Tomatoes – Head in the Clouds

More Packing!

Hello there!
Hope everybody who got an Easter long weekend had a lovely one and didn’t overdo it on the chocolate too much!!
I spent a lot of today fiddling about with organising my gear
Above is the start of the food collection.
After hiking Jeff’s first day in the insanely appalling weather, I figured that having some simple ‘cup of soup’ mixes would be smart. An easy quick hot starter to dinner. I still might jettison them if the pack is too heavy or the weather is forecast not horrible.
The packs in the middle represent 4 meals for 2 people. My dehydrated vegetable mix is nice and light. I am going to put mine on 2 minute noodles. Fiona may use couscous. Fiona also has some other commercially packed meals that we will use to mix things up a bit so we don’t get bored 🙂
Do you think I have enough chocolate???
While I am not a fan of single packaging (at all) I decided that those coffee packs were going to be the least difficult way to get my morning coffee. I can’t seem to control powdered milk, and these make a nice cup. I just have to pack some sugar.
Also pictured is my collapsible cup & bowl – fork & spoon (interchangeable handles saving me 2 grams LOL)
The jetboil, pan for heating the veggie mix, extra gas bottle attachment and the gas bottle… which we will get a new full one just to be on the safe side.
More food stuff to be sorted later.

These are my day hiking clothes.
If the day is not a freezing blizzard, I will probably just be wearing the black cycling pants (Jeff’s) the t-shirt (Jeff’s) the waterproof socks (Jeff’s) Gaters (Jeff’s) Bra & undies (mine) and my cap (also mine!)
I can layer up with the thermal tights, beanie, the black top (on the right), rain jacket (on the left) and in pouring rain or cold wind, Jeffs rainproof pants (Bottom)
If things go snow, then I have my puffy jacket too.

I put the lot on to see if everything worked (ie could I get my rain jacket over the puffy jacket?)
No worries. I totally looked … um… warm?

The puffy jacket and rain pants fit (stuffed) nicely into this waterproof bag too.

Here is everything looking more concise.

Then there is the stuff I plan to wear once the days hike is over.
Two spare pairs of socks. I will be gross and wear mostly the same (probably wet) socks for the first 4 days. No point starting a new pair every day. With how the weather has been, they will get wet within an hour or so, so no point starting dry. Save the dry ones for camp.
Two spare t-shirts. One for sleeping. Probably around day three/four I will treat myself to hike in the sleeping t-shirt and then use the spare one at night.
Comfy crop top for the evening and new undies every day! 😀 (yes there are limits to my gross-ness)
Thermal top (Thanks Fiona!) and pants, shorts to go over thermals (still might grab pj pants instead) windcheater (top left) plus scarf, beanie, gloves & my beach shoes as camp shoes. They are slightly heavier than the crocks (by 100 grams!!) but squash and pack better.

All in all for the clothes – I think I have all bases covered without carrying anything extra.

Jeff put together the medical kit and explained it to me, so I am sorted there. Have decided to take/wear contact lenses – esp if it rains as glasses are just useless. Its a pain as I just can’t see close up now with my glasses on!!! Will hunt out some reading glasses to help. (naturally take my normal glasses too)
Of course – means I need saline and contact lens cases – and a little mirror.
I have my facewasher for ‘sponge baths’ toothpaste/brush, towel, heat patches, toilet paper (really need to scientifically work out how much I need for a week), sunscreen and a poo-shovel (just in case…)
There is also a sharp knife on the med kit.

In other news I made my muesli bars, but will move on to another post for that.
Got some corn and lettuce for dinner tonight…

I also picked a large basketful of tomatoes!!

I was finding ripe tomatoes in places that I didn’t even know I had plants!! Love those self seeded ones!
Anyway – nice and productive day!
Hope your day was great too!
Cheers

Dug My Garlic!

Hello! How is everyones first week of 2018 going?
I treated myself to a trailer load of mushroom compost today!!

Now I can move on to some more planting and feed up some areas.

But I really had a lovely day digging up all my garlic! (and the extra bonus is a whole spare plot!)
It was a mixed bag of sizes, but overall I am pretty happy.

Think I have enough?
I have put them all on the back veranda to dry off for a few days, then I will be able to brush the dirt/mud off more easily before hanging them inside upstairs to dry properly.

I weeded a plot at the back of the hothouse yesterday…

Just enough room for a few more tomatoes

Dumped in a barrow load of mushroom compost and mulched with the last of the seaweed grass (yup – next trip out with the trailer will be to restock on that!)

The self seeded ones I have just recently noticed are doing quite well here too… weeded them and fed them some compost.

Cherry plums slowly starting to ripen!

Of the four unenthusiastic apple cucumber plants… I have only one cucumber developing!

Looks like I can quit buying potatoes at the supermarket!! Yay! I love new potatoes (some of these were on the dinner plate tonight, steamed and served with butter!)

The cucumbers are slow… but mostly steady enough to keep up with what we are eating each night.

Enough tomatoes now to make our favourite side dish of stuffed tomatoes (centres just scooped out and mixed with breadcrumbs, garlic salt & fresh herbs – under the grill for 5 minutes!!)

Loving the fresh food!

Cheers!

Hothouse Rearranging

Hello! Bit late on last nights post… internet when down for the night.
See that nice fat bulb of garlic? I am a bit pleased about that. It came from my ‘afterthought’ patch where I bunged in 5 cloves that were trying to grow in the pantry. They clearly loved the area I put them in. I picked this one because it seemed big enough and I just wanted to pick something!

This patch (where the extra garlic is in the back) that survived weedless for so long, broke out while we were away. The rocket naturally raced to seed and a few more self seeded tomatoes came up in there somehow.

So I cleared it out and planted the watermelon in there instead as they needed a home ASAP. Not sure if I will actually be able to successfully grow watermelon outside in Tasmania as you need a long growing season, but I want to try anyway.

Reminder on the hothouse when we came home…

Weeded, parsley gone to seed pulled out and the cucumber & tomatoes tied back.

Better with the tomatoes off the ground so I can see whats happening. I also cut off a few stems to bring them slightly back under control

Little by little!
Hope your day was great too!
Cheers

(Pip enjoying being able to go back outside again!)

Tomatoes, Chooks & More Flowers

Hello!
How has everyone’s weekend started off?
We have been busy. Lots and lots of little things to take care of.
At least the cash I ordered came in early and my travel cards finally arrived so have them sorted out (and tested)

I decided to plant those tomato laterals in the other side of the raised bed. I made a little fence so they hopefully won’t loom over the carrots too badly.

My plan is to go and pinch off a bunch more laterals and leave them in a jar of water – my guess is when we return from swanning about Japan they will be well and truly ready to be planted out.

I took time this evening to clean out the chook house. It was due – nicer to leave it with a fresh start for Beau, our house sitter.

Poor little crook chook is not really getting better. We think we may have to dispatch her before we leave. We are so sad about that, but we have run out of time to do our usual nursing and we can’t expect Beau to either nurse or dispatch (He is about to enter into his final school exams so we are trying to make things easy for him)
I have left her sleeping on the nest – she has had lots of lovely special feeds in the past week.

The other girls were happy to snug up together in their clean coop.

The compost is now well and truly full!

The lettuce patch is full of sturdy little self seeded tomato and broccoli plants. I am hoping to relocate them (goodness knows where) before we go.

The white iris should unfold tomorrow!

Even got a bit of a sunset tonight! By that point it was getting dark so I had to quit and come inside for the evening!

Hope everyone has a super fabulous weekend!

Cheers!

Wood Stacked, Tomatoes Planted & Blossoms Admired

More cherry blossoms fluffing out each day! Its such a pretty tree!

Well… another beautiful day! I had a few chores in town to do before pulling the gardening clothes back on.
But stacking the wood was the first main job

I love the new area! Its so much more space efficient and I don’t have to over-think the stacking process with the sturdy walls keeping everything in place!

Oh – I put my tables out again and made $19 today – although someone took an awful lot of pots for $3.50! I was in town at the time that happened. Not sure if they were really bad at math, misunderstood the prices or intend dropping back tomorrow with the balance! (the latter has happened before)
Oh well… I don’t put things out the front that I will cry about if I don’t get my $$. Sometimes mistakes happen. (I figure if they were trying to steal stuff then the eggs would have disappeared not the bean seedlings haha)

I cleared up the raspberry canes – mulched them up and added them to the compost.

I was going to hoe the potatoes but the ground was a bit hard – so I put the sprinkler on them and moved on to plant my tomatoes.

I would have waited a little longer before putting these out, but I want them well established before we go so our young house sitter doesn’t have to worry about everything in the garden.

The seaweed kept most of the weeds out, but the twitch is persistent. I raked off the seaweed and spent some time digging and fossicking for the ropey menace!

It will return I am sure but at least todays effort will slow it up a bit.

10 heirloom beefsteak tomato plants in. Each plant got a few handfuls of mushroom compost and a good watering. I also covered them up under the plastic containers – which they will get at night for at least a week.

I have more tomatoes that will need planting. I just have to work out where!

Broccoli coming along beautifully – I even noticed the floret (is that what you call it?) starting!!

After dark I remembered I hadn’t gone back to cover my zucchini and marigolds, so I slipped back out to do that. Errugh – snail & slug city out there! I spent some quality time tap-dancing on them, then gave some key areas a sprinkle of snail bait.

Anyway – a lovely productive day. Its calling for rain tomorrow – so I am glad I have made decent steps in the last few days out there!

Will leave you with a couple more flower images

Enjoy your day!

Cheers

Sunday

Was all prepared to be a sloth today, but Fiona rang suggesting a walk. Since I hadn’t been for a week I couldn’t justify a ‘no’ !!
It was pretty brisk out there, but we mostly didn’t get rained on and we felt good after our hike – even though our legs hurt a bit!

Back home I got into my original planned task which was turning those beetroots into pickles.

They were smaller than my normal ones, but one can’t be too fussy at this time of year hey?
Anyway, they filled a large coffee jar so I am happy again!

Remember my winter tomato lateral project?

Well… today finally I found one starting a root!

They are really slow to develop – again, can’t expect much in winter. Mostly its a gamble and if I manage to get a few early tomatoes going then I will be happy. If not… back to some seeds in pots in a few weeks!

Hope you have had a lovely day

Cheers

A Few More Tomatoes!

Hi there!
Just sorting the good, the bad and the ugly of the tomatoes! Thought I might do a batch through the dehydrator. Save some freezer space!

The house currently smells like a big tomato.

The chooks got the dodgy tomatoes and some warm mash. Seriously – they NEED to up their game – one or two eggs a day from 11 birds is pretty slack!

Boy oh boy did they enjoy that! Our little half silky/half Australorp was especially keen. I thought she was going to pop!!

Sticky beaks everywhere!

This carrot is doing well… considering its growing in the pathway with the weeds!!

Plenty of other carrots in the proper bed as well as seeding ones!

Lots of celery seeds!

Look! More tomatoes! haha

Todays haul!!

Hope your weekends are going along fabulously!

Cheers

(It rained a lot today on and off!)

Odds & Sods

Lucky Jeff trotted back off to work tonight – armed with 4 dozen eggs and a big slice of cake 🙂

Our chooks are certainly pulling their weight well!

Jeff had some old bait in the freezer that he thought he would try out on the chickens – was funny, first they crowded around fast to see

Then they all kinda stepped back in horror and suspicion! A braver one eventually gave them a bit of a pecking, but then spent five minutes rubbing her beak on the ground in disgust!

I suspect the local crows weren’t as fussy as our girls!

I went off into town today – figured I was better away from the house, then I wouldn’t be tempted to be doing things in the garden. My back really isn’t playing the game. I need to remember I am in my mid 40’s not mid 20’s and somehow all the structural bits don’t play nice when you overdo things! 🙂

There must have been a big car rally over at Stanley or Smithton today – so many great old vehicles rumbled past us today!

Cheery waves from everyone that went by too!

OK – I did a teeny bit of gardening – one of the tomatoes in the hothouse had big enough laterals to pinch off

So I popped them in a glass to watch the roots form (I like that bit!)

Some of you expressed interest in the calendar I was getting printed. I finally sorted out costs/postage blah blah. You can view the calendar here.
The cost is $16 plus postage. USA & Canada is $8, within Australia $3. Just leave me a message if interested (no pressure tho! lol) and I will send you an email to organise it.

Have a wonderful start to the new week!

Cheers

Source Images: DSC_2977.JPG (Av: F18.0; Tv: 1/1250 sec.; ISO: 1000; FL: 45.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Apple tree under the changeable skies

Goodbye Tomatoes

Yesterday I showed you this mess… so today I decided to get out and do something about it.

There was no wind or rain today, and although it wasn’t the nicest of days, it was mild enough to be comfortable in a t-shirt!

Most of the time I spent grumbling at myself for not tying the tomatoes up with a quick release knot!!

Another nice little clump of parsley – thought I might leave it there

Why not put some of those excess broccolini seedlings (or maybe cabbage??) in here?

If all my broccolini produce, we are going to be swimming in the stuff!

I kept all the green tomatoes… most should ripen inside in the warm (I hope)

Often when the weather turns, I will pull up entire tomato plants and hang them upside down in the hothouse. Eventually the leftover fruit will ripen. Because there wasn’t so much on each plant, I just cut off the stem that held the fruit.

It doesn’t look pretty or stylish, but I have found it a good way to ripen the last tomatoes. If you don’t have a hothouse, a shed will do fine.

Next I spent a very pleasant half an hour picking the dried bean pods off my runner bean vines and started some grand plans in my head for extending next seasons garden.

Plenty of seeds to start some more runner beans next season

My little dabble into selling vegetables on the roadside seemed reasonably successful. Now that we have the bore water, I am a bit excited about extending the whole production and being able to offer more vegetables and fruit out the front

I still use the rain barrels to scoop up water and give my undercover plants a hand watering.

Getting the bore put in last December has given us a whole lot more freedom in what we can do in the garden

Before the bore the only water we had access to was what we caught off the house and shed rooves, which were stored in two tanks – capacity of about 18,000 litres (4755 gallons). Which isn’t much when you get at least three months over summer with little to no rain. Your showers get extremely speedy!!

I am a bit excited to plan and create new gardens for next season!

Night falls pretty early here now. 5.30pm and its dark. The fire is on and I am still adding layers to my crochet projects. I learned a little late how to make the centre sit flatter… not that I intend undoing it to fix it!!

Tonight I also whipped up a batch of lemon butter teacakes…

They taste pretty good… but they stick to the paper pretty badly. Maybe I am supposed to wait until they are really cool before eating?

Hope whatever is left of your weekend is fantastic.

The rain is now coming down again quite heavily, so I feel cosy inside. Pip is curled up under my windcheater – a warm purring lump – and the fire flickering along.

Cheers

PS Occasional extras on my facebook page!

Around the House

Source Images: DSC_2614.JPG (Av: F4.5; Tv: 1/80 sec.; ISO: 800; FL: 42.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Treasures from yesterday

This afternoon we picked up our new guest, Mana, so today was a day of making sure her room was prepared, a cake was ready for afternoon tea, and all that kind of stuff. (Will post some photos of Mana once she has had a good sleep! 30 hours of travel since she started from her home!)

Emma fossicked through the garden to put some fresh flowers in her room

I think she did a lovely job! I hadn’t realised we still had such a variety in the garden

I had to pick a few of the cucumbers before they got too big

The oca is looking reasonably good. No idea if I will get any tubers of them. They are a new thing to me – (since coming here anyway) they are awesome baked!

Oca – a long time from planting to digging up!

A little bit of autumn from our poor little Japanese Maple. Now that we have more water I will be able to nurture it a lot better.

I save, or get Ruby & Margie to save meat trays. I find them useful for catching water under pots. At times I can have a lot of cuttings or seedlings on the go.