Hybrid Zucchini - Green Tiger

35 days to harvest is the claim....

I grew "normal" courgette/baby marrow last season, and they were really prolific. They tend to sprawl, though, so not that suited to container cultivation.

Update 2016/10/12:

The seeds failed to come up, to the extent I replanted with baby marrow a few weeks later. A few days ago it looks like everything germinated at once, so presumably germination depends on temperature. Now not sure which is which!

Update 2016/10/22:

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2016/12/02:

Assorted patty pan squash

These were very successful last season - most of them were the yellow ones. Fifty days to harvest is the claim.

Update 2016/10/12:

Same story as Zucchini - about a month to germinate, but there they all are.

Update 2016/10/22:

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2016/12/02:

Veld fire and rain water collection

What happens to PVC fittings if they get too close to a brush fire.

The gutter sort of melted off the fascia board.

And the rain water tank looks sad... it was about half full. The bottom patch is intact, but the top one melted through.

I wonder what half a tank could be used for?

Globe Artichoke

Previous entry on globe artichokes here.

In its second year:

The crown is well established, so this year should see good growth.

I moved the plant in the other tyre to a different location. It took a bit of a knock, but is growing. Much smaller than the one above, but will have much more room to expand..

Update 2016/10/01:

Two extra artichokes in tyres. The spacing between them is probably better.

Update 2016/10/29

An extra two plants added, making six in all, each in their own tyre.

Update 2016/11/30:

First bud from established plant. Still small. so will have to play it by ear when to pick it...

Update 2017/01/23:

Update 2017/05/11:

Angelica

In its second year:

Still haven't really found a use for it, but it's getting big enough to be able to cut a leaf stem or two and crystallize them.

Spring

Light drizzles, and slightly overcast since the start of the month.

The oak tree on the Kingswood field, viewed fromlounge window.

Erythrina Caffra, viewed through bare branches of helicopter tree.

Rainfall monitoring in Grahamstown - Oregon Scientific wireless device

I miss the rainfall and temperature graphs that used to be available online from the Rhodes University weather station, so I lashed out and bought an Oregon Scientific wireless rain logger at the beginning of August. (Thanks to Chris Duncombe-Rae for planting this seed last year).

I ordered the device from Takealot.com, and it was delivered in a few days. It's quite elegant, and has adequate monitoring/display capability but it's not a data logger where you can download data to a computer. I'm retired and on a fixed income, after all... so visually checking and transcribing numbers every now and then is something I have time for.

It consists of three components (batteries included for all of them):

The temperature sensor, about a metre off the ground in an area that gets no sunshine. It's just leaning against the wall outside our kitchen door behind a rainwater tank.

The rainfall sensor, about 1.5m off the ground. Quite tricky to find a suitable place for this. Also, as with all tipping bucket devices, it registers rainfall if you bump it, for example moving or installing it.

There were pole and tree issues, so it was moved to the north side of the pole late this afternoon, close to the end of the month so that bumping it wouldn't pollute my data. It didn't register any false readings, and is much more level.

The display panel. The time/date are displayed on the bottom line, just before moving the tipping bucket around outside.

The temperature display (second from bottom) gives an instantaneous reading, with no history, which is good enough for my purposes. The rainfall displays, resolution 1mm, are more sophisticated and consist of two readings. The top one rolls over at midnight and is accumulated into the second. This accumulated number can be reset manually, and gives the capability of accumulating monthly rainfall, provided you remember to reset it at the appropriate time and day and that it's not bucketing down at midnight at the end of the month. You can't really get a sense of the rate at which rain is falling, which you'd get from a data logger that could populate a graph, but daily and monthly rainfall figures are a hell of a lot more than I have now. The 1mm resolution isn't that helpful in the case of a long light drizzle.

It also monitors the battery levels in the sensors and the wireless signal strength.

There's a limited scroll back capability for daily readings, allowing you to step back 9 days.

Anyway, I've had it running for a month, so here's the first data:

2016/08 - total of 08mm of rain, in two events of 5mm on 08/03 and 3mm on 08/24.
2016/09 - total of 09mm of rain.
2016/10 - total of 07mm of rain.
2016/11 - total of 24mm of rain
2016/12 - total of 13mm of rain
2017/01 - total of 39mm of rain
2017/02 - total of 42mm of rain
2017/03 - total of 19mm of rain
2017/04 - total of 11mm of rain - getting colder so less evaporation
2017/05 - total of 14mm of rain
2017/06 - total of 00mm of rain!- night time temps around 10degC
2017/07 - total of 03mm - night time temps dip to about 6degC
2017/08 - total of 38mm of rain - night temps about 10degC
2017/09 - total of 10mm of rain - night temps about 12-15degC
2017/10 - total of 41mm of rain - night temps about 15degC
2017/11 - total of 27mm of rain - night temps mostly above 15degC but below 20
2017/12 - estimated 15mm rain - night temps about 20degC
2018/01 - total of 64mm - night temps above 20degC. Relocated rain gauge.
2018/02 - total of 78mm - night temps just below 20degC. Relocation sorted out rain shadow.
2018/03 - total of 62mm - night temps 15 to 20degC
2018/04 - total of 15mm - night temps 12 to 17degC
2018/05 - total of 15mm - night temps 9 to 15degC
2018/06 - total of 07mm - night temps 7  to 12 degC
2018/07 - total of 11mm - night temps 10 to 12 degC
2018/08 - total of 39mm - night temps 8 to 10C
2018/09 - total of 48mm - night temps up to 15c
2018/10 - total of 30mm - night temps up to 17C
2018/11 - total of 33mm rain
2018/12 - total of 04mm rain
2019/01 - total of 26mm rain
2019/02 - total of 18mm rain
2019/03 - total of 77mm rain
2019/04 - total of 49mm
2019/05 - total of 12mm
2019/06 - total of 15mm (est)
2019/07 - total of 03mm
2019/08 - total of 0mm
2019/09 - total of 6mm
2019/10 - total of 6mm
2019/11 - total of 3mm
2019/12 - total of 6mm
2020/01 - total of 68mm
2020/02 - total of 90mm
2020/03 - total of 49mm
2020/04 - total of 30mm

Contender bush beans

These are nice beans which I've planted often.

Misplaced the dried beans I'd harvested last season, so bought two packets. Five tyres each with five beans planted out.

Update 2016/09/15:

Sprouts have just broken the surface. Forgotten how big they are.

That's 16 days.

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/03:

Rhubarb

Previous entry here.

Slowly surfacing after winter. Quite dry, so not exactly flourishing.

There's 4 tyres of rhubarb in total, and I'd like at least one to produce heavily.

Update 2016/09/05:

Update 2016/09/30:

Update 2016/11/22:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2017/01/10:

Horse radish

Previous post here.

This is their second season in this tyre, and there's already an escapee.

Not long ago, this tyre looked completely dead.

Still haven't dug any up. Maybe next winter? Or maybe I'll cull the escapee...

Update 2016/10/12:

Broad beans - Long Pod Aquadulce

Previous entry on broad beans.

Have planted these before with moderate success. Problem has been quantity rather than quality. They're not prolific.

Already have two tyres with plants that are flowering, and today planted six more with about 5 seeds per tyre.

Interesting all the "green" hype on the packet. I suppose there's a market for it.

Update 2016/09/05:

One of the tyres that's had a head start.

Update 2016/09/07:

Newly planted beans are starting to sprout. That's ten days...

Update 2016/09/29:

The two tyres with larger plants have a head start of maybe 2 months on the other 6. But the smaller plants are starting to catch up.

Update 2016/10/02:

Small pods starting to show. Pollination rate seems OK compared to previous times.

Update 2016/10/12:

These are the crop of the season, so far.

Update 2016/10/30:

Update 2016/11/30:

Pretty much the end of the crop... they were planted too late and struggled in the heat.

Update 2017/05/11:

A packet of broadbeans coming up, planted in mid April. Another two packets planted a week back have not yet sprouted.

This is the right time of year to do this.

Sweet corn - Stowells Evergreen

Previous entry on mielies.

Haven't seen this variety before - promises to be "sweet and tender", and ready to harvest in 75 days. That would be mid-November.

Planted nine kernels in each of 8 tyres. Will thin them when they get going properly.

My previous attempt at mielies got chomped by bovine intruders at the critical point, so let's see how far these can get.

Update 2016/09/13:

Starting to sprout one or two in most of the tyres - still very thin and spindly.  That's 16 days.

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/22: