Tomatoes Cunningham

Taking a leaf from Bruce's notebook, I used yesterday's heatwave to sun-dry some of the mixed tomatoes that threaten to take over the kitchen.

Don't they look pretty? They're in oil spiced with Carmargue salt, home-grown garlic and herbs. They won't last more than a couple of days - we'll eat them after work, on the front veranda with a glass of chilled wine, Paul's good sourdough bread, and a few salted radishes on the side.

I love this place.

Sowed some bull's blood beetroots, long red radish, watermelon radish and pulled up the bush beans - the next lot - in the western bed - are full flower now, and I wanted to give the squash more room.

I'm thinking I'll plant the tomato bed under garlic, when the tomatoes are done. But the soil really needs some work. Might send the chickens in.

Heat wave

It's going to be around 38 degrees today. I was out in the garden at about 7:00 and it was already warm.

We're coming to the last of the chioggio baby beets now, but I have some others almost ready, and some coming on. Ralph Long says I can continue to sow them till March, which I plan to do - we love them in salad.

I sowed a row of long white icicle radishes in the easternmost bed, which is going to be heritage carrots (Ralph Long says I can sow carrots till March, as well - so that will work nicely.)

There's a row of very late peas coming up in the westernmost bed. They're a test - RL says they can be put in in January, thought their best bet is June-Oct. We'll see if he's right.

Stinkbugs on the citrus today - just two. The chickens appreciated them, but I have to do a search for eggs on the leaves to keep things under control.

The apples are lovely. No need to net the chicken's tree - they don't get eaten by possums or birds. Gorgeous straight from the tree!

Apples and oranges

and paris market carrots and purple dragon carrots and cylindrica baby beets and gourmet delight bush beans and zucchini and mixed heritage radishes and there are jaune flamee tomatoes as well in there somewhere and - oh yes - eggs. And a long green chili. No pattypan squash today, but there will be strawberries later, I think because I'm hoping to re-do the netting a little bit later (if the rain holds off). At the moment, the netting is so cumbersome that I need to send a neighbour-child in under it - and then pay him in strawberries, which is fair but unphotographed.

The oranges surprise me - they've been hanging around since winter, and the tree is flush with new growth, but these are still as sweet as anything (though hard to pick without climbing.)  The apples from the hen's run are gorgeous - but we didn't net them. We will next year. The others from the ballerinas are not quite ripe - we only netted half a dozen of those just to see if they're worth the trouble.

A possum pulled the netted nectarines down. Clearly we need to think this through.

Made up a couple of dozen pitticelle and *gasp* froze them - but we've already tried it with latkes, and we know that if you blast them (frozen) at 240 degrees fan-forced for ten-fifteen minutes, they crisp up very, very well.

The next lot will go into the dehydrator for soup mix.  :)

The radish situation is getting a little out of hand...

but it's nothing we can't cope with.

I cleaned out some of the kitchen-garden beds today and put in some chioggio and cylindrical beets, some massey peas, some silverbeet, and some paris market and purple dragon carrots. I need much less kale, as it turns out - and the cabbage is probably more trouble than it's worth when all's said and done.

The broad beans are an absolute knockout peeled, blanched in salted water, skinned and put in a jar with oil and garlic cloves for a couple of days

Picking raspberries, fingerling beans, strawberries, broccolini, broccoli, spinach, beetroot, potatoes, kale, cauliflower, and the first of the yellow pear tomatoes.

Good morning!

Monday is (amongst other things) Water The Roses and Strawberries Day. As the summer comes on, I'll do that in the mornings, but while the tradies are working out there, leave it till after they've gone.

This is what the working part of the garden looks like right now. We have spinach, chard, kale, lettuce, beetroot, peas, early climbing beans, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes (Jonathons - self-sown: I know it's too early!!! ) broccoli, broccolini, radishes, chillis, sweet chillis, garlic, (Jonathon put it in for us during the settlement phase and it's just about ready for harvest) carrots, pak choy, and the fruit trees - three apples, a prolific orange, a lemon that Jonathon's mother-in-law brought in Forbes. Oh, and the strawberries. And four kinds of thornless berries along the fence and two olive trees. And a nectarine.

And the chickens of course.

Except for Jonathon's work (the layout, the fruit and berries, the garlic, the soil, the compost - god, but we're lucky!) all this is in the very early stages - at the moment we're taking in oranges and leafy greens and that's all. (And the herbs from the herb pots - photos of herbs later.)

Bowral Weather

CURRENT CONDITIONS IN BOWRAL, NSW
Current Temp:13.6°C	Humidity: 84%	Pressure:1021.8hPa
Feels like: 12°C	Wind Speed: 18kp/h (Gusts: 30kp/h)
Dew Point: 10.9°C	Wind Direction: N/A

Current Observations @ 9/09/2013 8:00:00 AM

FORECASTS
Monday, September 09	10°C - 22°C		Fog then sunny
Tuesday, September 10	14°C - 21°C		Windy
Wednesday, September 11	7°C - 15°C		Mostly sunny
Thursday, September 12	5°C - 14°C		Mostly sunny