What's your secret ingredient?

[AnyDream]

Just wondering, when it comes to growing fruit & veggies, what's your secret ingredient?

My friend has this amazing orange tree, turns out they put their coffee grounds around it.

I'm having problems this year with the tomatoes - which are doing pretty much nothing - and i've read to add epsom salts - apparently this is a real old timers solution and something to do with the mineral magnesium.

Also, my pumpkins are putting on lots of leafy growth but very slow with the flowers...is there something I could feed it to move this along? I've realised belatedly after fertilising it that I probably should've given it rose food instead of normal fertiliser.

So, what's your secret ingredient?

[Olive]

did you change the spot inwhich you planted your tomato plants?
i cant remember why but my dad always says you cant plant them in the same spot the next year they must be moved

[AnyDream]

Olive, hmm, they're in potting soil with some compost added, so that shouldn't be a problem (in special tomato pots). I'll remember that next time I grow them in the ground.

I'm a bit peeved actually cos my Dad is growing the other plants out of the same punnet, he used non-organic fertiliser and all sorts of whackodoo pest products on his and they are coming along magnficently. My all-organic ones are a bum-steer

[Phteven]

Worm castings and manure are the bomb.

[Party-of-five]

Im with Onyx on all things wormy...we use worm castings and worm pee on our vegies and they are fantastic!!

someone told my brother pee is good for lemon trees and he says his tree is going great now he pee's on it (remind me to pass on the tequila next time im at my brothers)

[Gigi]

marydean
crop rotate ESPECIALLY with tomatoes (to avoid tomato diseases).

when the tomatoes stop cropping, plant a nitrogen fixer like beans, peas, where you grew the toms, they will replenish the soil for you

a guild to plant WITH tomatoes, to fight bad pest and attract good ones, is basil, marigolds, chives.

bloodnbone, manure, compost and a layer of peastraw on top, will help your tomatoes grow happily. the peastraw will act as a weed mat also, and you'll get some peas sprouting up, adding nitrogen to the soil *yay*

pruning of the young tomato plant is crucial, cutting off the low down HORIZONTAL growth (to avoid fungal diseases)
staking of the young tomato plant is crucial

i'm not going to go into the getting rid of the infertile leaves and keeping the fertile ones, cos i cna't explain that in words, need diagrams. then all the nutrients go in the fruit bearing parts, not wasted.

needs good sun in the morning
shade in the afternoon
if you're in a spot that gets too much afternoon sun, rig up temp shade over the top if you can

water the tomato plant in the straw mulch (at ground level), not on the leaves

water when plant is in shade

that's all i can remember
you prolly do that already, but - heck - it's all i got.

[LimeSlice]

The grey water from your washing machine.
It is the only thing that waters ours and I have had literally kilos of tomatoes, from 2 random trees ( they sprung up in the compost bin lol). It also waters the random pumpkin that sprang up also, we have 3 on it now.

[Mak]

The oldies at work were saying plant some asprin with the tomatoes....no idea how/why tho!

[Artechim]

My grandfather blends up his food scraps and digs them in to the bottom of his fruit trees.

[AnyDream]

Thanks everyone, some good tips there. I think I'll stick to the coffee grounds though, Party of five

I've decided to ditch the tomato bushes and start again with a late season variety & fresh potting mix, etc. I might try the asprin thing this time too, I've read you can also dissolve it and pour/spray it on.

Gigi, I was mystified by your statement about fertile and infertile leaves, so I went out there today and had a good look and I think you mean get rid of the dead-end leaves, not the ones with a growing bud which is where the flowers form?

[BhoysGirl]

Gigi - your tomato advice is gold ( or maybe red ), answered a heap of questions I've got about why my toms are so ordinary. Oh well, I'm getting some, and there's always next year.

Now, if only i could grow bananas in Vic...

[meow]

Now, if only i could grow bananas in Vic...

You can! My nursery (in Melb) sells a banana plant called "Cool Bananas"

[AnyDream]

Oh quick where can I get one...I'm thinking banana prices are about to shoot up to $25/kg shortly...

[meow]

So true! Darn cyclones!

[Trillian]

MD, what type of pumpkins are they? Jap pumpkins have a longer growing period of up to 16 weeks. Or if you are using saved seed or a seedling that is self sown, then it may have been a hybrid and therefore infertile (thanks monsanto - ****ers!) Or do you have any potato plants near it?

[AnyDream]

What's about the potato plants??? No I don't have any of them...

...BUT all my poompikins are compost-sprung this year...appear to be several different types growing so surely some of them would have to be fertile. I've had compost ones in the past, one year I had these really wild ones that were the shape of a butternut but patterned like a Jap...suuuuuuch good eating. They seem to have taken off a bit more since I started the thread, so, we'll see.

[Trillian]

Pumpkins and pototoes are mortal enemies of each other LOL. Seriously, they aren't companion plants so you have to keep them apart otherwise they wont grow properly. If they were sprung from compost scraps, then I would say that they are not fertile. The plant will still grow just fine, but you are unlikely to get any fruit as the original plant was probably a hybrid or bred as a single use plant and any saved seeds would be sterile. If you do happen to get a fertile seed self sow, any fruit can be a bit hit and miss in quality. I remember a few years ago FIL had a pumpkin plant shoot in the chook pen and it grew the most bizarre looking pumpkins but they were 100% edible.

[Gigi]

Keep the potatoes in their OWN section of the garden. Potatoes are part of the deadlynightshade family, and are real greedy guts vis a vis gobbling up the nutrients of the soil. so best keep them by themselves (even though they may pop up in amongst other veggies willy nilly, be strong, weed them out, so your other veggies get a fighting chance.

i have "helped along" some pumpkins. The boy ones have a stamen (like a little stick shape) inside the flower, the girl ones have a frilly bit inside the flower, so if you tickle the two together (LOL), you "help them" have a pumpkin ha ha. The sex life of plants is pretty funny. I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but really, it's putting the boy bits and the girl bits together.

i just remembered what i got told about tomato plants. Pretend you are growing a standard rose, or a shady tree.
As your little tomato plant grows, BE STRONG and pinch off ALL new horizontal growth, you are being cruel to be kind.
So that the plant grows with a nice, strong, VERTICAL upright, and only ONE of them.
then when it's a few feet off the ground, THEN let a few horizontal branches start doing their thing. And do stake them. Cos it's the branches lying on the ground (and they will when loaded with fruit) that will get fungal diseases happening, waste precious tomatoes etc. So grow the plant with good clearance. Then when you water the plant, it will be easy to get water to the roots, and nOT on the leaves.

this is all stuff i heard, when part of a big permaculture group, lots of garden working bees, based on "no dig" gardens, sheet mulching etc.