Summer, season of heat, instant fruitfulness and love

[Hebe]

Thank you JW. No, if I have to have a glass house I can't see them growing and that's half the fun. My neighbour's are red so why aren't mine?

It's been in the mid-20s for days and there are heaps of tomatoes, just not red ones.

[JW Frogen]

Ms. Hebe, my seeds are at your service.

I can even air mail.

[Auzgurl]

Could very well be hebe that your tomatoes are all going to ripen at once. Can you bottle?

Hot houses do not give very flavourful fruit from my experience Frogen. The soil here on the edge of the Great Australian Bite is very impoverised..I have to grow what little I do grow in pots with plenty of fertilser added...I cant be bothered to do the big mulching and compost thing because I'm leaving to the Pilbara soon and the soil up that way is even worse my very persevering sister tells me.

This is really rather frustrating as because as a child my father could grow anything and had great patience with anything fiddly or temperamental. We simply never ate store bought anything that could be grown..

[Jovial Monk]

Hmmmm neighbor's are red. . .different varieties? I have some large toms still green, have not yet picked from those bushes. Yours get lots of morning light?

[Jovial Monk]

Hmmm while they are green dissolving a couple tsp Epsom salts in 5-10l water and pouring them all over the tomato plants might prevent blossom end rot.

Dunno if tomatoes like that acid soil of yours? does your neighbor lime his soil?

[Hebe]

It's all good. Some of the biggies are starting to change colour and there's plenty of fruit. They're just late bloomers. The big ones other people are growing are earlier.

The typhoon we had today didn't help.

[Jovial Monk]

Typhoon in tassie????? Eggsagerate a little? [deliberate misspelling ]

[Jovial Monk]

Tonight, stewed lightly spiced peaches for desert. Sunday start peach butter going, also dehydrating peach slices.

After that, corn, charental melons, zuchini and beans.

After that, lots of fearsomely hot (hotter than habanero) chillies to dry, crush into powder, mix with tomato, vinegar etc and end up with some fearsomely hot chili sauce!

[Jovial Monk]

Tomato soup tonight, spiced up with fresh basil out my garden!