Wilt problems with tomatoes

Sadly, though my tomato plants got really big and seemed to be developing well (flowers then fruits) it turned out that they had some sort of fungal wilt and I've now had to discard the plants and the soil. First the leaves started to go yellow, but I thought this was just the heat or lack of water. But it got worse, and leaves dried up completely, and the green tomatoes started to turn brown and blotchy. I believe it was fusarium wilt after googling the symptoms.

I haven't taken any pictures (sorry) but it isn't very nice to see except if you wanted to identify your own wilt. All I know is that I had to throw out all the soil and disinfect tools and gloves I know I'd used with them, in case I spread it to other plants. The courgette right beside the tomatoes is fine -- maybe courgettes can't get this variety of wilt. A potted physalis is showing signs of it unfortunately, in fact I think this plant might have been the first to get it. I'm not sure what caused it, though I hear poor drainage can make wilts more likely -- this year my plants were in a tall PVC type growbag (see photo in my previous blog entry) and had water retaining crystals in the compost, maybe the drainage wasn't as good as last year when I had pots on top of a regular flat plastic growbag.

I had one "spare" tomato plant at the bottom of the garden that is starting to fruit, so perhaps I will still get a few tomatoes, though this has been a disappointing year for them in my garden.

First courgette harvested!

This is the first courgette that's ripened on my Taxi plant.  (A yellow variety as you can see). It was about 10 cm long. So they haven't all just dropped off when tiny, as they did last year. I also fried one of the flowers - not stuffed or anything, just in oil. They tasted good! Hopefully next time I pick one there might be two or three.

July garden flourishing

The garden is doing well from all the rain (with a bit of sun mixed in). My tomatoes and courgette plants are very leafy and big, with baby tomatoes starting to develop, and baby courgettes.

I'll have to wait and see whether the courgettes will drop off (not fertilised) as mine did last year. I think they are bigger than last time though and I have more flowers of both sexes at the same time, so I'm hopeful.

I tried to pollinate it with a cotton bud to give it the best chance in case the bees haven't helped me.

This dahlia flower has just opened fully. The plant has also got very big, with a few other buds. It's growing just by my lupins and in full sun, so I think it likes the location.

Tomatoes planted out

I hardened off 2 Sweet Million baby tomato plants (red) and 1 Sungold (yellow) over the last week or 2 and finally planted them out. The reds are from seed and the yellow was bought young. I wasn't growing Sungold this year but I couldn't resist buying it for 50p since Sungold were so good (tasty and prolific) last year. All are planted in one polyethylene-type planter. My growbag with pots on top worked well last year, hopefully this will be as good.

moved house

Haven't managed to post for a while. Mostly because I've been moving house. I moved most of the garden with me (or tried to) since we weren't going far. Is interesting what's made it. The tulip bulbs have probably about 70% survived (depending on flowering stages, maybe I didn't dig them up that carefully) and allium have done well and are about to flower now. Some of these bulbs I planted in pots sunk into the flowerbed (knowing that I would be moving them), and these have done the best as I was able to transfer a big root system more easily. These bulbs were all from last spring/summer anyway so for them to repeat flower and survive a move is good. This transplanted lupin seems happy too!

My Russells lupins are a few years old and re-seeded themselves into multiple plants. I moved 3 of them - this one moved first into the sunniest spot and seems to be doing better than those in more shade. Actually it has 3 flower spikes now which is more than it ever at once had in the old garden! I think the dry weather has also minimised the growth of the others. I thought I'd try a few spots though as I like how they nourish the plants around them. The one above has lots of seedlings (love in a mist, cornflower, poppy) and a moved previous year's dahlia tuber doing well near it. I am prepared to put up with it popping up all over the garden for the benefits. :) I saw some blue bi-colour lupins recently and was sad not to buy them, but I knew I had enough of the current ones. Maybe next year.

chick pea & pomegranate plants from seed

This is what a 3 week old chick pea plant looks like, pretty! And below are sprouted pomegranate seeds, also after about 3 weeks on moist kitchen roll in a plastic food bag, in the dark. The seeds just put straight into compost haven't appeared.. but I've potted these germinated ones.

thrifty seed ideas

I had seen people elsewhere on the web saying that you could use toilet roll cardboard inners to make cheap biodegradable pots, also that they are good for transferring young plants to outside without having to disturb their roots. I am trying some salad leaves as it is too early to grow these outside yet. Rocket and mustard Oriental Pizzo. Rocket grows very fast - this is only a few days after sowing.

I read in Alys Fowler's inspiring book "the Thrifty Gardener" that many grocery items or seeds from fruits/veg you buy can be planted. She suggested chick peas and pomegranates amongst others, to make nice house plants (chances of an actual crop will be low but they should look nice), so I am trying both. The chick pea is beginning to grow as you can see. I just sprouted some dried chick peas from a packet for a few days (soaking then rinsing) and planted a few in a pot of compost.

Finally, some seeds planted in egg shells (eggs halved and cleaned then put back in the egg box). I have planted a few different flower seeds. Again, I think you can plant on in the shells (will need to crack open the bottom to let the roots get out, the egg shell should slowly break down and put calcium to the soil.)