Tomatoes and Peppers

Tomatoes, Capsicum and Chillis
Botanical familty:  Solanaceae (tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato). 

Capsicum planted Oct 09, med fertility mix, topped up in spring and autumn with mushroom compost and worm castings. I'm hoping of getting 2 years from it. Pruned back to two thirds of its size Oct 2010 (just after new growth appeared) and fertilised with multigrow (pellitised poultry manure).  Beware of using too much mushroom compost as this will raise the pH level making the soil more alkaline. I've used iron sulphate or sulphate powder to lower my pH.

The main plant grew a prollifc amount of buds over Summer and Autumn 2010 (mainly after lowering my pH). I pinched about two thirds of them off to allow the remaining bugs to turn into large green capsicums. I cut most off when green, leaving some on to turn red.  The ones left on too long went soft and bugs got to them via a small hole near the stem.

Companions: My capsicums and chillis have grown close to each other well. Basil and tomatoe are best friends. I've found lone basil shoots that I didnt plant growing near the base of my tomatoe stems. French Marigolds planted close to tomatoes will help keep away Nemetodes, altho every one of my Marigolds have been eaten by Slaters. 

Pruned Capsium, Oct 2010.  

The yellowing curling leaves is a sign of low magnesium. I treated this with Epson Salts.

Capsicum, Jalapeno and Thai Chilli, Autumn 2010. The chillis went dormant over winter. The capsicum pushed a few more out over winter.

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Roma tomatoe vine. Planted Nov 2008, Photo taken May 2009 after a good summer growth.  I did not prune this vine much (as you can see) but it still gave me around 100 small tasty tomatoes. I removed the vine in winter, so it lasted me about 8 months.

Fishpond

Fibreglass pond sunk to about 20cm below surface.

Garden plastic added to form a slightly larger hole (making a shelf for plants).  The garden plastic is about one quarter of the price of pond lining.

Me trying to get the rocks just right

Fish: 2 fantail goldfish and 2 Koi.  

Plants: Waterlilly, lebanese watercress and native nardoo. I only have the fountain on for about 2 days a week, so these plants are essential to maintaining a healthy oxygenated environment. I'm aiming for 75% water coverage from the waterlilly (left side) and nardoo (top right) for summer.

 
Pond light and fogger


Happy fish!

Controlling bugs

My three main pests in my patch:


Cabbage aphids - small grey fluffy critters that love Tuscan Kale. During Winter and Spring, I used a soapy/oily spray: 1 teaspoon Molasses (sugar cane syrup) in a spray bottle full of soapy water. Being an organic spray, this needs to be reapplied at least once a week to keep the aphids down. 

Aphids on roses - small brown/green bugs on new stems and under new leaves. These crawling bugs moved in as soon as the Spring weather warmed up. I used a few spoons of milk and vegetable oil in soapy water. First, I jet-blasted the aphids off with my garden hose. They didn't know what hit them. After that, spray the stems and underneath the new leaves. To be repeated weekly.
I also spotted a few ladybugs on the rose stems. Ladybugs are one of the best good-pretators to have and they love to eat aphids.


Green munching caterpillars - these guys will eat all of your leafy greens before you do, if you let them. Dipel powder is a natural bacteria that coates the leaf and repels and often kills caterpillars (I use the Yates product from Bunnings). It's very strong, so only 1/4 of a teaspoon is needed in a 1L spray bottle. I use the Eco brand spray bottle that has a rotating nozzle to get under the leaves.  It's apparently safe to spray the leaves that you will be later eating.  I never got rid of all my caterpillars, but often found small newly emerged ones which I then sprayed. I rarely found large caterpillars after I had started using Dipel.

The beginning

Nov 2008.  Behind these front walls...

...was nothing much

 

..and so I decided to start growing some herbs and veggies.

You will be surpised at what you can do in a small empty space!  My patch is on the South side of the house.  This is not the best position for a veggie patch in Perth, but I worked with it to find the best and worst spots for sunlight and it has produced some rewarding and surprising results.  My advantage here is the North facing cream wall which bounces heat and light onto plants during winter.

Soil and Fertilising

I use a variety of soil additives: Lena nursery planting mix, organic potting and veggie mix, aussie organics manures, home made compost and worm castings. Garden straw and Pea straw used as mulch. Every few months I throw handfulls of Blood & Bone meal over the straw and around plant bases, then water in.

Every two weeks I liquid fertilise using Powerfeed and sometimes I add some Seasol into the mix.  I use either a watering can, 1L spray bottle, or the Powerfeed container with hose adapter. Every few months I do a pH soil test and use Sulphur to lower the pH or Dolomit Lime to raise the pH.

Perth has a dry Mediterranean climate with very sandy soils.  The soil here is naturally high in alkaline, dry, powdery and grey.  I do pH tests 2 or 3 times a year and sometimes need to lower my alkaline levels using iron sulphates or sulphate powder. The correct pH level means that the tasty nutrients become available to the my plants.

Carrots & Potatoes

Raised bed of carrots and silverbeet. Planted in July 2010.

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Carrots don't need many extra nutrients but need a loose soil media where the carrots can form freely underground. I did this by forking the existing soil, turned in some straw, then added potting mix with some more straw turned into it making it aerated and fluffy.  After planting the seedlings, I topped it off with more straw.

Carrot seedlings reaching upward after 5 weeks. 

They got the morning winter sun for a few hours per day. 

Carrots forming underground after 3 months.

Potatoes planted in April - almost ready for harvest in October.

These were bought as 'seed potatoes' which are small spuds designed for planting. I planted about 10 in this wooden half-barrel. Over winter, the green shoots were higher than the first shelf.

Mediteranean herbs

Fennel

Parsely - flat leaf (aka Italian Parsley)

Marjoram - bottom left & top right, 

Oregano - centre, 

Basil -top centre

Tyme - top centre against wall

Asian greens

Lemongrass

Curry leaf plant - bottom right.

A lot of plants dont like being near Fennell, but the curry leaf plant is doing fine.

Coriander. 

Planted from seed in May 2010. Lasted 5 months before bolting to flower

Bok Choi.  

Planted April 2009 and grew quite large. 

Older leaves are bitter to eat, so I let it go to see how big it would get

Coriander bolting to flower, Oct 2010. 

Germinating seeds

My shadehouse for germinating seeds and growing seedlings during winter.

The spray bottle of water close by is handy for keeping seedlings moist.

I experimented with a variety of home made containers that would hold moisture and provide ventilation.  The paper cups in the juice bottle were the most successful. Made from rolling up a sheet of newspaper around a tin of baked beans, then stapled. When planted, I ripped open the bottom. Easy!  The bottle was cut forming a small chest-like opening. 

The egg carton was a nuisance. Won't try that again.

Next winter, I will use the recycled square jiffy pots (bottom shelft) under the plastic square lid. The germinating box cost me $8 from Red Dot and appeared to be the same as a $20 one from Bunnings. 

Seeds and Jiffy pots bought from www.seed.com.au.

Worm farm

I spend about 1 minute once or twice a week maintaining the wormfarm. It's much easier than what you read. The bucket lives under the tap so there's always liquid fertiliser to throw over the garden. I pour about half a bucket of water through the farm once or twice a week, winter or summer. The liquid is a great tonic. 

Bottom layer of worm farm (can-o-worms) emptied onto a sheet of plastic.

 

Some local shires provide free workshops and discounts on purchasing a worm farm. In Perth, my local shire (City of Stirling) provided me with this worm farm installed and set up advanced with 4 months worth of castings and 2000 worms for $130 (in 2009). The supplier of the worm farm was The Wormshed in the Chittering Valley and he provided excellent advice pre and post sale.

Some people say it's the best fertiliser and it's all you need while others say it's not worth the hassel and the liquid is low in nutrients.  My results have proved to me that growth is boosted shortly after apllying the liquid for most plants, so it works for me. I feed the worms dead floppy leaves, coffee grounds, dead vegies and fruit.  My worms love old bananas and old tomatoes the best. 

 

Hailstorm damage

Perth hailstorm 22 March 2010 - plant damage.

I saw hailstones the size of flat tennis balls in my neighbours yard.  These pics were taken about 30 mins after the storm.

Anyone for salad?

Shredded Frangipani

Bashed Basil

Bashed Capsicum

Honkey nuts everywhere.

My street, in the eye of the storm. Another storm hit a few hours later, but with no hail.