Ping David H-S reply

[David Hare-Scott]

What's happening in your garden David. Have you got your tomatoes in > yet? >

Yes weeks ago, I have small fruit on some.

Here we don't plant them till we know who won the Cup

Without getting too personal you must be on a mountain somewhere. I was up at Sodwalls (near Lithgow) yesterday and they are just planting tomatoes now. Last summer we lit the log fire there while the rest of Oz was at the beach. You can keep it.

but I put in a

few protected by plastic sleeves a week or so prior to that. I > bought more Grosse Lisse yesterday (that is the best variety for long > term preservation TMWOT). But I'm now astounded to find out that > Grosse Lisse is considered to be and heirloom variety!!! Introduced > from France prior to circa 1950 so that makes it so according to > something I read. >

They were very popular in the 50s and 60s. Spread by Yates I think.

Anyway, I am up to my kneecaps (and in some places, thighs) in weeds > and am trying to fight the good fight there. I cna't recall a better > Spring for years so will also have to do bushfire prep around the > places just in case. >

We have had a great spring too. Up to the eyeballs in clover, stock all fat. Flowers are bright, summer veges coming on well.

I have chickens coming- from an incubator - lost my lovely rooster > about a month ago so am trying to get one of his progeny from some > eggs from around the time of his death. So far 5 hatched and 4 left > alive.

Well our girls are doing well. Now I am looking for a rooster, I could get a Heinz (57 varieties) for nothing as surplus cockerels are not always eaten. But I would rather have an australorp that is not too pricey. I may have to get a bantam hen too as none of them look at all interested in sitting on eggs.

I must go as SWAMBO has just announced that the neighbour's weaners are in after the aforementioned clover so Leila and Flynn must earn their keep.

David

[Billy]

Wait a minute. November 2 "Down Under" is like April 2 to the Northern hemisphere, and your tomatoes are setting fruit already? I can plant in May, but nothing happens until the ground warms up in June. You really have green tomatoes?!

[David Hare-Scott]

Yes, most have fruit and much blossom now, the early ones have good sized fruit. They are still green but I expect some to be ripe by Xmas unless La Nina camps right on the door step and we have no sun for a month. They will produce well until the end of March (unless the Girl brings mildew) and then slow a little until they finish in May. Fran is rather cagey about exactly where she is but I think she is further poleward, further inland and higher than I am, all of which shorten the growing season.

Similarly all the citrus were a riot of blossom in September, now they are covered in fruit. I picked all the early apricots last week. [Yes! I beat the possum this year!] They were absolutely yummy, several nights we had them for dessert au naturel and there were enough for jam. The summer squash are flowering well and have small fruit, there may even be some ready to cut, I haven't been out today due to rain.

Soil temperature is not often a limiting factor for me, once the last probable frost is past I can plant all the summer annuals and expect them to grow. If I had an unheated hothouse (I wish) that provided frost protection and some warmth in mid winter I could probably grow tomatoes all year round. The winter ones wouldn't do as well as the summer crop but I would get

*something* off season. Given a few more years of global inaction on climate change I might not need the greenhouse.

David

[David Hare-Scott]

The cumquat does its own thing, often it will flower and fruit later than the rest. It has no fruit yet but that isn't the last chance.

D

[David Hare-Scott]

A hoop house covered with plastic does give some warmth through the day by trapping the sun's heat but doesn't give much frost protection as the heat radiates right back out through the plastic on cold clear nights. Also the humidity can be high here which leads to fungus risks. So I need something with adjustable cover and adjustable ventilation. Add to this the fact that we can get very strong winds here so there is a risk of the whole thing taking off or ripping apart if it isn't well built. A neighbour had his whole shed (made of timber and corrugated iron) moved about 40m by wind a few years ago.

I think a minimalist design using ready at hand materials might not be such a good idea for me. So I have spent my time and money on other aspects of the garden and when my ship comes in I will go for a more solid structure.

David