Monday, December 19, 2011

Saraba Summer Sweet Corn (さらば夏のトウモロコシ)

Strangely this warm season we have many self-seeded tomato plants growing in containers by itself. A lazy gardener that I am, I did not weed them and I just let them grow in the container. So this week some of the self-seeded tomato fruit had ripen like the yellow pear cherry tomatoes. Not sure what variety the red tomatoes is. The yellow currant cherry tomatoes harvest is more than 1kg every week. 
I thinned out some purple top turnip yesterday as its foliage was shadowing our capsicum plants. We also harvested some beetroots and a Lebanese zucchini before our night visitors enjoyed them. Some of our flowering capsicum and beetroot leaves has completely became bald each day last week. I have not encountered yet "our night visitor" that is enjoying our plants at the back of our backyard fence (council reserve land). But judging on how the plants were attacked it looks like the work of a big animal like possum. In one night, this visitor managed to eat 2 green capsicum fruit and the whole plant leaves. Furthermore, it also enjoyed many of our carrot blossoms that were planned for collecting seeds. Sadly, most of our young capsicum plants has gone missing or without leaves. A new challenge.
We harvested some self-seeded Chinese spinach,a kohlrabi, some baby leeks, eggplants and a sweet corn. I think this is the only decent looking sweet corn that we are able to harvest for this summer. Its hard to grow sweet corn which is a heavy drinker here in the driest city in Australia in summer. After 3 consecutive summer growing sweet corn with unsatisfactory results, its time for me to give up on them. Better to grow sweet corn at the end of summer and early fall which we had good harvest this year.
Therefore, farewell (saraba/sayonara) summer sweet corn.
I sowed sweet corn at the end of August this year and it managed only to grow about 30cm until now. I think it such a waste of water to grow them. Might as well grow other drought tolerant edible plants that does not required too much water. Too much stress for the sweet corn to grow in summer season here.

23 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

You have a lot there you harvested. Sorry about the capsicum.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Kirsty @ Bowerbird Blue said...

you could try baby corn, they're a bit quicker and more forgiving. Something just ate my corn plants - pulled half of them from the ground - those garden pests make you want to cry some times.

Sean L said...

Love the pear tomatoes. Masa kecik dulu suka makan. Skrg jarang jumpe kat sini. Looks like you've got a dine-in guest at your garden.

Mark Willis said...

Sounds like your "Night visitor" gives you much the same trouble as I have with foxes (except that Idon't think the foxes have tried nibbling my chillis. Perhaps it would be better if they did - it might discourage them from trying the other stuff!)
Congratulations on reaching the magic 200 Followers!

kitsapFG said...

Always a mystery until sighted... those night time marauders of all things green. We usually have problems with bunnies but they are noticeably absent this winter. I think it is the feral cat who hangs about our place (we feed him). I think he has been keeping the wildlife population down or scared off which is an added benefit of his being around.

cathy@home said...

I know what you mean about the sweetcorn it drinks too much water.

shaz said...

So many tomatoes!!! Sorry to hear about your night visitors. Hope it's not possums, they are so persistent and so hard to deter.

Barbie~ said...

LOVE sweet corn, plant it twice a year and twice a year I harvest about 5 ears. BUT, it's absolutely worth it. That's a taste that just cannot be beat!

Sue Garrett said...

Our sweetcorn was poor this year - it was just too dry for it. As for tomatoes we often get tomato weeds in the greenhouse. On filter beds where the water is purified tomato plants usually grow in the sewage - undigested seeds!

Ottawa Gardener said...

Your harvest brings back memories of summer for me. It all looks very tasty. I haven't grown much sweet corn but next year I plan on attempting a larger patch.

Norma Chang said...

Being a lazy gardener can bring great rewards. Lovely tomatoes and vegetables collection.

my name as... said...

norma chang agree with you....

Liz said...

Great tomatoes - I have had one from my broad ripple currant so far - shows the difference in climate between Melbourne & Adelaide I guess. What are the purple leaves in the 3rd photo?

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Wish i stay near to you, hehehe! great jobs!

Unknown said...

wow... your tomatoes look gorgeous... unfortunately here in India we get only patio and red cherry tomato plants. I am currently looking to buy yellow cherry or yellow pear tomato seeds online.

lena said...

sorry to hear about the bald leaves and plants, but with your high enthusiasm , i'm sure you will be able to find those pets who ate them!

Autumn Belle said...

Your are certainly a great 5-in-1 wife, mom, cook, gardener and student! Good harvest.

makcikmanggis said...

banyaknya buah tomato..eh ada tetamu tak di undang ke:)...oh ya..nak tanya siki ni Diana......bunga matahari Cm dah tua..bila patut di petik bunganya sebab sebelum ini Cm biarkan bunga tu kering di atas pokok sehingga pokoknya mati baru dipetik bunganya tapi semua biji matahari tu reput..kenapa ya?

Dani P. said...

Wow, great tomatoes ! And they are self seeding ? Very convenient.
Sorry for the night visitor. Possum ? That's an exotic name for me. Hope you will find out what it is.

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

Thank you so much for your offer of some larkspur seeds! I will email you my address here in Canada. 1 kg of cherry tomatoes a week! I can only aspire to your success with vegetables. I hope you can figure out how to deter the possum. As always, your harvest baskets and bowl are things of beauty.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cher~It was the first batch of capsicum planted that were eaten. Lucky we have other capsicum growing on other places.

Kirsty~I hope some of your corn plants are safe. They do want to make us cry sometime.

Sean L~Siang-siang ni pula banyak nampak binatang besar macam tikus warna kelabu cair dan telinga besar berlegar-legat at my container garden.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Mark~Our night visitor has not been invading the house compound house yet. Just outside the fence. Hope they won't enter.

KitsapFG~Our neighbour cat usually come to visit and play in our garden. Maybe he rarely come these days. Maybe he is being kept indoors as the weather is getting increasingly warmer.

Cathy~Yup sweetcorn very heavy drinker.

Shaz~I read somewhere before that tomato plants are poisonous. So I am hoping that night visitor won't made our tomato plants bald. Footprints seems to look like possum.

Barbie~Nothing beat fresh home-grown sweet corn. We plan to plant them again at the end of summer when we don't lost water that quickly.

Sue~Tomato seeds seems to be easily sprouting anywhere. We have many self-sowed seedlings popping out but I am too lazy to weed them.

Ottawa Gardener~Hope you can grow more sweet corn next year! Eating fresh sweet corn from the plant is an experience that will never be forgotten.

Norma Chang~Sometime can be rewarding. But staking tomato at the last minute makes it difficult task later.

My name as...~Sometime the garden does give nice presents.

Sonia~Wish the same thing too...everyday can smell nice cooking...hehehe...from your place.

A twisted vine~Hope you find some yellow tomato seeds. It is fun to grow something that rarely seen in the market.

Lena~I am very weak against furry cuddly looking animal. I probably tutup mata if it does not cause too much trouble in the garden.

Autumn Belle~ I am not sure the part about student though. I think my supervisor will think I need to improve a lot.

makcikmanggis~Ada tetamu pulak sekarang ni. Tetamu tak cukup makan kut. Tapi datang tiap hari makan sikit-sikit.

Dani~Self-seeding tomatoes usually supply tomatoes earlier to us than the one we sowed. More hardy as well.

Jennifer~I hope I can send the seeds to you soon.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Liz~ The purple leaves in the 3rd photo is Chinese spinach. Once left it flower, it stays in the garden. Those are self-sowed which is good cos I keep on forgetting to sow them and they cut and come again leaf veggies. In South-East Asia, this plant is believe to cool down the body.