Progress in our NZ garden.

StephenCoote · December 4, 2016

It is just about time to harvest the garlic. The leaves are turning yellow and some of the bulbs are pleasingly big.

Some tomato plants seem to be growing faster than others. The two I planted in pots are growing well. The one at the back is Principe Borghese. The front one is Angel. This year I am hoping to train leaders up strings. The strings are held up by a system of poles and a few eyes or hooks fixed to nearby buildings

This year I'm growing a new-to-me variety that a friend has named 'Caroline' after the lady he obtained the seeds from. Evidently this variety was a red-fruited plant that came from a batch of seeds that were meant to produce white tomatoes. It has been a reliable cropper. I don't have any young fruit on my Carolines yet, but the growth is sturdy and I do have flowers. The leaves look robust, and seem a bit different compared to others I've grown:

Some of my plants have small fruit already. Here are some good old reliable Stupice tomatoes:

And here is my Alicante. This is the first season I've planted one of these. It was recommended to me by an organic grower who has a stall at our Saturday market. This particular plant (which I purchased from the grower instead of growing from seed), is one of the most robust plants I've ever had in my garden.

We live in a rural area where there can be a lot of rats. They don't get into our buildings, but they certainly like to move around in our garden. They don't do a lot of damage, but they can drive our dog nuts. The dog tramples the garden sniffing the rat trails, and she has ripped apart a polythene compost bin trying to get rats out of it. I haven't had a lot of luck using conventional rat traps, and I am not desperate enough to use poison (which I dislike). I have, however, had a lot of success lately by using snares. Folks in Britain have been snaring rats for a long time, and I was fortunate to find some experts on the internet who freely offered their advice. Here is a rat I found in a snare this morning:

Sydney Grower · December 4, 2016

Hi Stephen,

The garden is looking great.

And that is one serious rat. Well caught!

MissS · December 4, 2016

Stehpen, Thank you so much for starting this thread. I am enjoying watching your lovely tomato plants grow. As I look out my own window the snow is falling. It will be quite awhile before I can see and smell a tomato plant growing.

Great job on the snare! I hope that it continues working.

December 4, 2016	#1
StephenCoote Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 42	Progress in our NZ garden. It is just about time to harvest the garlic. The leaves are turning yellow and some of the bulbs are pleasingly big. Some tomato plants seem to be growing faster than others. The two I planted in pots are growing well. The one at the back is Principe Borghese. The front one is Angel. This year I am hoping to train leaders up strings. The strings are held up by a system of poles and a few eyes or hooks fixed to nearby buildings This year I'm growing a new-to-me variety that a friend has named 'Caroline' after the lady he obtained the seeds from. Evidently this variety was a red-fruited plant that came from a batch of seeds that were meant to produce white tomatoes. It has been a reliable cropper. I don't have any young fruit on my Carolines yet, but the growth is sturdy and I do have flowers. The leaves look robust, and seem a bit different compared to others I've grown: Some of my plants have small fruit already. Here are some good old reliable Stupice tomatoes: And here is my Alicante. This is the first season I've planted one of these. It was recommended to me by an organic grower who has a stall at our Saturday market. This particular plant (which I purchased from the grower instead of growing from seed), is one of the most robust plants I've ever had in my garden. We live in a rural area where there can be a lot of rats. They don't get into our buildings, but they certainly like to move around in our garden. They don't do a lot of damage, but they can drive our dog nuts. The dog tramples the garden sniffing the rat trails, and she has ripped apart a polythene compost bin trying to get rats out of it. I haven't had a lot of luck using conventional rat traps, and I am not desperate enough to use poison (which I dislike). I have, however, had a lot of success lately by using snares. Folks in Britain have been snaring rats for a long time, and I was fortunate to find some experts on the internet who freely offered their advice. Here is a rat I found in a snare this morning:

December 4, 2016	#3
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,146	Stehpen, Thank you so much for starting this thread. I am enjoying watching your lovely tomato plants grow. As I look out my own window the snow is falling. It will be quite awhile before I can see and smell a tomato plant growing. Great job on the snare! I hope that it continues working. __________________ ~ Patti ~

December 4, 2016	#2
Sydney Grower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 122	Hi Stephen, The garden is looking great. And that is one serious rat. Well caught!