Sex Starved Pumpkins

Although the pumpkin plants in my garden are huge they keep producing little baby pumpkins that just fall when about the size of a tennis ball.

A friend of mine has suggested it is casued by the fact that they have not germinated. The cure?

Get a flower (that has no bulge under it)
Wipe the stamen over the flowers on top of the little pumpkins

I have now tried this - wait and see I guess!

Pumpkins & Tomatoes

My Pumpkin plants have taken over!


My mint is being eaten to bits

I have 2 tomatoes yes they look a bit sad don't they. However these will be the first tomatoes I've actually got to grow. The plants though have all got this rot - I think it is fungal. The pumpkin has something similar. It looks like it has had some dirty light brown stains.

Which vegetables are have the most pesticides

I came accross this article that rates vegetables by the most pesticides to the least. Its pretty useful - seemingly apples are the worst along with celery, peppers and nectarines. The best include onions peas and mango. Interesting see full article.

Impossible hamster

Greening the desert Part 2

Greening the Desert II: Greening the Middle East from Craig Mackintosh on Vimeo.

Using the Washing machine water on the garden

I have been wanting to use the water from our washing machine.

From Garden 1/02/10 7:08 AM

I bought a 200 litre water tub

From Garden 1/02/10 7:08 AM

From Garden 1/02/10 7:08 AM

as you can see our washing machine uses about 180 litres of water with one load. Our house uses the washing machine about 3 times a week- that's alot of water! I am going to use this water on the beds in the side of the house.

I have mulched these beds in preparation for planting.

I have just read a very good article on using grey water
http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/plant_culture/gray_water_for_gardens.html

How to Prune Tomatoes

I have one tomato plant that I bought as a small plant. It is a Mortgage Lifter which is is an indeterminant. It is very bushy my mum told me that I will need to prune it to get a good harvest.

I found the following page that explains what I need to do.

http://www.wikihow.com/Prune-Tomatoes

or this video is very good

Planting for 2010

I am trying to learn from a few of the things I have seen in 2009. Much of the problems I had with 2009 was too many pests. I also had problems training my vertical plants up sticks. To get over this I am trying to use the plants together better. I have just planted corn and beans together in a bunch of beds.

I have also planted marigolds and chamomile and strawflowers to encourage more predator insects. I have also planted basil with the tomatos.