Here's an update to my LUT Garden, making small little steps slowly...
Tomatoes
This is the healthiest plant in my garden. It's definitely grown a lot in recent weeks and I've had to put a 4ft stake in to support it. The little tomatoes are just starting to appear, so far there's 6, if I'm lucky this will probably be the only thing I can harvest from my garden this year.
I have four more tomato plants at the other end of my planter. They're a whole month younger than the other one and a lot skinnier. Nother sure if they will be late bloomers. Guess I'll know next month.
Chinese cabbage
I'm very annoyed that all my bok choy greens have succumbed to bugs but I'm determined to grow at least something. Chinese cabbage is another option as I eat quite a lot of them. Despite protecting the seedlings in the greenhouse the insects got to them as well. I managed to save 4 healthy ones, planted them in separate pots, and covered them individually every night. So far they're looking very good.
Last week, I planted a few of the other weaker ones out in the planter. The bugs have nibbled away their leaves, and I wanted to see if they would survive in the open. If not, nothing is lost. The top image was when I planted them out on the first day, poor little plants with their tattered leaves. The image below that is three days later. They have survived and grown bigger and even new leaves!!! 👏
With my little victory, I decided to plant 1 of my 4 healthy ones out. I even set up a little tepee to protect it at night time. So far it has survived two nights with no damage. 👏👏
I think my remaining Chinese cabbage plants might be strong enough to survive the wild open now. I want to keep on protecting them but I think it's time they went into the planter. Is that how parents feel when they can't let go of their kids flying the nest?
Broad bean
Nature is really amazing. This bean seedling is one of the four I planted two months ago and they were quickly eaten up by the bugs. This one was near the boksahi compost I tipped in the planter a few weeks ago. Maybe the nourishment has helped to keep it alive. Despite the stem being quite dry it's starting to shoot new leaves. I wonder if it will continue to grow and maybe I can harvest a few beans 🫛 😀
Wolfberry
It's been up and down for my wolfberry plants. They were doing great the other month, then the leaves started to fall off, and now they're starting to grow back again. I've fed them with fertliser and the water after washing rice, it has a lot of nutrients for plants. Wolfberry are quite hardy, hopefully they'll sort themselves out now.
Fig tree
My fig tree has been doing well in my greenhouse last month. I've decided it's time to pot it so it can get used to the outside before winter. It will be a long time before I see any results here. As long as it doesn't die, then I'm winning.
Watercress
Last and not the least, I sowed some watercress seedlings two weeks ago. Apparently they're quite easy to grow in running water like streams and rivers and used to grow in wild abundance in England. Not sure how they will cope in soil. I've kept the soil wetter than normal and so far they still look very under nourished 😅
With the summer coming to an end I will have to start seeing what I can grow over winter. Perhaps I'll try garlic again and maybe potatoes, even though they're dirt cheap in UK. The satisfaction of being able to harvest something should be very nice, even if it's potatoes 🙂