Working in the garden

I had some time in the garden yesterday. It was so nice out there; not too hot, the soil was moist from overnight rain and the plants were standing to attention as they often do after rain.  I wanted to cut back the lavender, tie up the tomatoes and remove some of the leaves effected by tomato blight. I was delighted to see our first ripe Rapunzel tomatoes.  Rapunzel is new to us. It's a hybrid in our garden which is full of open pollinated plants but I wanted to try them and see if they were as good as the label implied.  

This is only half the size the trusses can grow.

I'm pretty happy with them so far. The one I tasted yesterday was slightly sour but the seeds were still slightly green so I think I need to give them longer on the vine.  The fruit are egg-shaped and slightly larger than a Tommy Toe. True to its namesake, the trusses can hang down about a metre and hold up to 40 little tomatoes.

When you prune tomatoes, cut off all the damaged branches, like this bent one above.

This tomato has been tidied up and pruned, it just needs weeding now and then a thick layer of straw around the base to protect the leaves from the water splashes that cause blight.

Blight-affected tomato leaves.

When you grow tomatoes you have to watch them because they need some help to grow to their potential. Make sure you tie them to a strong support and if you're new to gardening, watch this youtube video for pruning and staking techniques.  It looks like he's growing Rapunzels too but this is the way I grow my tomatoes and I know it works. Other youtube videos on this subject aren't particularly helpful. The main points to watch out for are to cut off the lower leaves so you have a clean steam from the soil up to at least 12 - 14 inches.  If branches spread out and get out of control, cut them off if you have a tall vining tomato but not for the shorter bushy types. Pruning your tomatoes will help you get through the season without blight - a fungal disease that lives in the soil. As soon as you see a mottled brown and yellow leaf, or part of a leaf, cut it off and solarise it in a plastic bag. Pruning will give the plant better air circulation too and without it blight will thrive once it's established.  When you've finished removing those lower leaves and branches, spread out some straw mulch around the base of the tomato to stop dirty water spraying up on the leaves when you water your plants. Usually the tomatoes are fine to eat, even if the plant is fairly badly affected.

If you don't cut off the leaves, blight will slowly rise up to the top of the plant, killing the leaves as it goes. That will weaken the plant and it will eventually die.  

Blueberry flowers and forming fruit.

The elder tree is the best it has ever been.

A tray of lettuce seedlings. I'll keep this growing in the bush house all summer.

Mint is also in the bush house. It gets morning sun and sits in shade for the rest of the time. It dies back in winter and shoots again in Spring.

Raspberries starting to climb the trellis. We'll have raspberry pavlova on Christmas day.

I managed to get a few lettuces in too. I just grabbed some from my packed tray of lettuce in the bushhouse. I intend to leave them in there so we have lettuce even when the hot weather makes the lettuce in the ground bolt to seed.

It feels good working out there. The backyard is surrounded by rainforest and a fence so it's cut off from the neighbourhood and whatever is happening out there. The pecan tree is putting on new leaves, a warm breeze blows through, birds are visiting for a drink at the bird bath and life here is pretty good. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.