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A couple of weeks ago a hole appeared in my lawn. At first I thought it was a burrow, but upon closer inspection it only went half an arms length deep and then stopped. I left it for a few days just in case the creature that had made it, needed to come back and finish it off, but when nothing changed I filled it in.
The next day I found all the soil I had packed in spread across the grass. The bottom of the hole was still empty.
I’ve been thinking about what sort of animal would have taken such a dislike to my garden. Squirrels are too small; moles would be pushing the soil up, rather than pulling it out; cats don’t dig that deep. So, yet again, I’m going to have to blame it on the foxes. Why though? That’s what I want to know.
I’m going to fill the hole up again this weekend, and this time I’ll put a slab of concrete over it. If they move that I’m going to start worrying.
When I started The Slow Tomato Race I had two aims in mind. One was to raise a bit of money for a charity, the other was to force myself to growing something.
Week Nineteen
I partly succeeded with the second of these challenges and the fruit count over the past few months has been excellent. Sadly the size has left something to be desired; each tomato not getting any larger than a squash ball. I suspect the reason behind this has been my lack of watering, which was inconsistent to say the least. Certainly at the start I forgot to water the plant for days at a time and I think this stunted its growth.
As for raising money for charity I’ve failed with that as well. A project that I thought would garner widespread interest has fizzled out. I did have a few commitments to sponsor me, but no real interest. A shame, but entirely down to me misjudging the mood of people.
Two good things have come from this project: I’ve decided on a far more exciting thing to do next year to raise money; I really do want to make more of an effort to grow some of my own food.
Look out for more details of both in the coming months.
There are now only three small fruit left on the plant. One green, one orange and one about to be eaten.
The plant is also looking a bit sorry for itself, but this is because I’ve not watered it for a few days. It has reached the twilight of its life and I’ve given up caring now. Not the best attitude for a gardener, but if you’ve read these posts over the summer you’ll have gathered that I’ve not been as committed as I should have been.
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
Just when we all thought that summer in the Northern hemisphere was coming to an end the last couple of weeks have been filled with blue skies and warm winds. The result is that more of the tomatoes have ripened and I’ve had the pleasure of picking another five to eat.
Sadly they are still only tiny, but they are little bite sized flavour explosions (yuk, why am I talking like a marketing monkey). No more fruit has sprouted, but that hasn’t stopped me planning for next year, and I’ve still got a few more to eat before autumn sets in.
Fruit Eaten: 16
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
The weather got better, I went away, so did the water.
Week Nineteen
Only a week after wondering if I should bring the tomato plant into the house because the temperature outside was starting to drop, it got hot and sunny again. Lucky for me I was away for a few days meeting friends. Unfortunately for the little plant I didn’t leave it with any water.
I did feel guilty when I got home, but then not watering the plant is the main reason it’s so small and also why the fruit is so tiny. Still, there’s life in it yet and the fruit is continuing to turn red.
Fruit Eaten: 11
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
I blame the foxes, or maybe the liberals.
A Fox
Dead animals on the front lawn is one thing (a part of nature), what I don’t think is necessary is to use my garden as a toilet.
Seriously, every week I have to clear poo from my grass before I mow it. I’m not talking about the odd rabbit dropping. What I’m referring to are finger length portions dotted in three or four different places. The other week as many as five separate caches in one seven day period.
I’ve tried reasoning with the foxes. I met one when returning home the other week. It was very a patient, listening to me for the full ten minutes. Sadly it hasn’t told it’s fellows and I’m still getting shizzle on the grass.
I’ve now got a further six tomatoes turning red. Once these have ripened I’ll be up to eleven. The rest are still there (I’ve not killed them yet), but they’re still green and this troubles me.
Week Seventeen
To technically complete the challenge I have produce edible fruit. While green tomatoes can be used in plenty of recipes it wasn’t what I was aiming for. Besides I only need one more to turn red and I’ve hit my target.
With August slipping by summer has now started to vanish as well and I am now concerned that it will be too cold for the rest of the fruit to ripen. I’m going to monitor how the plant is surviving, but there might be a move into the house for the last few weeks.
Fruit Eaten: 5
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
Week Sixteen
My weekend was filled with bike rides, writing, fixing computers and playing with web sites. It’s also been wonderfully hot again.
You would therefore think I’d remember to water the tomato plant, especially given that I’m trying to decide what vegetables to plant for the winter season.
Sadly I didn’t. It wasn’t until midday on Sunday that I suddenly remembered to do the watering. By this time the leaves were drooping and the soil was hard. I think I’ve saved it in time, and hopefully the green fruit won’t suffer too much: it’ll probably just be a bit smaller.
Fruit Eaten: 5
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
Not something I get to advise people on every day, but I’ve had a lot of experience on this particular subject, so what the heck, here are my thoughts.
Garden Waste
You might wonder why you’d need to know this, but as the summer comes to an end and the wind falls start to appear on the lawn, picking them all up can become a bit of a pain. The solution is to just let your mower take care of them, but there are things to watch out for.
If you are using a rotary mower the worst that can happen is the top half of the apple is sliced off. This will mean that the blade will never touch the bottom section and you’ll be forced to deal with it by hand. Hit the apple just right, however, and the fruit will be diced, flipped around and sucked up along with the cuttings.
To achieve this height of laziness don’t let the mower just roll onto the apple. Instead lift up the front end as you approach the fall fruit and then, when the apple is underneath the blades, drop it back down quickly. You’ll hear a tumbling noise and, nine times out of ten, as you walk on you’ll find nothing left to trouble you or your lawn.
(Filed under possibly the most pointless blog post ever, and that’s saying something.)
This week is a landmark in my tomato growing adventures: I have now eaten two of the fruit I have grown. Not only this, but there are a further three which are looking ripe so they will probably get eaten this week.
Week Fifteen
The reason this is such a momentous moment is that these are the first edible fruit I’ve been able to grown from a tomato plant. Previously I’ve killed three plants before they even got to this stage and the one I’m now looking after has been touch and go at times.
Fruit Eaten: 2
Donate Here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leigh-Barlow/
Follow Here: http://leighbarlow.wordpress.com/category/The Slow Tomato Race/
Full sized pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leighbarlow/sets/72157620553223381/
As you will see from the pictures, due to the plant’s stunted growth the tomatoes are rather small, but I can testify to them being tasty. With another fifteen little green balls hanging on the tips of the branches I’ll be able to have a small salad once each week for the next few months.
