Monthly Archives: September 2008

Warning: The Beans Are Out Of Control

Posted on by
2

Beans

The beans are growing like crazy now. There are beans to be harvested every three days, both runners and the smaller ones. The trellis is made from nine bamboo sticks held together with plastic ties (yes I know – it’s not a very sustainable lifestyle with all that plastic ;-) ). I have an earlier picture showing the bare trellis here.

I had to secure the trellis with two pieces of string since the winds are rather strong around here. We’re not that far away from the coast. It’s seems to be holding up, so I’ll definitely be growing beans next year too. The fridge is already well packed with beans for the winter.

In the middle of the picture we have the runners, Phaseolus Vulgaris Promotor, and to the right we have Phaseolus Vulgaris Maxi. On the left you can see white mustard but yet only as small plants. They are supposed to collect nutrients from the soil so they won’t go to waste during the fall and wash down with the rain. Then the plants will be harvested and put in the composting box.

There are some small bugs sitting on the short bean plants, but they don’t do any harm, they just sit there. The cats chased all the birds out of the garden, so I guess there are no enemies to eat them, so why not just sit and relax and enjoy the sun ;-)

How To Grow Tomatoes

Posted on by
Reply

Tomatoes

Yes! The first tomatoes are finally ripe. They’re late because the ones I originally planted were cut down by killer slugs. That was a tough one since those original ones I sowed indoor where they germinated in my windowsill and grew up to become sound 20 cm (8 inch) plants. I’m not sure what to do to keep the killer slugs away from my small tomato plants next year, I’ll have to figure that out.

It was just before vacation I lost the original ones, but a friend looking after the garden in the meantime played a prank on me. He found some new plants at the supermarket which were even taller and planted them instead of the slaughtered ones. He didn’t say a word about it until weeks later after we got home from vacation, and I didn’t tell him that I knew what he did. But of course I knew, they were my small babies. So I don’t actually know what varieties I’m growing, the ones you see in the picture ;-) I would like to try to save seeds from tomatoes but I don’t think I’ll do it this year since I don’t know what they are. But they’re healthy and the taste is okay. We only tasted the variety on the left so far, the one on the right is a beef tomato.

There are not many leaves left on the plants, because I have worked from the principle that if any leaves are casting shadows on any of the fruits, the leaves have to go so that the sunshine can reach the fruits. I’ve also pinched any shoots appearing between the main stem and the side branches to keep the fruit production high. Those shoots will not produce much fruit. Next year I’ll try and limit the plants to having only one main stem per plant. They are sensitive to the wind as they are now, so I hope that they will be more stable with only one stem.

I’m using a growing bag which I’m sure is filled with all kinds of nutrients. It works well but in the long run I would like to use my own compost just to live a little more self-sufficient. Besides, I’ve read that tomatoes should be able to grow in almost anything, so I think it should be possible to do.

The self-watering box I use below the growing bag is very good at providing the soil with the right amount of water at all times. I’m considering buying two more and digging holes for them in the ground, so that they are out of sight. The cats are using the box like a scratching pole which is not a pretty sight and it won’t last long either.