Totally Rooted, A Garden Story (2026)

07/09/2026

You asked and I'm delivering, tomato types and indeterminate vs determinate.

So whats an indeterminate and a determinate tomato?
This is just a way of saying how the tomato type grows. Is it a bush or is it a vine?

INDETERMINATE:
An indeterminate tomato grows on one or two main vines and requires some pretty hefty pruning and some form of trellis to hang out on. Indeterminate tomatoes also keep growing and producing till the frost gets it.

DETERMINATE:
This is more of a bush tomato and it can be pruned and tamed, however, most just let this one go and do its thing. A trellis is not needed but to keep it more contained, I recommend a cage. Determinate tomatoes tend to do a few big flushes of tomatoes before finishing off for the season.

I'm more of a fan of the indeterminate varieties, just because I feel like I get more bang for my buck. While yes, it is a bit more work, pruning and trellising, I feel, its just a better turn around.

The three basic tomatoes for the garden:
Saucing, cherry and slicers.

SAUCING:
Perfect for making sauces, pastes and salsa. Some popular varieties include Roma, San Marzarno and Amish Paste.

CHERRY:
Good for in salads and for snacking.
Popular varieties include black cherry, sun gold and honey bee.

SLICERS:
These are those large, meaty, low moisture that are fantastic for those BLTs.
Some popular varieties include pineapple tomato and mortgage lifter.

These are just SOME of the tomatoes I'm growing this year.

*images from Google.

06/09/2026

🍅 Let's chat about tomatoes 🍅

When to plant:
Mid spring, between mid October to start of November is a great time (South East, SA areas). Most dangers of frost has disappeared and the soil is warming up, so those tender, little roots can get nice and strong to support the plant and fruits.

Where to plant:
In a full sun position. Look at your garden today, watch where the sun hits the patch the most. That's your prime planting area.

Soil:
Make sure to always feed your soil. This is the back bone of your garden. Crappy soil = crappy plants. Spread out some rich compost and mix in some well rotten manure.

Planting depth:
Remove the lower leaves and plant the stem about two thirds of the plant down. This will make sure the root system is deep and strong, resulting in a strong and healthy plant.

Spacing:
45 to 60cm apart is a great space between each plant to allow air flow, minimising the risk of disease.

Care and maintenance:
Add a trellis or a steak to clip your plant to, this is specially important for indeterminate varieties. This way they don't topple over and get too heavy, resulting in you feeling overwhelmed and stopping the plant from snapping and breaking. A cage is good for determinate varieties.

Water and feeding:
Always at the base of the plant as it's the roots that feed and drink. Water regularly to prevent blossom end rot and feed regularly to keep a healthy plant.

Comment below with a tomato emoji if you want me to post about different tomato types and indeterminate vs determinate tomatoes.

31/08/2026

✨ ️Unusual berry highlight ✨

Cape Gooseberry.

Also known as a ground cherry, when ripe and ready for harvest, the berry will be found in its papery, lantern like husk, on the ground.

The cape gooseberry is a hardy, fast growing plant, more a shrub if let to grow all wild.
They thrive in poor soil and can handle light frost and some drought conditions if grown in ground.

The yellow berries are the perfect combination of sweet and tangy, can be eaten raw, made into chutneys, jams or baked into cakes.

The cape gooseberry is a unique fruit that takes place in my garden possibly more better than the humble strawberry.

25/08/2026

I know, I know, it's been a while 🙈.

But check out my new greenhouse! That's why it's been a while. Thanks to the husband for helping me build it!

It's not totally set up yet, but when it is, you'll bet you're getting a tour 🤩.

At the moment, its currently full of seedlings from Roma tomatoes, perfect for sauce, to various cherry tomatoes and just sprouted today, pineapple tomatoes, a fantastic, meaty fruit that's perfect for sandwhiches. There's also some hot chillis, sweet capsicums, mixed herbs and flowers. BUT I don't want to give away too much information 🤫.

Get excited!! Spring is just around the corner (and so is my hayfever 🤧 😅).

07/06/2026

Let's chat garlic problems:

Rust (photo 1)
Witches broom (photo 2)

Rust:
Rust is a fungal disease that affects all alliums (garlic, onions, leeks). It thrives in cool, damp and humid conditions.

While it doesn't kill the plant, it affects the leaves, harming the photosynthesis, resulting in a much, much smaller bulb.

Witches broom:
This happens when the cloves under the soil prematurely sprout. This is caused by fluctuating weather, from hot to cold back to hot and back to cold or irregular watering.

Witches broom also doesn't kill the plant, however, once spotted, the plant needs to be harvested to prevent rotting.

Remember, both these issues don't kill the plant, but results in much smaller bulbs that will not store well and need to be used sooner rather than later. Preservation can be used to extend shelf life like freezing or dehydrating.

*not my photos, sourced from Google Images.

02/06/2026

Winter is here. Time to turn up the heat!

Jalapenos, one of my favourite chilli's. I wouldn't say this is a spicy chilli, it's more of a sting with a slight capsicum taste.

Here's some fun facts about the mighty jalapeno:

🌶 When red and ripe, this is the chilli used to make sriracha.

🌶 When red and smoke dehydrated, it's now called a chipotle.

Want a crowd pleasing recipe using jalapenos? Drop a chilli emoji below 🌶👇

25/05/2026

Let's talk about parsley.

A super easy beginner herb to kick start off your dream kitchen garden.

Native to the Mediterranean, parsley is mostly used as a garnish but is packed full of vitamin A, C and K.

The most common varieties are flat leaf (Italian) and curly leaf.

Parsley can be used in many things to pack a punch of flavour from sauces and marinades, salads, soups and even stocks.

For an ongoing supply of fresh parsley, harvest the outter stems directly from the base of the plant, rather than cutting.

Parsley is like the gate way to beginning the kitchen garden. Plant some today and in less than a month, you'll be having fresh parsley in nearly every meal.

17/05/2026

Long time no see 🙈 sometimes I just forget to show you whats going on in the garden!

Here's a little update on just this section:
2 varieties of garlic
Dwarf snow peas
Sprouting broccoli
Leeks
Spinach
Kale
Parsley
Rosemary
Thyme
Lettuce
Sweet alyssum
African marigolds
Cosmos
Green beans

You can fit alot into a small space with a bit of strategic planting

02/04/2026

Day 2 of doing something in the garden.

Getting on top of the green caterpillars before they decimate my broccoli. I love this spray by Yates Australia! Simply spray it all over the plant, leaves both the top and the underside, the steams. I probably go a little over the top and spray it till its dripping. But I swear by this stuff. I've never had the green caterpillars or aphids.

Now this isn't spray it once and its good forever. I spray every 2 weeks when I do a feeding or after we've had a decent rainfall.

Make sure to always check the underside of the leaves for eggs, you'll know them as soon as you see them, as that's where the white cabbage moth lays the eggs that turn into the caterpillars.

Do yourself a favour this long weekend, get your broccoli, cabbage, cauliflowers in and get yourself some of this spray!

01/04/2026

Day 1 of showing you something I'm doing every day in my garden.

Now's the perfect time to get those winter veggies in while the soil is still warm! And yes! You can plant things like broccoli in pots, or in my case an old pie filling bucket I drilled a bunch of holes in. Just make sure the pot is big enough for the plants to grow, add in some nice soil and compost, bit of Bruunings Blood and Bone, give it a good drink and somewhere it'll get lots of sun and soon enough you'll have some beautiful broccoli ready for dinner!

Totally Rooted, A Garden Story

07/09/2026

06/09/2026

31/08/2026

25/08/2026

07/06/2026

02/06/2026

25/05/2026

17/05/2026

02/04/2026

01/04/2026

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