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The white looking TOMATO hairs you often see on tomato stems are called TRICHOMES and serve some very important functions:
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A) They form additional roots when they are buried under the soil. For this reason, professional tomato growers allow seedlings to grow large before planting their main stem as deep as possible into the earth
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B) The TRICHOMES protect the plant from heat stress, UV radiation and water loss through evaporation
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C) To the surprise of many, TOMATO plants are carnivorous. In the wild where they don't have the assistance, care and soil quality that home gardeners provide to them, they rely on their sticky TRICHOMES to capture and kill small insects so they can self-fertilise. The decomposed organism feeds the roots of the plant
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D) The TRICHOMES activate a particular enzyme which releases acyl sugars acting as a natural pesticide to repel herbivores. The scent, taste and texture of these extracted oils act as a deterrent
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Unfortunately, with all their built-in toxins, tomatoes still have pests who have developed resistance to the chemical barriers, however without the help of the TRICHOMES, things would be a lot duller for the vulnerable and humble tomato plant
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Have you ever stopped to wonder why tomato leaves hardly get eaten or punched with holes to the extent of brassicas? yet the majority of the pests (like caterpillars) hit the most vulnerable part of the plant and that is the actual tomato itself?
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#vegetablegarden #vegetables #veggiepatch #growyourown #organicgardening #homegrown #greenthumb #mygarden #backyardgarden #garden #urbangardenersrepublic #growsomethinggreen #instagardenlovers #hydrovegan #thehappygardeninglife #gardeningaustralia #lobotany #urbanorganicgardener #gardenactivist #seedsnow #epicgardening #mybackyard #inmygarden #sustainable #organicgardenermag #gardeningtips #tomatoplant #tomatoplants #tomato #tomatoes
RED BURGUNDY OKRA
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Today these beauties were transplanted. We sowed them outdoors in the last two weeks of winter and funnily enough they were the first to pop up from the soil
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You don't expect that from OKRA so early in this season. OKRA down here in Melbourne is treated at the same level as eggplant in terms of germination, growth patterns, sensitivities to cold weather and its preference for a long warm growing season so we are pretty happy with their progress thus far
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RED BURGUNDY OKRA does however seem to grow quicker and is slightly more cold tolerant than its sibling GREEN OKRA. Our green okras are well behind at the same point and some of them haven't even germinated as yet
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#vegetablegarden #vegetables #veggiepatch #growyourown #organicgardening #homegrown #greenthumb #mygarden #backyardgarden #garden #urbangardenersrepublic #growsomethinggreen #instagardenlovers #hydrovegan #thehappygardeninglife #gardeningaustralia #lobotany #urbanorganicgardener #gardenactivist #seedsnow #epicgardening #mybackyard #inmygarden #sustainable #organicgardenermag #gardeningtips #okra #burgundyokra #okras
Our baby fig tree is small but is making some big steps in 2017. It's starting to take nice shape
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We love growing trees from cuttings and then watching their development and journey. That's definitely one of our rewarding joys of gardening 😍😍😍
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#growyourown #organicgardening #homegrown #greenthumb #mygarden #backyardgarden #garden #urbangardenersrepublic #growsomethinggreen #instagardenlovers #hydrovegan #thehappygardeninglife #gardeningaustralia #lobotany #urbanorganicgardener #gardenactivist #seedsnow #epicgardening #mybackyard #inmygarden #sustainable #organicgardenermag #gardeningtips #fig #figtree #fruittree #fruittrees
Peas love growing in mild weather and we love eating them 😋
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#vegetablegarden #vegetables #veggiepatch #growyourown #organicgardening #homegrown #greenthumb #mygarden #backyardgarden #garden #urbangardenersrepublic #growsomethinggreen #instagardenlovers #hydrovegan #thehappygardeninglife #gardeningaustralia #lobotany #urbanorganicgardener #gardenactivist #seedsnow #epicgardening #mybackyard #inmygarden #sustainable #organicgardenermag #gardeningtips #snowpeas #pea #peas #purplepoddedpeas
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