mutant tomatoes and everything else

Isn't this a brilliant time of year in the garden? Frost is well and truly unlikely*, there's plenty of sunshine without it being punishingly hot, and everything's in fruit and flower. Including one of my tomatoes which has sprouted a strangely large yellow flower which I've never seen before on a tomato. I can't remember whether this one was a self-sown one or one of the seedlings given to me by a friend of my mum, but I think it's a bit of a mutant.



On Christmas day we put in a whole lot of Lemon Rush and Princess sunflowers which we'd raised in jiffy posts (see previous post). They're a bit boring looking in their rows but the reasoning behind the monotony was that we could support the lot with one stake at either end in a clothesline type arrangement. I knew there were a few submerged bricks but I was fairly horrified as to how many we found once we started digging. Anyone need bricks?





We manhandled up the dwarf fig tomato into a frame because it was spreading out of control and going right over/through the silverbeets and strawberries. Foolishly I'd assumed the "dwarf" thing meant it was a miniature variety but I think it only pertains to the actual fruit, which is indeed a tad on the smallish side. So the plant got well and truly bashed up getting pulled and shoved into a tomato frame but I think it will forgive us.

We put in the carrots (shown in jiffy pots in the previous post) in an drip-fed oval where we'd previously had spinach. You can barely see them in the ground so the right hand picture shows the close up.



While it was nice to have fresh baby spinach in salads it all seemed to bolt to seed very quickly despite constant picking of leaves. Maybe rocket rather than spinach in future salad plots. The great herb project, however, is a raging success. We are growing and using basil, chives, dill, kaffir lime leaves, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme. Mostly in salads but generally over everything. Lettuce is going crazy at the moment so if anyone wants, we has.



The red capsicum now has two fruits on it which will hopefully make it to red and ripe without being attacked by a beastie. Possibly about time I put a plastic bag around the fruit but I worry that this would steam them on a hot day and I'd come home to lightly steamed underripe capsicum with the skins all fallen off. I think the reason I never grow things like capsicum is that they're a lot of fuss for so little reward. All this for (maybe) two capsicums!



Figs are looking good, as are the apricots. The figs are actually very large and surprisingly syrupy for so early in the season. Last year at this time the first flush of fruit was spongy and not at all sweet. The apricots are massive and I ate the first one just this afternoon - happy to report it was sweet and juicy and just how you'd hope an apricot to be.





The Jap pumpkin (or Kabocha to those who wish to steer clear of the slightly racist horticultural terminology employed by Australia and New Zealand) is doing well and will hopefully start stealing ground from the rampant spearmint patch.



Exciting news in the kitchen is the addition of a big red plastic tomato mouli thing for making and preserving sugo and apricots. Preserving jars and books have been ordered from the internets. Woot!



* being Melbourne one is ill-advised to rule these things out, especially in print.

Imagine if you will, the words "BEST. DAY. EVER." mumbled through a mouth full of free fairy floss.

And then imagine the words "BEST. DAY. EVER." mumbled through a mouth full of free fairy floss while standing in the new Coburg Bunnings. And imagine the words "BEST. DAY. EVER." mumbled through a mouth full of free fairy floss while standing in the new Coburg Bunnings while a jolly little band of professional merry makers and troubadours walk through the store spreading cheer and giving the place a carnival atmosphere.

And then you begin to get a sense of how awesome the BEST DAY EVER is.

It started with a sleep-in and a mild, but in no way debilitating, hangover. The sort of hangover that just gives you reason to sleep in, take it a bit easy and eat a bit of junk food for medicinal purposes. The morning saw us do a bit of extended newspaper reading and tea drinking in bed, a bit of an amble through the garden in pyjamas, a bit of baking cakes with lots of fresh cherries plopped into the batter.

SO FAR, SO GOOD.

Next, a trip to Bunnings was in the offing with zucchini seedlings, bird netting and Seasol to buy. Not wanting to go further than absolutely necessary we opted for the Gaffneys Road Bunnings, which is technically a Bunnings but not a Bunnings Warehouse. This makes it a second rate, or a "crap" Bunnings, especially in terms of their range of garden supplies. On arriving we noticed things were not quite right. The enormous gates were locked and there didn't seem to be anyone inside. The sign clearly indicated that they should be open for business. While we stood outside scratching our heads, other would-be customers came and went, all befuddled. Figuring finally that all the head scratching was coming to not much we set off down Gaffney's Road for Northland Bunnings.

BUT LO, WHAT MIRACLE DOTH APPEARETH BEFORE OUR VERY EYES!

A brand new Bunnings had popped out of the freshly poured car park a mere 800 metres down the road. And this was the full warehouse, aisles which went on forever and ever like the arsenal room in The Matrix or that warehouse where the Ark Of The Covenant is stored.

AND SO IT CAME TO PASS THAT WE ENTERED THE HOUSE OF BUNNINGS AND WE ATE OF THE FAIRY FLOSS.

And bought the seedlings, seeds, peat pots, etc. So arriving home in a post retail high (or was that the fairy floss LOL) we set about doing some of this:



We got seeds for purple carrots, regular carrots and two varieties of sunflowers.



A very impromptu sort-of greenhouse was formed by sandwiching the Jiffy Pots between two plastic storage bin lids.



We're going to try a new fine leafed basil called "Spicy Globe". Also got some more marigolds: we planted some about 6 weeks ago and some bloody snails thought the leaves were really delicious.



This is the bird netting in action. Well, not in action in any real sense - for that I'd have to get a shot of a bird swooping down to eat something in the garden but being foiled by the netting he'd have to swoop off again, pretending that he was actually just larking about to save face. We really only wanted it to cover a small patch of strawberries but when we took it out of the pack and realised it was 4m x 4m we decided on a "big top" type arrangement with a tomato frame propping up the centre.



The eggplants are coming along well this year with a few fruits forming already.



Things are looking a bit sparse - I have to keep reminding myself that it's only just the beginning of summer and there's plenty of growing time left in the season. Hopefully we'll get some joy from the carrots and sunflowers because I've never grown them before.

Will keep you posted.

garden update

Hello gentle reader! A long while between updates I know, but I picked these little beauties this morning from one of my 4 delightfully fruity tomato bushes and couldn't not share them with you. The variety is Mighty Red, which has proven to be the early fruiter out of the four. The others are Apollo 3, Grosse Lisse and Roma (green fruit pictured in abundance, below).



Also picked up these great olive tins and planted three varieties of cherry tomato. Fruit is a bit sparse but extremely sweet and juicy.



So here's the garden overview. The big garden plans were put into effect exactly as drawn up and it all seemed to work out great. We had the addition of a scarecrow which didn't seem to scare anyone but me. Compared to the bleak "before" picture I think it's all pretty gret, aktuly. The fake turf is courtesy of my work. Officially, it's "lawn on loan". Unofficially, I'd be very unhappy to see it go back given that it's doing a great job of hiding a large expanse of cracked grey concrete. A lovely outdoor rug. Which is what good lawn should be. Even good fake lawn.



Ebay came through for us when we were looking for a big outdoor seating area for outside. $126! Seats 10 - 12! Chunky! We parked it under the fig tree...



So you look up and see this...



And soon you'll be able to reach out and pick these.



Looking up the fence you get a better view of the scarecrow *shudders* and the corn. I has a corm! Many to be picked tonight to go with us to a mate's bbq. Chives in front of the corn.



Baby eggplants! Awwww.



And the mighty green zucchini machine. This tireless baby just keeps pumping out the zukes.





And lastly, some basil. Just starting to get seed heads so I might have to pull up the lot if I wanta batch of pesto before it goes 'leggy'.



All in all, yum. God I love summer. Not the heat. Just the produce.