msushy.) Once they are cut put them in a fry pan and cook for a few minutes. Only when the moisture begins to evaporate do you add any oil and season (in this case I added oil and butter, mushrooms are great in butter and a balance of both means the butter doesn't burn.)

I cooked this off for a bit then took it out, butter, oil, mushrooms and all. Don't drain anything, otherwise the taste goes down the sink. Step three is then to cook off the garlic and the chilli.

Then add the mushies back to the pan along with previously cooked linguine. Only at the very last second do you add the greens, alongside a squeeze of lemon.

et voila - Linguine with Wild (and slightly less wild) Mushrooms with rocket, chilli, lemon and buttery, garlicky oil. Yum, and despite the oil and butter, still within my calorie count!

Harvest Monday

This is just a short post as I am short on energy. What looked like hayfever yesterday has turned into a different form of illness today and it has taken all morning just to get out of bed. Harvesting veggies is the last thing I want to do today as it is hard to even stomach water. Ahhh these glorious bugs that go round at this time of year. Not due to illness but due to forgetfullness I don't have any pictures of the 3 baby eggplants I harvested friday night, nor the lettuce and silverbeet and yellow carrots and more.

I do have a photo of something I harvested last Monday, before I left Mum and Dad's house. Almost the last of the mortgage lifter tomatoes! A little bit less than perfect on the outside but yum.

There are a few more left on the bushes as you can see here, but they are definitely on the way out.

While I was there we harvested half of the basil (yes it was originally TWICE this size!!!)

Future harvests at Mum's include these lemons, capsicums, chillis (scotch bonnet and otherwise)

Given how sooky I feel today I wish I was still in Adelaide with them both and getting the parental sympathy and love. Although I'll end this post on a happy, funny note. Mum and I were potting up some new plants while I was there but we ran out of potting mix. Dad in his infinite loveliness went to the hardware store with strict instructions from Mum on what to get and where to find it. She gives excellent directions, foolproof even. Not too hard??? He came back with Mulch!!! Priceless. :)

Harvests past, harvests future

I hope everyone had a happy Easter, or whatever you did over the last few days. I am in Adelaide with my lovely family for a week and a bit of rest. I just love spending this time of year with relatives even if I do need to spend half of it working on the thesis. I have left the balcony garden in the care of special housemate H. Wonder how things will go? While I haven't got a proper harvest post this monday this is an ode to future harvests and harvests past that did not go into my belly. A few weeks back I began the autumn planting, mostly broccoli, lettuce and snow peas, with a few parsnip seeds thrown in for good measure. These are some pictures of the Autumn newbies and future harvestables.

And for more future havests? I spied a possible tomato resurrection! These were written off for dead a few weeks ago, the wilt attacking even the highest of the hanging pots. Yet as I left, this one remaining pot seemed laden with green tomatoey goodness. Fingers crossed they are ready when I go home.

As for harvests past that went elsewhere, five minutes before leaving for the airport I decided to harvest the beetroots due to constant attack from pests. I left them as a pressie for special housemate H.

One other harvesterific moment happened the day before I left. With hints of orange I stripped most of the habaneroes off the laden mini bush and handed them over to friends.

Little harvest Monday

Ok technically some of this wasn't quite this week's harvest.

I harvested the zucchini Saturday week ago, before the big storm, which was lucky really because the host plant literally melted into a puddle of rotten, brown sludge after the hail stone infused deluge. Bye bye Zucchini, we have had many happy times together, the risottos, the pastas, the occasional frittata.

The habaneroes and beans on the other hand were harvested this week. The beans went into a cous cous dish while the habaneroes, they, um, well, they're still in the fridge. Still in good condition, looking at me longingly. Problem is, I don't think I want to cook with them or eat them. I am really not sure why I grew them, except perhaps for their aesthetic value. I will say it for all to see, I am not really a super hot food fan. A bit of chilli is great for flavour but I've never been a 'heat that could blow the roof of my mouth off' kind of girl. My neighbours may end up in posession of these, or someone else, who knows. Maybe, just maybe, I might try cooking with one.

I've been harvesting lots of carrots. One a day usually and they are crisp and delicious. It is only the yellow ones which are ripe at the moment but I also have white ones and purple ones in the garden. In the above picture is a small daikon which I harvested alongside the carrots in all its dirty glory. Usually they are ten times bigger, but this one was a little trapped around a sunflower so he was midget sized. Added a tastey element to my lentil and tuna salad. Yum!

Sorry the posts have been few and far between. The thesis writing is keeping me busy. However, I did manage a good few hours in the garden this weekend, taking out the debris and storm-broken plants and adding some good autumn crops. I'll post on that this week.