GOODBYE SUNNY

Well this day had to come and I am sad to say I have had to harvest my sunflower and write the last chapter in the book SUNNY.

The wet weather hastened the end so I had to remove the flower head and dry indoors

Packed solid with seeds

An-abundance of nutrition

The continuos wet weather make life challenging even with a grow house, as the ground is so wet it turns to mud very quickly so I try to keep traffic to a minimum.

BYE SUNNY

Something different

One of the exciting things of running a grower group is the little snippets of information that I get sent or photos of plants thriving in this system that I personally have not grown.
Some of our growers push the boundary's which is great I love it. here is a couple of photos I want to share from one of our growers who is well on the way of being self sufficient with and extensive variety of plants I just want to show you one that you may not have thought of.

Dwarf Mulberry 

Mulberry fruiting in first year

These trees are in a Perlight /Vermiculite 50/50 Mix in 12" Single Hydrotrays.

There is no limit to what you can grow with this system here are a couple of new things that I have

Peanuts

If you look closely you can see the the long stems dropping down to the ground the peanuts will develop down in the ground, quite a fascinating plant.

A Yellow Tomato Variety

Strawberry's in Perlite Mix

I have not grown Strawberry's before because I have a wonderful Strawberry farmer just down the road but he's gone on holiday so no second crop so this is a new experience with the system.

My Malabar Spinach

My beautiful Sunflower packed with seeds

Every Gardener Needs one!

Autopot Capillary Table

Welcome to Autumn I have been flat out potting up seedling and that's when I realised just how wonderful the Capillary Table really is,. If you love growing your own or love striking cuttings of any form of prorogation then you should have one of these tables.

On this 1260 x 720 mm top as you can see is a huge array of plants the larger one at the back right is an eggplant that has been on the table from day one and now has fruit on it. this is a real efficient unit and a must for any serious gardener. Ring me if you want to order one or email 0412174733 or auto.group@optusnet.com.au

Tomato cutting

Tomatoes what's the options
Do you grow from seed, seedlings or from cuttings?

I use all three and the tomato in the picture above is a cutting, this was a middle lateral that you normally pinch out, well here is the trick. let it grow to around 10 - 12 cm cut it out cleanly and place into potting mix but make sure you  make a hole for it, don't push it into the pot or you will damage the edges, if you have rooting compound then use it, in the case above it was just put carefully into the pot and firmed around and left sitting on my capillary table. Think about it if you start cuttings from each planting when they are half grown you would have an all year round supply of plants.

How many?

Hybrid Cucumber.

I am often asked how many plants should I put in to a pot, I get the impression that often people think because its such a brilliant feeding system why not put extra plants in a pot. My view is that I would rather have one healthy plant producing at maximum than a bunch of average plants that are prone to sickness and insects. What you see in the picture above is 2 cucumbers in a 2 pot 10" hydrotray, these 2 plants will give me over between  40 to 50 plus fruit they will develop a root system that will fill the pot so why spoil it. Think Quality and grow time, the quicker a plant grows the more nutritious it is for you.

These 2 plant will take over one end of my tunnel as you can see with the current crop in the next photo.

Cucumber and Pink Pearl Tomatoes hanging from the roof.


Here are a few more happenings around the place.

Petunia for my mobile display

Peanuts

My Crazy spinach

Another question that comes up a lot is what's the best medium?

I have experiment with just about everything and I do use a lot of soil note I said soil not potting mix I have found some of the potting mixes especially the cheep ones are no good and your plants will die I think its a chemical conflict with the way some of them work with our nutrient.

If you are not exposed to lots of rain that can wash out your nutrient then use Perlite, or Perlite / Vermiculite 50 / 50 mix that way you will have no conflict. For a soil medium I use Osomoaote organic soil. note it's a soil not a potting mix.

I have just done a lettuce plant in 50 /50 mix as you can see.

Lettuce in 50/50 mix

What ever you decide don't use a cheap potting mix as it can kill your plants due to chemical reaction.

If you would like to receive our monthly  GROWER GROUP news letter or to join our grower group just email me auto.group@optusnet.com.au