Well it’s summer now and the sultry days are already drying out the sodden soil. Time to start giving the garden more love - tough love, that is.
This means mulch, mulch, mulch. And donning rubber gloves to remove the zillion and one slugs and snails that are relentlessly skulking through the veggie beds. Every couple of days I collect a bucket or two of the varmints and feed them to the girls who react as through they are being fed nirvana (perhaps they are) and gobble them down. It’s also important to water the veggies in between the rainy times to ensure that the tomatoes avoid blossom-end rot.
I’m also forking the soil in between fruit trees and veggies to ensure that the rain penetrates the often dried up mulch and dirt and gets to the roots.
Remember to add liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks to keep plants lush and growing. Weeding is also a critical task, but when you love your garden it becomes rather fun to dig out the weeds. (A good weeding soundtrack is anything by AC/DC as it keeps you going!)
With summer days here it’s also good to relax and take the time to wander about and smell the roses, admire the passionflowers, nibble some basil, pick some salad greens and enjoy the different varieties of apples. Enjoy!
Hi Alison,
ReplyDeleteCame to your blog by following Jane's profile...and I'm glad I did. I love gardening but since I don't have a garden, I 'potter' around. I'm no where as good or knowledgeable as you either. I hope you have the time/inclination to help me out though...it's about my tomatoes. (Roma tomato saplings from Bunnings). I just can't grow them. I bought two saplings, one of them has one tomato and the other is sick. All bottom leaves turned yellow and the stem looks sickly too. The new leaves on the top are good and plant has flowers too. The other healthy plant sort of branched out sideways but the sick plant seems to only grow taller (and sicker). Please, what am i doing wrong? They are 30cm self-watering pots, I water them regularly.
Hi JB,
ReplyDeleteGood grief, I'm only 14 months late on this - mea culpa.
Hopeyour tomatos came through ok - this summer was a tough one, most greenthumbs i know said their crops were all over the shop.
However, back to your sick tommys,if it happens again, toss 'em.
They sound diseased andthe best thing you can do is pull them out and start again, but be sure to plant the new tomatos somewhere else.
I'm a big fan of tomato seeds - too late for his year but email me and I'll send you some of my good seeds to make up for this dilatory response.
Good luck!