Heat Wave and Pest Solutions in the Vegie Patch

1 Mar '06 4:08 am

[color=indigo]i try to apply permaculture principles to my gardening. It doesn't look as glam, but the results seem to happen.

Heatwave protection.
I planted a vegie garden in a week that had a heatwave - and everything survived.
I put a structure above the part of the vegie patch that got the most sun, laid two sheets of old fibreglass on the structure, weighed down with some bricks, and created a safe haven.

Mynar bird protection
Mynar birds love to dig seedlings up around the base, so i put any wire structures i could find around my babies, old dish racks, bbq toast racks, ANYTHING i could find, even an old Barbie doll bed frame. The point is, use anything you can find that will do the job.

The tomato frames are perfect but i only had a limited number of them.

The only pests i have had to deal with have been the occasional graeen tomato worm (which is actually a caterpillar, is a vivid lime green colour very well camouflaged amongst the tomato leaves) - careful observation of the babies and squishing under your boot will rid them.

COMPANIONS FOR TOMATOES:
I have planted marigolds and chives and basil near my tomato plants as a companion guild - seems to be working great. Been plucking out all the baby potatoes that keep popping up (from the compost i made) - read these are heavy feeders and need to be grown alone.[/color]

23 Mar '06 8:01 am

I like the companion planting for tomatoes too. I love the colours of marigolds in the vege garden. Great excuse (not that one should be needed) for planting these easy flowers.