My photo
Australia
I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Melbourne Cup Day? I am not in the race.

Melbourne Cup Day weekend is the traditional time to plant tomatoes in the veggie patch in this part of Australia.    But I am not starting with the others this year.  I usually purchase seedlings but the first time I have decided to grow my tomatoes from seed.

I didn't plant my tomato seeds until October.  I had a good strike rate but my babies are too small to put into the veggie garden yet.  So I have potted them on into compost.  I have used a range of pots: newspaper, toilet roles and some plastic tubes I had.  

I am not particularly worried as I know that once planted, tomatoes grow quickly and my harvest won't be particularly late.  Growing tomatoes is more like the tortoise and the hare having a race than thoroughbred horses.  Tomatoes planted early may be winners for a while but are often overtaken over by late starters who thrive in the warmer weather.

But, next year I will start my seeds earlier, inside, in September.



*Cup Day - public holiday in this state...for a horse race.  This year's race is the 150th.  I think Victoria is alone in having a holiday for a horse race which is held on the first Tuesday November.  Most take Monday off too and have a really loooonnngg weekend.

5 comments:

  1. Looking good.I'm tipping Bart Cummings to be there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are not in the race for more than one reason - you are not a four year old.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm with you on the "late starters" theme, Hazel. Putting tomato plants outside before the weather is decent is never good -- they just go thin and leggy and always get overtaken by stronger ones coming on from the "back of the field". What varieties are you growing? (I'm a bit of a tomato fanatic myself...)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well our Dad would be proud of me - I planted four tomato plants on Melbourne Cup Day!
    It will be interesting to compare these plants with the smaller seedlings that I will plant later when they are big enough.
    Although the Melbourne air was cold and damp today it was surprising how warm the soil has remained.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting. I love messages so write as much or as little as your want.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...