Burnley produce plot. Harvesting lettuce cos the time is right.

Melbourne University plot mini harvest

The last blog post I wrote about my Burnley produce plot related to it as it stood back on the 9th of March (approximately one month prior to this post). Back then all the seeds and seedlings had been planted out, the plot had been mulched and fertilised and drip irrigation was installed. Now in less than one months time I am starting to harvest some food.

The plot on the 9th of March

The plot on the 6th of April

It's amazing how productive the plot has been considering the minimal amount of work I have put into it. During the last month I have probably only done a total of 30 minutes of weeding thanks the thick layer of mulch I have employed. Other tasks have included netting the brassicas to protect them from cabbage white butterfly, threading some twine around my tripod to aid the peas in their ascent up the bamboo and pruning my indeterminate (vine) tomato plant. Pruning the vine tomato is actually something which at home I had attempted and failed. Essentially I think I failed because of the myriad of conflicting and confusing youtube videos I had watched on the subject. Due to that negative experience I gave up and grew only bush varieties (which necessarily require pruning). I think next spring I might give some vine varieties a go and write up my own guide on the subject. Today was the first harvest from the plot and I took home some zucchini and two heads of cos lettuce. All the other plants look to be doing fine. Next update coming soon.

From left to right: tomato, zucchini, beans, lettuce, NZ yams and carrots

My modified pea tripod (inspired by the Melbourne art centre spire) 

The vine tomatoes are looking healthy but will they actually ripen this late in the season?

Two cos lettuce (miraculously untouched by snail or slug) and a mega zucchini from the plot.