Planting out the Tomatoes

So, now that we have a new garden bed built, time to plant out my patient tomato plants. I started all these from seeds – here is an instagram photo from about 5 weeks ago…

After they grew a little larger, I planted them out into some spare pots, and kept them outside in a ratty old wheelbarrow. Perfect for moving them in and out of the sun and wind. They absolutely took off! Although that may have something to do with my worm tea that they got dosed with as well. That stuff will make anything grow!

Talk about growing gang-busters!!

So here they are in their new raised garden bed. Fully layered with bags of cow manure, some shredded paper, pea straw and a whole stack of home-grown compost.

Yesterday was perfect planting out weather, as it was overcast, relatively cool, and there were a few showers forecast for later on. Just right for avoiding too much shock. Now they are all tucked up in their straw mulch, and watered in with a dose of magic worm tea. Fresh home-grown tomatoes here we come!!

Tigerella at the front, Amish Paste at the back. Although I am starting to have some issues with accessing the beds – they are too deep to reach across comfortably, so I have to ballet dance my way along the edges to get to the back of them. Now with all the stakes in place, it’s a little more treacherous. Some cross planks or stepping-stones might be in order. Unfortunately their placement isn’t really up for change with the way our backyard has worked out, so we will have to find a way around it.

Next up will be removing the sprouting broccoli plants. They have been absolutely over-run with Cabbage White caterpillars, despite my best efforts at manual removal (much to the chicken’s delight – green worms are their very favourite!!). The plants are now so stressed and weak that they are looking pretty sick. There isn’t an intact leaf on any of them, and now the caterpillars have started on the flower heads. To be honest, Broccoli is down to $3.99/kg at the awesome local vegetable shop, so I’m better off ripping them out and planting up with something else. Sick and stressed plants are not very productive. Lesson learned for next season – invest in some Dipel!

So, what’s working for you in the garden at the moment – or what have you decided to give up on? This crazy journey is all about learning as far as I can tell!

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