Wanneer Mens Moet Oor Begin

 

Dis nou wat gebeur as jy vir maande lank te besig is om aan jou weblog aandag te gee. Jy verander jou vonkposadres en siedaar, jou 'hosting' se vervalkennisgewing bereik jou nie—jy verloor jou hele bloomen blog. Nou ja, huil gaan nie help nie, so mens begin maar voor.

Vir diegene wat my nog nie ken nie, my naam is Yolande Pienaar en ek skryf stories. Natuurlik verskil mense se opinies oor hoe goed of sleg die stories geskryf is en dis okei, want dis nou ongelukkig iets waaroor ek geen beheer het nie—skryf moet ek skryf. Die boeke wat tans te koop is, is te vinde op die bladsy genaamd Boeke deur Yolande Pienaar indien iemand belangstel.

Ek hou van stories wat mens die ligter kant van die lewe laat sien, want wraggies, die alledaagse lewe het genoeg van sy eie kwaad. So ja,  ek hou van humor en ek glo die liefdesverhaal-genre leen hom by uitstek daartoe om die simpel goed wat mens elke dag aanvang uit te buit in 'n storie. (En ek is oud genoeg om baie van daardie idiotiese dinge self te ervaar het.)

Op hierdie blad gaan lesers in die toekoms so ietsie van alles kry—van  nuutgepubliseerde liefdesverhale in Engels en Afrikaans tot 'n alledaagse gerammel oor die stampe en stote van die lewe. Hierdie is tog 'n web-joernaal so, anything goes.

Tussen ons, het julle gesien hoe klim die Suid-Afrikaanse skryfster Marie Dry se boek Alien Mine deur Amazon se topverkoperlyste? Die boek is skaars 'n week op die rakke en tans 369 ste op die VSA webwerf se topverkopers!

 



 

In a bleak future where government systems are breaking down and lawless bands of men terrorize the country, botanist Natalie Hanson fears for her life and hides in a cave in the Rocky Mountains. When she is captured by human raiders, a fierce alien appears and slays her attackers. Natalie is now held captive in her own cave by the sexy and striking alien commander, Zacar, who informs her that she will be his breeder. Natalie soon realizes that these aliens worship strength. So what will happen when Zacar finds out she has severe asthma?

Totsiens tot 'n volgende keer.

Using Tomato Seedlings or Germinate Your Own Seed

During the previous season (2011-2012) we decided to germinate our own seed. We obtained Divine seed (the name of the variant is actually Divine) and proceeded to plant them in polystyrene seed trays. And waited. And waited. The seed germinated slowly and by the middle of November we were nowhere near transplant stage.


I did an internet search and could find only a few places to buy tomato seedlings. And all of them were more than 200 kilometres away. After phoning around I happened upon Terra Nova Seedlings, situated a mere 50 kilometres away. The seedlings also cost about a third of what the seed did. We planted the seedlings inside the tunnel at the end of November – directly into the soil, enriched with fertilizer and Pine sawdust a couple of weeks before.



We set the tomato plants 45 cm from each other and planted the next row 60 cm from the first. We planted the seedlings diagonally from each other in the two rows close to each other. The space between the rows was 1.6 meters.


Not having any way to find the correct fertilizer, we used a general purpose fertilizer for vegetables that you buy at your local farmers shop (Afgri) and used it as a foliar spray. This we did at three -week intervals. For bugs we used Malathion and for fungus Funginex.


The seed we planted germinated and by 17 December 2011 they were at last ready for transplant.



These seedlings we planted outside on 4 January 2012 with no protection. We staked the tomato plants with Poplar saplings. Here we planted single rows with the plants 60 cm from each other and the rows 1,5 m apart. The only problem we had with the tomatoes planted outside was to control the amount watering when it rained.


By the end of December the seedlings in the plastic covered tunnel had grown into huge plants and the fruit began to set. Using baling twine we guided the plants upwards with the help of 20mm plastic pipe cut into 3cm pieces. This proved to be ineffective due to the high temperatures the inside of the plastic vegetable tunnel reached. The stems slipped through the slit cut in the plastic and caused the entire plant to topple over.



The tomato seedlings planted outside only reached the same stage as those in the plastic tunnel about 6 weeks later. The photo above was taken on 12 February 2012.



The photo above was taken on 29 December 2011 inside the tunnel. We were excited about the rapid growth of the plants. Little did we know that in the space of one week, our elation would turn to despair when the unpruned plants outgrew us. The photo below was taken on 3 January 2012. Five days made the difference between manageable and out of hand.



For days all we did was prune the plants into shape again. This was a lesson well learned and one we vowed not to repeat. Having to prune the plants in mid-summer heat also brought home the fact that the plastic tunnel had too little ventilation and the temperatures were much too high for successful tomato production.


As to whether we will germinate our own seed or buy seedlings - I think the answer is obvious. It is definitely more economical to buy seedlings than germinate your own seed. It might not be as rewarding, and if you have a small garden it is worthwhile going that route. But for mass production in a high tunnel, buying the seedlings just makes more sense.

Next time I share what we learned about pruning.

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del.icio.us Tags: Tomato seedlings,Tomato Seed,growing tomatoes,high tunnel tomatoes,planting tomatoes

Growing Tomatoes in High Tunnels

To my horror I realized that I haven’t posted to this blog in quite some time. Hmm… two years qualify as a pretty long time. Since we moved to the farm, live has catapulted us into a rat race unrivalled by that in the city. It’s no excuse though for neglecting some of my friends. (Grovelling will surely be required to fix the situation)


 

Since my last post we erected the vegetable tunnel in 2011 and promptly planted tomatoes -late in the season – it only went in around 21 November. Despite reading like crazy about the growing of tomatoes in high tunnels, we made a bundle of mistakes. And paid the school fees.




The Highveld of Mpumalanga can get scorching hot. Combine that with the plastic covering of the tunnel and inadequate ventilation and you get tomatoes that burst their seams. Now, I suspect that the inadequate watering (my miscalculation) added to the crop being damaged. We did however manage to sell enough of the crop to recover our costs.


Naturally over the Christmas period we sort of left the tunnel to its own devices except for watering it. BIG MISTAKE. We returned to the tunnel in January only to find that there were no passages left, the tomatoes had grown to such an extent that it resembled a tropical forest. Being already large, we spent most of January trying to prune the plants back into shape. I wouldn’t advise anyone to leave their tomatoes grown in a high tunnel covered with plastic for more than a few days.



In any event, we were determined to grow the tomatoes well and when someone offered us another second hand high tunnel, we bought it. Over the next couple of weeks, I will let you in on how the production went. The previous season taught us well and this season, we were more prepared. Although no expert, I can only share what we have learned.


Until next time.

del.icio.us Tags: growing tomatoes,high tunnel tomatoes,growing vegetables

Personal Projects for 2011

For the last couple of weeks, since December 2010, I have been setting goals for the year 2011. Well, you might say, this is nothing new, everybody does this. My goals, however, keep shifting in timeline.

I made a firm promise to myself that this year I would do the following and it is not negotiable:
1. Publish a novel or at least get one accepted by a publisher,
2. Produce enough vegetables to not only supply our own household – I am already doing that, but to sell and supply to needy families in the local community,
3. Get my African Grey parrots settled on the farm and have them start breeding again. All of this needs to be done while still working a full time job at DKP Investigations and helping on the farm. 

This doesn’t seem like much of a goal, but life has a strange way of getting in the way of realising your goals.

The two novels I have finished, need to be edited. I HATE EDITING and I keep finding more important things to do – like updating the blog! I am itching to start with a new novel, but have to finish editing the others first. Finding the time to read your own writing and being critical about it, is not that easy. One tends to read over the mistakes or start doubting your own abilities.

As for producing the vegetables, I have to wait to get the tunnel installed and at the moment, the men just don’t have the time to prepare the earth for the project. We are located on a hilly slope and the ground has to be levelled first. So now I wait…and wait… and wait. Hopefully this will get done before the end of the month, but at the rate we are progressing now, that timeline might also shift.

The African Grey Parrots were supposed to be relocated by the end of January, but again, construction on their housing haven’t even started yet. I love it when we have African Grey parrot chicks in the house as it means I am forced to work until their 2am feeding time and the house is quiet from 10pm onwards. Many of my novels were written during that time.

Well, I hope to have the novel edited before I go the Kruger National Park in the first week of March so that I can celebrate my anniversary with a clear conscience. I’ll keep you posted on how I get along with realising the goals.