18 December 2024

We’re a bit late getting this month’s blog out to you.  Some sadness in our family taking precedence over the garden.

Tomatoes dominate.  Mine have been let to run wild and I’ve kind of missed the boat to delateral them.  It’s best done when they’re smaller, so you can get some good strong leaders growing.  Now I have bushes with many not-so-strong branches.  So I’ve just tied them up.  The odd branch got knocked off as I went, so I just made sure the break was clean and dusted it with Flowers of Sulphur to help the wound heal.  I do get a lot of blight from mid-summer on so it will be interesting to see if, with less delateralling, I get as much blight this year or the same or more!  I sense I may get less fruit due to the greater amount of foliage, but we’ll see.  If you’d like to know how to delateral, check out our video here.

Rob’s tomatoes are looking how they should do.  In particular notice the mulching – super important in summer on all beds to keep all-important moisture in. 

Growing up our screens this year is successful… beans…

Cucumbers…

Rob’s cucumbers are going wild…

Beautiful sunflowers…

Grapes…

I’m going to double net the whole vine this year as the bunches look so amazing to me (and logically to the birds as well).

Rob is bagging up the plums on his tree to head off the birds at his place…

Our onions have just come out.  It’s a reasonable haul, but I did let the weeds go in this bed this year and that meant the onions were sitting in a load of foliage and dampness when it rained, so there was definitely a bit of attrition this year.  Enough to enjoy though, and seriously, the taste of homegrown onions is something to experience.  Make sure you hang them in a cool dry place – with too much warmth they can rot from the inside out, with any moisture they rot from the outside in.

I’m making comfrey liquid to shower over my fruiting crops.  It takes 2-3 weeks before you can use it, and it is stinky!

And I need to get that hot compost heap made – there’ll be plenty of time over the holiday period.  For now though, we wish you a safe and happy Christmastime and look forward to more gardening adventures in the New Year!  

 

From Jan and Rob ❤️❤️

6 Responses

  1. Cool to be in touch throughout the seasons as always, thank you.
    My tomatoes are curling up their leaves badly despite being moist enough(I think). Any idea/tip?

    1. Watch out for Psyllid bug from now as it warms up, especially on tomatoes and potatoes. Invest in some bug mesh before it’s too late.

    2. Hi Bernd Rob says hot temperatures will cause this on the lower leaves of tomatoes. Also tomatoes like even moisture levels and mulching will help with this ie retain the moisture from watering. As Bron says, trim off the affected lower leaves. If not just the lower leaves, let us know.

  2. Hi bernd
    My toms were doing the same for a bit during that recent hot spell so in a true random response from me I seaweeded and added a touch of magnesium and resolved to be more vigilant re watering. Now … everything is fine. I also trimmed the affected leaves off the plants.

  3. Happy Christmas to you both 🎄
    Thank you for all your advice and showing us how to do things. I have your 2025 Calendar and I love it!
    Best wishes, Diane

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