Polystyrene Palace

The Fat Fruit greenhouse is full of veggies and seedlings growing quickly and vigorously.

I have planted quite a few things in polystyrene boxes.  They seem to be working well and the soil remains damp for up to two days. 

 Some are fruit boxes, but the ones pictured below came from a chemist.  They had no holes so I punched some in the side of the boxes about 2 cms up from the bottom in the hope that they would drain, but also maintain some moisture to 'wick' up through the potting mix.

There are various varieties of capsicum...red, orange, and brown.

Lots of leaves...rocket, oakleaf lettuce (red and green), silver beet, and a box of 'mixed leaves'.

Where I live, I would be just planting out tomatoes.

In the greenhouse they are as tall as my shoulder, flowering and setting fruit!

The eggplants are thriving.

And there are more seedlings to pot up, or plant out in the garden.

Winter tomatoes

I was able to source some seeds for winter-growing tomatoes.  I planted them back in January and have now planted the seedlings out.  Some are in this bed in the greenhouse, which I part-filled using the no-dig layering method.  Others I have planted in the vegetable garden.  I am skeptical about the future of the outside ones, given the frosts we have here in the valley.  

No-dig garden.

Layer one:  several layers of overlapped newspaper.

Wet each layer well as it is added.

Layer Two:  straw

Layer Three: animal manure.

Layers Four, Five, Six (as many as you want): repeat of previous layers.

Each seedling is planted in compost, nestled in the top straw layer and watered in well with seaweed extract.

The smell

When I went in to water in the Fat Fruit Greenhouse yesterday, my nose was assailed by an unmistakable smell...

ripe melon!

It was so ripe, it had begun to split.

Inside it was juicy, sweet and full of flavour.

 Unfortunately, it was a bit on the small size.  There is a lesson to be learned for the gardener here.  There were two melon plants in a large pot. Although well watered, they were not often fed.  Pollinators had trouble finding the flowers inside the greenhouse.






So next time I will:

• Have one plant to a pot
• Feed weekly with fish emulsion and seaweed extract (alternate weeks)
• Get to work with a small paint brush to pollinate the flowers.

Pictures say it all

I do have to add, these were crisp and sweet as they looked.

I could also say, 

these are only two of a parade from the greenhouse.

And, I suppose it goes without saying;

Capsicums adore growing

in a greenhouse.

Do I need a greenhouse in Summer?

With all the lovely warm weather the whole vegetable garden 

has grown amazingly and is lush and fruitful.

So why bother with a greenhouse?

Well, because the fruit in the greenhouse is

BIGGER...

and PERFECT

They have no blemishes...

 and no bugs have found them.

Fat Fruit - biggest and best!

I am pleased to announce the arrival

of the first tomato of the season

- Grosse Lisse

delivered safely by the Fat Fruit Greenhouse.

Sister for Capsicum and Chilli.

The facts are:

• Two tomatoes were picked.
• The larger one on the left was from the Fat Fruit Greenhouse the other out of the garden.
• Both plants were grafted Grosse Lisse planted at the same time.
• The Greenhouse delivered the larger fruit and the plant has lots more good sized fruit on it already.
• The plant in the garden, although coming a dead heat in the race for first fruit, provided a smaller specimen AND has no other fruit set.

So the Green house wins...

AGAIN!

Delicious, sweet little Broad Ripple Tomatoes.

More capsicums on the way.

These seeds germinated in two days!

More than just 'green'!

You would expect to see green in a GREEN-house...

this photo is taken from the outside.  

That's a watermelon vine plotting an escape...

...and the GREEN leaves of the cantaloupe which is threatening a take-over.

But there are other colours too.  

Like the MAUVE of the eggplant/aubergine flower...

 

... the YELLOW of the ripening Broad Ripple tomatoes.

 The BLACK Pearl Chilli is living up to its name.

 ...and the excitement of ORANGE 

on a ripening Grosse Lisse tomato.  

The first for the season.

And my favourite...RED!  

(This one has already been eaten...sweet!)

But not to worry, the WHITE and GREEN in these photos 

give promise of more to come.