Vegie Garden Maintanence
Friday, November 20 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
Hamish here. I’m finding it very hard to predict when the sun will
shine and I can get stuck into my garden. But regardless of the humid
weather and rain in Auckland keen gardeners are telling me their
raspberry bushes are coming along and strawberry plants filling
nightly dessert plates.
This week it’s time to discuss seedling maintenance, harvesting and
succession planting to ensure a continuous supply of vegetables for
your kitchen table. If you are getting stuck in a recipe rut, purchase
the new Yates Garden Fresh Cook Book for inspiration.
The Yates garden is flourishing. The herbs planted out in pots in the
greenhouse are doing fantastically although the parsley has been the
slowest to come away. The purple basil and coriander have been able
to be harvested within three weeks of planting. This week I have
transplanted 2 cucumber plants from the greenhouse into the open bed
- I’ve also given two to my father Paul to try out in his vegetable
garden and have a little family competition to see who grows the most
and the best for Christmas lunch. Have also planted 2 beans and
staked them in the open garden. They will be joined by more next
week when I erect a tepee. What is doing incredibly well are the
two Zucchini plants which are growing in a Tuscan Self Watering Pot
and I will be able to harvest them in about two weeks time. The peas
are producing well and ready for harvest and the carrots, both the
transplanted out ones and those in the glass house are booming. The
lettuces – well, I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of them –
some were transplanted into the glass house and they have just shot
away and the broccoli both in the glass house and the raised bed will
be ready in 2 weeks.
My tomato plants are thriving. I have just pruned off the lateral
shoots to improve fruiting performance and open up the plant to air
flow and thus lessen disease. The lateral shoots form between the
junction of a leaf and the stem and should really be removed as the
plant will not fruit as prolifically if they are left in place. By
doing this the plant concentrates it’s fruiting and you should get
bountiful crops. Remember that these plants are big feeders. Feed
fortnightly using Gro-Plus Tomato Food, once fruit is showing to
encourage more growth. You might have noticed your plants showing
signs of diseases or insects demolishing your plants – thanks to our
humid summers – use Yates Tomato Dust to solve most problems.
I know I remind you every week but I really want to see your tomato
growing achievements in the great tomato growing competition. The
winner gets a fabulous prize pack to the value of $575. All the info
for this comp is on this website and it’s easy.
With all vegies, including tomatoes, it is best practice to be
harvesting all the time to simulate new vegies. If you are new to
gardening and found your vegies all matured at once never fear. There
are many clever preserving recipes that use up surplus fruits and
vegies in jams or chutneys. Tomato pasta sauce in a lovely preserving
jar and homemade label would make a thoughtful, cheap and cheerful
Christmas present. But if you are like my busy family you may not
have enough fruit and vegies left over for preserving. I can’t wait to
eat freshly picked tomatoes on Christmas day. What a delight.
It’s important to continue planting seeds for a continuous supply of
food. Never fear if broccoli and cauliflower plants are ready at the
same time as they can be blanched and frozen. If you don’t know how
to blanch, this is done by either boiling or steaming the vegetables
rapidly and then cooling them rapidly in iced water. The same can’t
be said for most other vegies. Although potatoes can be stored for
months in a dark, dry place – read instructions first. For a
continuous supply of food make small successive sowings every
fortnight. Make sure you have an empty bed or plot when it’s time to
transplant. If you are running out of space use a glasshouse, like my
Arthurs one, or use Tuscan Edged Self Watering pots. There are many
beautiful coloured vegetables that can be added to flower gardens or
pots on decks. Most herbs can be grown on a kitchen windowsill. There
is no major art to successive sowing although it seems daunting at
first. Get your Yates garden calendar to keep track of what you have
been sowing and when to take the guess work out of it. Growing silver
beet is wonderful because you pick some leaves and almost overnight
new ones have sprung up. If you are serious about cutting your
shopping bills succession planting is the only way to go. With a
little forethought it can be easily achieved.
Christmas is fast approaching so why not give the Yates Cook Book or
Young Gardener book to someone you love for a great gift. The books
are available at all good book stores. And to top it off, why not pop
some Yates seeds into Christmas stockings and spend an hour with
loved ones in the gardening planting new seeds to work off the
Christmas lunch bloat?
Next week I will be talking about summer entertaining, maintain
feeding and activities for the kids over the holiday period. As the
silly season starts remember your plants need TLC even when you are
hung over from all the Christmas parties.
Grow well green fingers.
Hamish
“Back to blog >”:/hamish-dodd/
Comments (6)
Add a comment
Denys
Yates site member
22:29, 23 November 2009
I feel that our season is very slow in Turangi this year. Apart from my snow peas and my runner beans, every thing else seems to be marking time. My tomatoes have been in the ground for over a month and have hardly grown Lettuces are ok but nothing special and my potatoes have been mounded twice ( Planted in September) The only saving grace is my 5 year old Granny smith apple tree is laden with fruit. We did have some late frost but there is no visible signs of frost damage on any of the plants. I plant all my veges from seed and keep them in undercover until they germinate and then start taking them outside gradually for different periods of time. As I mentioned before, my carrot tapes and beetroot tapes have been in the ground for over a month and I think that they are just starting to appear now. My soil is rich with compost and general fertilizer Any suggestion
felicity
Yates site member
15:59, 27 November 2009
As im a solo mum as of march this year i am turning what ever spear space into vege garden.Im also planting fruit tress ,raspberrys , strawberrys and herds aswell.One question i do have is what is the name of the herb that can be use as a substitute sweetner?I had read a artical on it but have forgotten the name of the herb?
Joanne
Yates Garden Expert
11:25, 01 December 2009
Hi Felicity,
The herb is called: Stevia
I’ve only ever seen it at health shops – not sure if anyone else knows where to get it?
Maggie
Yates site member
23:00, 29 November 2009
it seems this season is blessed. my tomatoes are growing, with small tomatoes on them. I have already enjoyed cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, spring onions and broccoli
I wish to ask about the maintenance of the tomatoes. I have read recently that not only the collaterals should be taken off, but also all the leaves below the bunch of tomatoe flowers. they say, that tomatoes are diffrent than other vegetables. when we take off the leaves, the nutrients will go to the tomatoes and the tomatoes will be more delicious.
I wonder, have you heard of this before? and what do you think? I have started to experiment with the new method, and sofar, the tomatoes are growing
keep the fingers crossed
Maggie
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
11:28, 01 December 2009
Hey there – looks like Joanne beat me to it – I agree with her and like her have only ever seen it in health shops. It might be a bit of a mission to find it as a plant yourself – the South Americans also use agave syrup as a natural sweetener and this may be easier to come by. Coincidentally it is the same thing that is used in the production of Tequila.
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
11:36, 01 December 2009
Hi Maggie – you are dead right in removing the laterals from your tomato plants. This does allow the nutrients to go into the production of fruit instead of the foliage. However, if youa re growing the much larger varieties such as Beef Steak you may want to grow these against a climbing frame and leave the laterals on and train them to produce a bigger harvest. Removing the lower leaves of your tomato plant will also allow air circulation through the bush. Depending on hos you have planted your tomatoes, for examp[le if they are growing in a pot, they will need continual feeding and watering. My tomatoes are growing very well at present – keep me updated with your progress – it’s good to get some feedback.
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
12:11, 01 December 2009
Hi Denys – you are right, it does seem to have been a slow start to the vege growing season this year. I have noticed this particularly in the Yates Garden where the seeds, like carrot and broccoli planted directly into the raised garden have taken a long time to germinate and then grow on to any significant size. Those planted first in the Arthurs Greenhouse and then transplanted have done heaps better. Now that the ground temperature is warming up you should notice an appreciable difference, however perhaps being in Turangi you may need to invest in a small plastic tunnel house to five the plants a better chance of survival. You sound as though you are doing everything right – it just needs the warm spring days to help things along. Remember to fertilise to give you vegie plants an extra boost. Let us know how you progress.
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