Big Red

TOMATO time is here again.

Last night I spent a couple of hours weeding and getting rid of dead plant leaves in the Cluckingham Palace tomato bed which is chock-full of cherry tomatoes.

Sweetbite bite cherry tomatoes

It's a fun time of the year with the different varieties of tomatoes are ripening at different stages, so there's a constant supply of yummy types.

Rouge Marmalade tomatoes

 

The free range chef Annabelle Langbein has a great recipe for Harvest tomato sauce...

 

New year's eggs

SEEING the first eggs of the new year is always exciting.

 

It's a nice way to start off with fresh eggs for breakfast. So on January 1, I made pancakes and gave the hens the left-overs as a reward.

 

 

 

The little devils tried to get into the  basil posts growing seedlings and the cherry and rouge marmalade tomato beds yesterday and I was just in time to stop Hilda from tearing down some cherry tomato branches.

 

I've been a bit lax in staking them up enough so must get into it.

 

Coincidentally, Peter Cundell addresses staking tomatoes in the Weekly Times today.  



Dig it

DIGGING in a new vegetable bed or three is so satisfying.

 

On the weekend I finally planted out some vegetables including three varieties of tomato - Tommy Toe, Rouge de Marmalade and Burke's Backyard best - kale, climbing beans, basil and broad beans.

 

 

Preparing the beds took longer than I thought as previous owners have dumped bricks, stones, china, plaster and all manner of rubbish in the yard and sifting and removing the junk form the soil was a job and a half.

 

Luckily I managed to get this all finished just as the rain started.

 

Roll on summer!

 

Here I have put in paths using some of the old pavers I found stacked

under some grass clippings.

 

Rouge de Marmalade planted in front of the beans which will grow and hide the back fence.

To the right are some jacaranda trees and an old fuchsia whose days are numbered as I have to dig out the surrounding running-bamboo.

 

The hens commence digging up the lawn for my new tomato garden.

You say tomato...

IT'S the big debate.

Far bigger than Cats versus Hawthorn, Ford versus Holden or Anzac biscuits with or without coconut.

Well, almost bigger than the Anzac debate.

But I digress - hen do you plant your tomatoes?

Some vow that Caulfield Cup day is the go, while others decree that AFL Grand Final Day is the go.

Peter Cundall has some excellent advice in his latest Weekly Times column and Diggers if you are after heirloom varieties, check out the Diggers website.

A friend at work has planted some heirloom seeds and given me a plant - we don't know what variety it is so it will be exciting to find out when it finally fruits!