Polytunnel

[foxy]

Cherokee Purple, I think of this as the elephant man of the tomato world.
The flowers after being propagated can join together to form one tomato, I have occasionally seen this in other tomatoes but it seems quite frequent with this tomato.

 

[foxy]

At the holiday house this is the task I have.

Everything is overgrown, the boundary hedges need cutting right back as do the trees we have Rhododendrons all around the front and back of the house along with silver birch which needs to be cut back. This is excellent potato growing country, it is spitting distance to Hanging Rock so all the soil around here is volcanic. The potting shed at the back is where I would like to brew. Run water and power up there and be out of the way of SWMBO.

Back home the Beefsteak Toms keep producing, obviously not as many as the medium size but good sandwich size.

 

[Clint]

I bet there's some critters lurking in that lot...

 

[foxy]

I bet there's some critters lurking in that lot...

This is the pile I am wary of, I can imagine a family of Joe Blakes living in there. The neighbours say there is an old car body underneath it all. The pile is about 175 cm high and about 4 metres long.

 

[Clint]

What's Joe Blake's...? Snakes...?

 

[foxy]

What's Joe Blake's...? Snakes...?

Yes. Though snakes are usually around water they do tend to wander, there is a water course about 200 meters away.

 

[Clint]

You'll have to get some high boots and a forked stick...I took a grass snake home once and my mam nearly had a fit!
The old Jack Russel nearly had an adder when we were up in Scotland but I pulled her away sharpish and it went into the bushes.

 

[foxy]

You'll have to get some high boots and a forked stick...I took a grass snake home once and my mam nearly had a fit!
The old Jack Russel nearly had an adder when we were up in Scotland but I pulled her away sharpish and it went into the bushes.

A lot of dogs are killed by snakes in Australia, Ticks is another danger, they would probably kill more dogs than snakes.

 

[Clint]

Tics are dreadful things!

 

[foxy]

Tics are dreadful things!

I got a tick attach to me while fishing, didn't feel anything until I got home managed to squeeze it out intact right in my crutch it was. I cracked it, they have a hard shell, left it on the bedside table to show my wife but it still manged to crawl away. Made my wife sleep on that side of the bed that night.
If the head gets left in it can make you crook for a couple of weeks.

 

[Clint]

Yeah I had one on my arm when fishing..it hadn't got dug in so managed to flick it off..

 

[Horners]

Pretty terrifying the fauna in Oz. Remember taking a hot air balloon ride out of Cairns and being terrified lest we ended up landing in a river full of salties. Meanest creatures I've ever seen. Throw in the boxfish jellyfish if you went in the sea ,and the odd shark, its a miracle we got home. Thankfully funnelwebs were further south apparently.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I'd love a poly tunnel but I have no parrot

 

[foxy]

Pretty terrifying the fauna in Oz. Remember taking a hot air balloon ride out of Cairns and being terrified lest we ended up landing in a river full of salties. Meanest creatures I've ever seen. Throw in the boxfish jellyfish if you went in the sea ,and the odd shark, its a miracle we got home. Thankfully funnelwebs were further south apparently.

Box jellyfish only sting women.

 

[foxy]

4.5 kg of mixed tomatoes turned into 2.5 litres of thick
passata.

Another 8 kg of Cherokee Purple destined for the same fate.

 

[Clint]

Nice picking Foxy! My seeds are in the propagator...gardeners delight,a small cherry type called candy crush,zappetos,Ukrainian purple, marzano..

 

[foxy]

Nice picking Foxy! My seeds are in the propagator...gardeners delight,a small cherry type called candy crush,zappetos,Ukrainian purple, marzano..

To be honest Clint I wasn't impressed with the gardeners delight, I did do some research on them where it was mentioned that as it was an F1 that it had changed for the original, they were small (same size as sweet 100) and not sweet at all. Do you get Tommy Toe over there? They are an Australian heirloom, small to medium size and very sweet. Mr Fothergil does them.

 

[Hanglow]

I'm about to start my toms, going for ailsa craig and san marzano "redorta". A couple of each in the greenhouse and outside, although I'll start those seeds in a few more weeks

 

[foxy]

Six kg of olives given to me today a fair swap for a dozen or so tomato plants. 3 hours to pit them, cut into 2 hours of drinking time but happily the preseving process is now underway.

 

[foxy]

I don't know if any of you guys has seen this Pom on YouTube chitting potatoes but his method works a treat. Tried it this year and his method has left the usual keeping the spuds in the light for dead.