John Savage wrote
Rod Speed wrote
John Savage wrote:

three times in hot weather at least,

I'm currently finding that twice a day keeps the soil moist.

EXposed to scorching heat, the roots can't draw sufficient water to
over- come losses. So the only way you can reduce the plant's stress
is to keep the leaves moist by periodic sprinkling from noon till 2,
or something like that, in addition to morning and evening watering.

The best of the tomatoes and potatoes seen to do fine without that mid day sprinkling.

Stawberrys too.

I prefer the iceberg style lettuce for cutting a wedge
of the heart when eating pizza and quiche etc.

There is no lettuce sweeter or better tasting, than the iceberg.

Yeah, main problem is that they are much harder in the stinking hot weather.

Havent tried growing them inside under the cooler yet tho.

I've since gone for bird netting because the blackbirds were
getting half the strawberrys. I do get lots of sparrows.

I've never lived where where there were blackbirds. It would be 12 or
so years since I've last seen a sparrow here in Sydney, probably a
combination of Indian Mynahs shouldering in and taking over their
nesting spots and the proliferation of urban currawongs predating
on nestling sparrows.

I dont see many of either. Quite a few pewees and another
backbird sized bird with speckled feathers and nothing
special beak color wise, dunno what this one is.

I have had a couple of the later inside the bird netting.
Damned near wrang their necks but decided that I'd see
if the fright would see them stay out of the nets in future.

For "always fresh" leaves you can buy a hydroponic lettuce from the
supermarket, then sit it in a bowl of water near a bright window and
pick off 3 or 4 leaves each day. Could even try planting it in wet
soil to see whether it won't grow a bit more while you're harvesting.

Didnt think of that, I'll try that. None of them in my supermarkets
have any roots tho, they are always cut off flush with the icebergs.

I've since found that the more exotic lettuces in woolys do have decent roots.

Probably your best bet. I see them in the gourmet or organic section.
No firm heart, partly wrapped in cellophane to keep the roots moist I think.

Yeah, thats what these are.

Alternative greens include nasturtium and water-cress (both a bit peppery),
mustard and cress (but attractive to aphids), celery (eat the tender leaves
of young plants), various sprouts you can grow in a bottle.

Yeah, noticed Woolys was flogging bags of 'beetroot shred' as 'aussie lettuce'

Maybe the native warrigal greens, but I haven't tried. Pig
weed is edible. None of these can compare with lettuce, though.

Havent been buying the non icebergs, have to have a closer look at those.

None are as sweet as a good iceberg.

Yeah dont mind that for the open salami sandwitches from the dome
of the newly baked bread tho. The mignonettes and cos were fine.

When you buy young lettuce without a heart, you can eat the lot;
whereas with the hearted ones I seem to end up discarding half
the plant by throwing away the bitter 'outside' leaves.

I dont mind bitter myself. In fact with the beer I brew a mate of mine
often comments that a particular brew is quite bitter and I do notice
that when he points that out, but still find it very drinkable.


The first punnet of Lettuce Combo that I stupidly let wilt very badly,
two days running, have come good, with lush new leaves. Not quite
as well developed as the second punnet a week later that I didnt let wilt,
but it looks like they will work fine. I havent been able to use any leaves
within a week yet like the woman at the nursery claimed, but it looks like
I might be able to next loaf of bread, 3 more days till then.

The second punnet is mostly under shadecloth and the first punnet isnt,
basically because I didnt by enough shade cloth to shade them both.

On the other hand it hasnt been quite as hot lately, hasnt been
over 40C for a while and its sposed to be in the low 30s max
in days. Its been mostly in the mid to higher 30s.

The pototoes are really bounding out of the ground, looks like I
will end up with a hell of a glut because I basically planted half
of the sprouted tubers I had instead of chucking them out.
The latest lot had green shoots in 5 days and the first lot
are quite decent plants now, 15 days from planting.