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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

More on Micronutrients


Following on from my last post, I thought some of the other tomato obsessed folks out there might be interested in this nice link:

Colour pictures of mineral deficiencies in tomatoes





Now I truly rooly believe that healthy soil grows beautiful, healthy, perfect plants and fruits and veggies. Organic does NOT mean blemished and mottled - it may mean irregular and oddly shaped but not unhealthy looking. To me organic means BOLD and OUTRAGEOUS and HEALTHY and STRONG, and BUXOM. Now you can hide health problems with chemicals at least superficially, but the thing I love about organic veggies is that they never lie about the soil they come from. Its the same for caterpillars and other bugs.....if they are munching on your plants...then there is something not quite right with your soil health or your plant health....something is making those plants weak and susceptible to buggies whose sole job is to dismantle diseased or weak plants........unless your plant predator is a duck...they are very discerning and only eat the best, most healthy things........that's for sure.

I realised some time ago that rather than a veggie grower, I am a soil nurturer.....and the rest takes care of its self. My job is to love and nurture and coddle the soil.....and the plants I grow are the ultimate litmus test of what sort of job I am doing.......

Anyhoo, roominations over......

It is a bit early, but I pulled up a garlic just to see how things are progressing....these fellas have another 3 or 4 weeks left to get a bit bigger. Some of them are just starting to scape. I think they are going to be OK.


And here is some oregano drying in the dryer...well, my friend Eileen's dryer. 


Happy tomatoing everybody.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

love the soil nurturing philosophy, so true. But what I really want to know is, what kind of dehydrator is that and are you happy with it? (realise its borrowed, would you buy that model yourself then?) I am looking for something to dry my excess herbs over summer so I have some for winter. Our humidity is way to high to use natural drying...so need to invest in something electric...

The Duck Herder said...

ooh Hello there Farmer Liz. That nifty little dehydrator is a Fowlers Vacola. And yes, if I suddenly wasn't able to share this one, I would definitely buy the same. I do not think they are the cheapest, but definitely they are good quality. You can add lots of extra trays...I think we have up to 10, and I like that the temperature setting is variable so that for things like herbs you can turn the temperature right down.

It is great for shredded beetroot and tomatoes, zucs and everything else you can think of!

Thanks for visiting, hope this helps.....