Return of the Shadecloths

The shadecloths made another appearance this week due to yet another mini heatwave. The heat is causing the tomatoes to mature more quickly than I'd like, whereas my lemon tree has not produced any lemons for weeks.

The two capsicum plants with fruit are making excellent progress, and it won't be long until I'll be able to harvest them. A third plant has also started to fruit.

There is still only one aubergine plant with fruit, but it is making good progress. A second plant has started to flower.

The four "Costoluto di Marmande" tomato plants that I transplanted a few weeks ago look like they're settling in to their new home. Starting with this week I'll be keeping a photo log of those plants too.

On Saturday morning I gave the plants their fortnightly feed of seaweed solution.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 19)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 13 after transplanting)
An aubergine plant with fruit
A capsicum plant with fruit
The basil seedlings (week 12 after transplanting)
The "Costoluto di Marmande" tomatoes (week 3 after transplanting)

Finally Some Rain

The weather was milder this week. Some much needed rain fell on Wednesday night.

Lately I've been picking two or three tomatoes per day. Last post I mentioned that I picked one tomato, "Big Red", that weighed in at 600g. Today I've included a photo of that tomato, along with a few smaller ones for comparison. I've started saving tomato seeds for next year.

A couple of the capsicum plants now have some fruit growing. The largest aubergine plant also has had it's first flower turn into a tiny eggplant.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 18)
Big Red, with some smaller siblings and other objects for comparison
The aubergines and capsicums (week 12 after transplanting)
An aubergine plant with tiny fruit
A capsicum plant with fruit
The basil seedlings (week 11 after transplanting)

Second Week of January

The week started with another mini heatwave. I guess I'll have to get used to it. The plants seem to be able to cope, as long as I have the shadecloths up when it gets too hot.

The aubergine and capsicum plants, which are starting to flower, seem to be growing a bit better now. Perhaps now that they no longer have to literally live in the shadow of the beans they can take advantage of the extra light.

The basil plants were starting to develop flowers. To prolong the life of the plants it is recommended to pinch off the tops to remove the buds. However to help the plants regenerate in future seasons I will leave the buds on a few of them. Hopefully I'll get the balance right.

I transplanted four tomato plants which I had grown from seed in a pot. According to the seed packet they are an Italian variety called "Costoluto di Marmande". I'm hoping they will mature so that I can continue having fresh tomatoes after the main plants have stopped producing. Speaking of which, the established plants are now starting to produce more fruit than I can eat. I've started weighing the tomatoes, with most ranging from 75 grams to over 200 grams. Last week I harvested a whopper: 600 grams! While in the past my family (like many other Italian families) would make tomato sauce using the excess tomatoes, I'm not to keen on it. Instead I will probably start giving away any tomatoes that I can't eat myself. The plants themselves are starting to look a little worse for wear. From the photos you can see that some of the smaller branches are drying up.

While shopping last week I noticed that some shops sell borlotti beans in their continental section. A 500 gram bag, around the amount I harvested from my plants, didn't cost that much, so I'm sad to say that I don't think it's worth the effort of growing my own. I haven't tried the bought variety, but they are beans after all and I'm not much of a bean eater. I prefer eating teghe - fagiolini or young green beans - pod and all. Next season I might try growing those, just to see how they turn out. Tomatoes on the other hand are definitely worth the effort, because I eat them every day and there is a noticeable taste difference between home-grown tomatoes and those sold in shops.

Last night I gave the plants their fortnightly feed of seaweed solution.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 17)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 11 after transplanting)
The basil seedlings (week 10 after transplanting)

A Windy New Year

On Tuesday morning gusty winds caused a few problems for my tomato plants. Some of the plants are now taller than the stakes supporting them, so their tops were bent by the wind. And to make things worse one plant almost snapped near the top when I tried to straighten the plants out. I guess I got a bit complacent and didn't tie the plants up as high as possible, so I've fixed that.

On Friday I shucked the "mystery" beans. It turns out there were three types of beans: khaki-coloured kidney beans, white kidney or "cannellini" beans, and black beans. After shucking I have about 160 grams of the first type of beans. 100 beans weigh about 25g, so I have 640 beans in total. I have 100 grams of cannellini beans. At around 60 beans every 25g, that makes it about 240 beans. Finally, I got a hefty 10 grams of black beans. Since there were so few, I counted all 63 of them. I've included a mediocre photo of the various shucked beans.

In hindsight the khaki-coloured beans could in fact be "teghe" beans, which are usually harvested before the beans mature, and are eaten with the pod. I thought I would be able to browse the internet to find photos of various beans and what they're called, but in the case of the khaki-coloured ones I haven't been able to find anything conclusive.

The other major development of the week was that all of the capsicum plants, while still quite small, are now starting to flower. One aubergine plant has also started to flower.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 16)
The shucked beans - clockwise from top left: borlotti, black beans, cannellini, (out of focus, why do I bother?)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 10 after transplanting)
An aubergine plant flowering
A capsicum plant flowering (overhead shot, out of focus - who hired this photographer?)
The basil seedlings (week 9 after transplanting)

Last Week of December

I mentioned last week that the tomatoes were beginning to ripen. I've already eaten 4 tomatoes myself, and shared a couple of others with friends. I now remember what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. The skin is soft and the flesh is delicate, unlike the ones you buy in shops.

Early in the week I shucked the borlotti beans. All up I have about 600 grams of usable borlotti beans. I was tempted to count each individual one, but that would be too pedantic even for me :) So I compromised and worked out that 120 beans is 50 grams, so 600 grams should be about 1440 beans (incidentally this is not far off my initial estimate based on the number of pods harvested). Not a bad yield for the 70-odd beans that were used to start the whole thing off.

The other "mystery" beans will have to wait before shucking. I haven't identified them conclusively, but it turns out there are two different types of beans: one white variety and another light brown variety.

On Tuesday night I gave the plants another feed of seaweed solution.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 15)
My first batch of tomatoes, ready for eating (forgive the quality - the camera has no manual focus)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 9 after transplanting)
The basil seedlings (week 8 after transplanting)