Tag Archives: flowers

Plants that grow well with tomatoes

COMPANION PLANTING – CALENDULA & MARIGOLD

Plants that grow well with tomatoes
Orange Calendula Flowers

CALENDULA & MARIGOLD

pre-spring companions
tomato, eggplant, capsicum companion plants part 1



 
 

Yellow marigold flower growing in painted tin can
The very hungry caterpillar does his grocery shopping by scent and silhouette. The European vegetable patch, everything in neat little rows, is his ultimate convenience store. The snail can just slime along that generous aisle between vegetables and mow down each snow pea it comes to. One, two, three!

Let’s not make it too easy for them shall we?

You need to fill those gaps with companion planting! We want to propagate veggies not pests! There is no room for bare earth in my tomato bed this year!

Let’s begin by sowing seeds of Calendula and Marigold.



 
 

The Desert Echo's Tomato Companion Planting Chart with sowing times
Bee on Calendula seed head
To crawl amongst these flowers is, for a bug, like the overwhelming stench of a department store perfume floor, that sweet essence of tomato leaf gets lost amongst the confusing odours and they flee, overwhelmed.

French marigolds in particular are known to deter the nematode, those transparent, millimetre long worms that carelessly multiply in your soil spreading bacteria and viruses, leaving behind them a trail of disfigured and useless tomato roots.

The repellent effect of the substances exuded from their roots is meant to last several years after the plant has been long dead.

Whiteflies tend to plague tomato plants, quivering merrily under each leaf in shimmering clouds. Tiny sucker mouths by the thousand cause young growth to deform and wilt and fruits to become disfigured. Happily marigolds deter these nasties, whilst Calendula gallantly act as a decoy crop attracting them away from the precious tomatoes.



 



3 THOUGHTS
almond-flowers-banana-leaves-august-2012

THE WISDOM OF A FLOWER

The first almond flowers of the year
I thought I had a fever.
 
As I walked that dreary path to work my skin prickled with heat, I had to tear my jacket off and then my scarf and gloves. But no, I had mistaken the glass for half empty, the sweet perfume of jasmine suddenly  

tickled the edges of my consciousness

 
and then gathered me up and carried me merrily all the way to the corner.
 
Spring was suddenly close, she was waiting!
 
 
 
Where there has been european settlement seasons are detached from place. 4 seasons that tick over like clockwork at the end of 3 months means nothing to the almond which 

wakes from its slumber

 
when it senses the end of deep winter. Its hopeful blossoms the first of the dormant orchard.

Where Melbourne is today the Aboriginal inhabitants had their own seasons based not only on weather, but lifecycle patterns of birds, animal and plants, when the first chill hinted they should move north to shelter, or first blossom meant winding there way southward to the ocean. Here they had six seasons, but ask a different tribe separated by mountains or rivers and they might have different ones.
 
 
I noticed the first buds on the almond at the end of July. I dont know about you but think I think I like the idea of embracing Pre-Spring, and shaking off the shackles of Winter a bit earlier than other Melbournians.  

Will you do the same?

 
 
I’d love to know if you have different seasons where you are. When do the the leaves turn auburn and crisp, the first snow flakes fall and does the summer heat send those nasty snails into cool, damp crevices?

 



WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Crashing waves, the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park

THE OCEAN CRASHES ONTO THE ADVENTUROUS


Windswept by the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park

The Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park

Tourists on the beach near the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park

Thunder Cave, the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park

 

Tourists tend to stick together, sometimes it’s hard to appreciate something when there are so many people trying so hard to do the same on all sides. We made a plan to return to the Twelve Apostles on a day that was not sun drenched Summer.

If you just venture a little to the west and down there are wilder adventures for those who leave the guide rail behind, past the Thunder Cave and onto the rocks. As we approached our fellow wanders they were frozen on the horizon in the act of a guilty holiday pleasure. They counted down the seconds until the wave crashed onto the rocks as he stood posed on an imaginary surfboard, the ocean had other things in mind, drenching them, squeals and all, washing away their hopes for a novelty holiday photo. Tourists can be determined though and we all rushed onto the cliff edge with renewed vigor to stand in various bizarre poses, playing chicken with the surf.

CONTINUE DOWN THE COAST…



WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Happy hens demanding food scrap treats

AUTUMN FLOWERS AND UNRULY CLIMBERS

Happy hens demanding food scrap treats

Cleaning up the garden for the open garden in April

 

Zucchini tromboncino in umbelliferae bed

Sunflowers in the driveway

Raised earthbag garden beds in autumn

Maize in the orchard

Pots on the deck

Pepperfish chilli varigated leaves

 

Watercress in the bird bath

Yellow viola bordering the legume garden bed

Eating green beans in the garden

Purple violas in the legume bed

Harvesting beetroot

Orange poppy in the legume bed

Legume bed with flower and herbs around the border

White zinnia in the brassica bed

View from legume bed into solanace bed

Painted lady runner beans

Garden beds in full autumn flush

 

For a while the garden was inconsolable, having missed the spring flush it went into a right sulk, but with autumn here, not even the shyest runner bean has been able to resist unfurling for a sun bake. We have been in a mad flurry trying to get the garden into order for our open day in April. Through January and February beach weather demanded a lot of our attention, but now with the threat of judgmental strangers raising a questioning eyebrow at wilting vines and sorry spring remnants we have to get to the business of patching up the render and getting onto that damn earth oven!

 

 

 

 

 

 



WHAT DO YOU THINK?

SUN GLINTING OFF SAND

Gracie watching swimmers at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Wild flowers in the dunes at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Flowery romper and sun hat at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Searching rock pools at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Dylan at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Dylan playing with Gracie dog at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Tom chasing Gracie dog with flippers at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Sunscreen and wetsuits at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

Sitting on rocks in a blue romper at the Grey River Beach, the Otways

The weather was finally dreaming of summer and two gloriously sunny days at the beach made up for weeks of mud and dreary grey skies above tarpaulins. We took our housemates for their first Australian beach adventure and, Antarctic water aside, I was proud of my little Australia, she really can impress when she puts a little effort in. So sun and salt washed away the tiredness, which we had been storing up, a sigh of relief that the main slog of the Permablitz was over and gently pushing the knowledge that there is so many ends untied in the garden out to sea bobbing towards the horizon for at least a few days of lazy leisure.

 



WHAT DO YOU THINK?