'Down Under'?????.....

[porridgemaker]

I have had a pretty awful season here. Granted it was my first season on a plateau 500m above sea level. Last year I was growing at sea level. It is blowing a gale here almost every day. I have not had a glass house. We had a hard frost in December. We had a frost yesterday. So no tomatoes or pumpkins or aubergines this year. It has been a good year for potatoes, brassica's, swiss chard, lettuce and herbs. I will be getting a glass house by next October. In winter we get heavy snow and the ground is frozen so Kale is all that survives, so I have been planting that out today. I live in a farming/ mining area and the local rams devoured my rasps, they are coming back though. I have learned much this year about the climate here and have high hopes for next summer.
Anyway I know how nice 'summer vege porn' photos are in the middle of winter so I will try post a photo of my last years pumpkin harvest soonish!

[Nicos]

Hi there porridgemaker- lovely to hear from you again!
Gosh- sounds like a bit of a challange??
I've just spent a very few pleasant minutes Googling your location and Otago looks a fantastic place!
Looking forward to seeing your piccies!

[kiwirach]

g'day porridgemaker, i'm a cantabrian altho live and grow in the UK. where in Otago are you?, cos it certainly sounds like a challenge where you are!. i look forward to seeing your piccies!.

[porridgemaker]

last years harvest. Pumpkins were all a tad small as I had to harvest them a month early as we moved up here. There are vegetable spaghetti, gold nugget, cinderella, baby bear and orange dawn. All of these kept on my window sill very well, the vege spaghetti till October 7 months! We carved them for Halloween. Cinderellas were not so good roasted, and the flavor of the orange dawn was not so sweet. The other photo is a leek flower.
Kiwirach I (totally giving myself away) am one of about 20 people who live at Macrae's flat. We are hoping to move down to Waikouaiti, much better for a gardener! I am not a kiwi, but stuck to one!
Moira

[porridgemaker]

Just found this too!
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[Nicos]

Wow- that's a fantastic crop- and a nice selection too!

[kiwirach]

Hi Moira, great photos and selection of pumpkins. i'm having a go at pumpkins and squash for the 1st time this year.....wont be as many as you though....one plant each i think, cos i dont each them much myself!.

[Nicos]

Mcsee - how's the flooding? Hope you're OK????

BBC News - Hailstorm brings chaos to Melbourne

[mcsee]

It caused a lot of damage Nicos, mainly from the huge hailstones, which punched holes through car windows with ease and stripping foliage from trees. The deluge of water inundated many shops, homes and Shopping Centres etc, so I expect the insurance bill to be quite high.

We were just out of the path the storm took and only ended up with some much welcome rain, minus the hail.

Mother Nature does some 'odd' things at times.

[Janek]

G'Day All!

I missed this post until now so my apologies for not responding sooner.

I got my tomato plants in late this season, some two months after our last frost, so still have green fruits on most of my plants. To date I have tasted about a dozen varieties, many new to me, and there have been some pleasant surprises.

The owner of a liquor store nearby is Greek and each spring he sells tomato seedlings (individually potted up) from his store. This season he offered one from Malta, said it was a large pink one with good flavour. As I have cat genes I'm curious about everything and want to know more, so I bought four plants. At just $2 each, you couldn't complain! Well, this variety has shot up into my Top 20 list, and I've grown out around 350 varieties to date! Such a wonderfully concentrated flavour that lingers long after the last swallow. It will definitely be invited back into my garden on a regular basis!

But, each year I find that a number of the new varieties I am trialling are not correct and are either mislabelled varieties or are crossed as they don't match the description. If they are nice-tasting I save seeds, and only after I have grown them out again will I know if they are a cross or not. That's all part of the fun, though.

About two weeks ago we had three inches of rain. It was all very welcome, given our drought here. It was the most rain we have had in a single spell for eight years! It has been raining on and off since Friday with thunder now as I key this response (1am). I am hoping and praying for at least two inches of rain as I'm a mycophile and we haven't had wild mushrooms for seven looooong years! To get the wild mushrooms we need a minimum of two inches of rain - one inch for the canopy and one inch for the forest floor. And for those folks who haven't eaten wild mushrooms they are so much tastier than store-bought ones. In fact, they are to die for!

I'll write more again soon.

Cheers.

Janek

[Nicos]

In fact, they are to die for!

Hope not!!!!! ( take care)

fingers crossed your wish comes true!

..any piccies of your toms?...sounds like you are a bit of an expert?!

[Janek]

G'Day and Greetings from Down Under, Nicos!

By the way, are you Greek mate? With a user ID of Nicos I'm suspecting you are. Do tell us more about yourself.

Here is a pic for you to drool over - Tidwell German which I sourced from the USA. One of many I have grown with fantabulous flavour!

Cheers.

Janek

[Janek]

And another. This one is Calliope Orange, an Aussie heirloom, which I helped to rescue from extinction. Great tasting and well suited to growing in the UK and Europe as it's such a sturdy little number.

Happy to send seeds to folks who want to give it a try. Life's too short not to grow out flavourful tomatoes!

[Janek]

Success! We just heard that we got two inches of rain, so wild mushrooms should appear around Thursday or Friday, provided we get warm days, and that seems assured. I can't wait to get into the pine forest to start hunting!

Here are pics of some of my favourite tomatoes - Primrose Oxheart and Black from Tula. You can all start drooling now!





Janek

[Janek]

Sadly, the two inches of rain wasn't sufficient to push up the wild mushrooms! In more than an hour of hunting I only found two mushies!

We always get our first 'real' frost by mid-April in my neck of the woods Down Under, so that is only a mere three weeks away, yet we continue to have record high temperatures. Today's maximum was 30 degrees C which is about 90 degrees F! It is really hard to fathom!

Cheers.

Janek