Start of Summer

Summer officially started this week. The previous week's heatwave did end on Monday as forecast. I removed the shadecloth as the temperature cooled.

The tomato plants really enjoyed the warmer weather, and are starting to thrive. The basil seedlings that I transplanted a few weeks ago are now starting to grow well. And the aubergine seedlings are also getting bigger. A confession is in order: for the past few weeks I've neglected to mention that while the photos show two rows of plants, only one row is in fact of aubergines. The lefthand row (closer to the fence) is actually a row of capsicum plants. I've just been too lazy to relabel the photo links for the past postings. I'll get around to doing that eventually.

During the week I bought a big bag of pea straw mulch. On Friday I cleared out weeds growing in the channels between the rows of tomatoes and beans. The channels had become shallow so I made them deeper, taking care not to damage the plants' roots. Then I laid the mulch into the channels as instructed, and watered.

A couple of weeks ago on a whim I planted some seeds from a rockmelon I bought, and to my surprise a couple germinated in the past week. I'll leave them in the pot they're in for now, and if they continue growing I'll transplant them to the main garden area.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 11)
A tomato plant with some fruit (week 11)
The beans (week 9)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 5 after transplanting)
The basil seedlings (week 4 after transplanting)