It's On!

 

I haven’t been home much over the last few weekends due to olive oil judging and speaking commitments. But come Monday to Friday, planting opportunities abound.

Late in the evening of Friday the 16^th of September saw carrot seeds hit the dirt. While carrots wouldn’t be my first choice for survival food, a short row or two of baby carrots is required to validate the Man versus Carrot concept.

But the big guns went in as well. Four “Mighty Red” and a further four “Approved Apollo” tomatoes also hit the dirt. No, not the purist JenkoBianco seed types, but littl’uns from a punnet. From trials that I have done in the past, the little fellows catch up to the bigger ones pretty quick smart. Google earth will show that the rows weren’t that straight, but it was freekin dark when I put them in (well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!).

This year the tomatoes went in a good 50cm apart. It is a mistake to plant tomatoes too closely. Yes, they crop well so there is the temptation to squeeze as many as you can into the smallest amount of space, but tightly packed tomato plants mean one thing - disease. Analogously, they found this out in 1394 when the black plague swept through London. Lots of crop for a few weeks followed by a long slow painful plant death with zillions of small green tomatoes that you know will never make it to maturity. In the tomato world, “Bring out your dead” means pulling off green tomatoes off dead crispy diseased bushes come News Year Day. So for the first time I’ve gone low density - 50x60cm. Time will tell if I avoid the dreaded spots, yellowing and the dreaded wilts that have plagued me for the last few years.