Storm, Rain and Pestilence
As we settled into bed my husband's disappointed voice informed me that it looked like we were going to have rain all week and into the weekend. I almost breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, “thank heavens for that!” We'd had some warm dry days and I'd already been struggling to keep on top of watering. The soil was drying up rapidly and there were still lots of things pulling me out of the house and away from the garden. Watering isn't something that can be put off like the winter weeding. Without water, plants will die, but weeds are just a bit of competition for my other plants. Besides, they are also food for rabbits, so I don't mind a bit of growth. As long as we don't get another hailstorm like we had at the end of October.
Currently I can't get through to make an insurance claim because, as you can probably guess, they are a bit snowed (or should that be hailed? 🤔) under in the claims department since the event. Our pergola damage is mild compared to some, as well.
We had no injuries to the poultry due to the mesh covering their runs and most of our fruit trees are also protected in this way. Others across Adelaide have lost a lot of potential crops on trees caught in the hail, while only our loquat tree got some bruised fruit and a few knocked off.
The heat and stress didn't take long to show on the sugar snap peas in the form of powdery mildew. I feel I could have delayed this with better watering and had them cropping a bit longer. Still, I'll salvage what I can and any that have gone a bit beyond their best stage can be shelled as normal peas. Ironically the peas in them aren't particularly sweet, the sugars seem to be reserved for the pods. As annoyed as I am at myself for not getting the best from them, I've managed to prepare and freeze more than I did last year and still shared some with a friend.
I didn't do so well with those coriander plants I pledged to harvest sooner this year, though. I used very little before they started bolting...
And the coriander is flowering again...
The rabbits aren't complaining, though. They eat them however they come and don't mind the extra fibre.
Every year I tell myself I'll do better. I'll keep on top of the weeds in winter better, I'll make more effort to water with the rain water…it never happens, though. I have spurts, but am never consistent enough.
The courgette plants are taking off in a huge way!
Unfortunately the cucumbers haven't been so lucky at escaping nibbling from something. I've been going out most nights, but never actually find anything on them, just the occasional slug, millipede or earwig nearby, which I've removed. One plant is completely down for the count, but I'm hoping at least one of the others will survive.
Another plant that is finally starting to grow fast enough to beat the bugs is the snake bean. I have two so far that look like they'll make it to adulthood.
I probably need to get the chickens in that run again, once everything has been harvested, to try and break the bug cycles a bit. Either that, or I just grow parsley, which self seeds and doesn't seem to be particularly popular with bugs. I just don't eat that much of it, though, and the rabbits' wee smells really strong when they eat it, which isn't fun when they are indoor rabbits.
Parsley and lambs quarter seem to grow fast enough to defy the bugs. Looking at this photo, I also notice some leaf mining, so I should nip that in the bud before it gets worse.
The same two chilli plants survived what is now their second winter. They don't look great at the moment, but new foliage is growing and I see buds on the smaller one, which I think is a birdeye chilli or a cross between birdeye and Thai chilli. The other is the jalapeno and last summer the leaves were rather yellowed looking, so I didn't expect it to survive. Hopefully this season I can figure out what was causing this and remedy it.
I was gifted a couple of new chilli plants by a friend. I wasn't told what they are, but looking at the chillis developing I'd guess habanero. Either way, one should be red when ripe and the other yellow.
I'm not overly fond of habenaroes. They have a good heat level, but no not really any better than the birdeyes and that chilli flavour I know and love is absent. Nevermind, something growing is better than nothing and I can still research other chillis that might weather our winters to be permanent fixtures.
Added a bit about the chilli plants at the end for you, @blingit. I hope you weren't hoping for a howto, though, because I just wing it. 😅
lol i MISSED THIS .... until i had WAY To much wine after work and was browsing for good things to read.... Thanks for the chilis... no... i'm all good growing chili... no how to needed... :-) :-)
shame about the bolted corriander.. they get so water stressed easy and bolt away.... I don't have much luck with it and it is one of my favourite things to eat.
I'm currently contemplating a whole chili garden.... like about 30 chili plants. But i do think i should diversity... not sure i have grown a habanero...?
Hope you got some rain.
Sarah
In that case, maybe I should pick you brains on the chilli that is producing blotchy yellowed leaves. Do you think it's anything specific missing or probably just in need of more nutrients generally? I have them next to the chicken run and was hoping the stuff they kicked out would be enough to keep nutrient levels up, but it doesn't seem like it. I also wonder if the soil ph might be to alkaline, as my soil is on the alkaline side. I'm going to try watering regularly with compost tea, anyway and see what happens.
Wow! That's a lot of chilli plants you're planning on! Do you really use that much?
Yes, I hate how quickly coriander always bolts. The family likely don't care, though, they don't like it anyway. One day I'd love to get an aquaponics system going and I wonder if I can grow it in there.
We actually got nearly two weeks of good rainfall in the end. It's easing off again now; just a sprinkling the last couple of days, so I've been topping up when I can.
depends if they are new leaves or older leaves... yellow leaves is nutrient deficiency normally if it is new leaves that means it is a micro nutrient deficiency and if it is older leaves often macro nutrient deficiency as the plants sends the good stuff to the new growth..
but if super blotchy and diseased looking it could be another fungus or something... :-)
Hmm. The newer leaves start out green, then get yellowed as they grow. They look healthy otherwise, though. I have no idea what the difference between micro and macro nutrients is...
@minismallholding that sounds like you need macro nutrients... a good dose of the red powerfeed fertilizer (the one for fruit) or something like that would be a good start... Chili plants are very "needy" of good food to produce lots of fruit. :-)
What, spend money!? 😨
Looks like compost and manure are the recommended free to come by stuff. I'll give them a go first and add some epsom salts. 😉
lol... yes these will work too... just perhaps not as fast :-) :-) I would add worm tea as well if you have a worm farm...
I don't have a worm farm, but sometimes I can pick worm tea up from others. I'll grab some next time I get the chance. I'm hoping if I soak the manure and compost for a bit and water with it too, it will take the nutrients down a bit quicker. 🤞
that sounds great.... poop is a great garden friend... unhappily my folks left the country this year and i am now down a few horses to steal their poop... lol... I might have to phone a friend for some... lol... that will be fun... Hey Kate... you have horses... can i come and shovel poop??? lol
mix the poop with some soil or something so it won;t burn them... :-) (To be fair not sure that it would or wouldn't but just be careful :-) )
do show us how you go. I'm doing a video of my place today as we are mid QLD torrential rain... lol no gardening for me
We're close to some suburban/country properties and I used to collect horse poo from some who advertised it on Gumtree. There are others that come up occasionally as well, but I think it started traking off, because the adverts came down before we could get to them. I'll have to keep an eye out again. We got some sheep poo one time from a guy we gave eggs to who has family up north. That was amazing stuff! I've never had such good broccoli! They were all well matured too, so low risk of burn.
Currently I'm limited to chicken and rabbit poos. Rabbit is good, because no need to mature. Chicken I let dry first, then either soak in water to dilute and water with it or, like you say, mix it with soil before planting.
It was great to have the chickens protected, when weather is bad and hail comes down it can be dangerous.
I wonder if holding the plants in greenhouse would insure more protection. It is a lot of work to maintain a garden and have it destroyed in minutes because of the bad weather
In the case of this hail, you'd have needed toughened glass for a greenhouse to withstand it (this wasn't the biggest hailstone we got). Some of the local tomato producers had to dispose of loads of ripe tomatoes after the glass from the greenhouses they were in was shattered. They couldn't risk glass shards in the fruit. Mind you, some people had broken car windows as well, so even toughened glass got damaged. Hopefully it was a one off that we don't get again for decades.
One of the chickens was casually strolling around during the hail, so yes, I'm definitely grateful for that protection.
Wow, this was serious hail! I feel so sorry for the people who had to throw away ripe tomatoes, so many hours of work went down the drain. Is toughened glass that expensive? I would consider it as a good investment if the weather is getting bad, the crops need protection otherwise the farmers work for nothing.
I wonder if the government could help with this. Going green is quite a thing and also sustainable agriculture can be supported.
In our country there were some grants given to people who wanted to put solar panels on their roof and use natural materials as wool to insulate their house. Maybe building great weather proof greenhouses could he a thing. It would be pretty awesome
Brave little chicken strolling during a hail storm lol.
That piece of ice is scary.
I am also having some problems removing weeds in my vegetable garden since I became a full-time gardener last July. And same with you, I can only manage to do it in spurts.
And I too have the same problem with the leaf miner in my tomatoes, tomorrow I will be removing some of the leaves that were ravaged by the miner.
You really have to be on top of those leaf miners, don't you! Luckily the one I currently have is in plants edible to the chickens, so that will help me dispose of it.
I will keep that in mind, this is my first time dealing with leaf miners.
Hailstones in October??!!! That's like spring for you guys right? You can add that ball of ice to your drink!!! The world has really gone mad.
Yes, that is spring! It's nearly summer and we've had so much rain and wind these past two weeks that we even lit the woodburner for a few days. That's unprecedented here!
Thinks are looking GOOD! Every year there's successes and failures, and every year I tell myself things will be better, that I'll be more on top of things, fix that issue etc - lol, who am I kidding!
I have managed to get one maui chilli going of yours - it's about half an inch tall so far lol!!! The rest didn't take - I think I planted the seeds too early or something. But the weather's been odd as well...
One is enough, as long as it continues growing. I seem to remember mine trading aaages to germinate. As you say, could have temperature/weather. I haven't seeded any this year. Decided I didn't need that many of what is essentially one type of chilli, so I'll leave it with the birdeye. I'd quite like to get a larger, slightly milder type going.
I think that telling yourself you'll do better and trying to do better but in the end falling back into old habits because it's infinitely easier is a common problem ^_^;
That hailball shape was quite impressive O_O (there had to be something good about it given that it looks like the hail made a bit of a mess!)
That was my favourite hailstone. Considering they were effectively weapons at this point, I thought it suitable that it put me in mind of a sea mine. There were a few bigger ones, but they just looked like meteors, so not as fancy looking.
I have experienced mildews on my plants and what I did in the past was to use baking soda diluted in water say 1 tablespoon to half liter water and put it in a spray container. I used to plant cannabis in pots, I only had once a problem and they were solved with the baking soda +water spray.
Thank you for the tip. I've heard of a milk spray being used for it, but our milk is expensive, so I don't like the idea of using it. I may need to prepare something for the courgette plants later in the year. They can be susceptible to mildew too.
Bummer about the hail! That was some big pieces.
They were quite something! I thought large pea size were big until that day. We got plenty of hail in England, but never more than small pea size and usually much smaller.