It'll be good to see everybody's tomatoes! Adam, you should be cranking up your preserving unit. :) It's great fun.

It's amazing how everything's growing at the moment. Fantastic weather for it. We've had 29 mm of rain, thunder, and now sun. You can actually watch everything grow.

PP, I'd be worried if I had your patch. These plants will be taking over soon. How are you watering everything? Got some irrigation system rigged up?

I haven't had to water my tomatoes yet. It'll be interesting to see if I have to water them this year and if so, how many times. :)

Spatz, I'll spread them a little to give them more room now that the sun's high in the sky... they were positioned to get the most out of spring sun. But mostly I'll have to trim and pinch out suckers to keep them manageable. The goal is to get a taste of them all, rather than huge production.

I water by hand with a hose, and totally envy you not needing to water very often!

PP

I'm going out now to take a pic. Patrina. See ya soon. I'm really jealous of your managerie of solonacae.

Here ya go. Some pickies of our abundant growth.
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Corn is Big
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Tommies babies
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An overall view

Thats an amazing transformation from your earlier pics. Well done.

Your gardens all look fantastic, I feel confident enough to include a couple of photos of my new place (I move Jan 14th)
The house is beautiful, the garden large enough for kids, dogs, veggies & chooks & the deck just made for parties!!!!
I've included a photo of last years crop just before the fruit fly hit to make me feel better :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sarah's new garden

I'd be grubbing out a couple of those bushes if I was yew. That's valuable tomato space, and no frost.
And don't call it a deck, it's an above ground tomato facility.

Great stuff Sarah. Congrats on the move. The trees, shrubs and grass will obviously have to go, but it looks good.

Wow, good stuff Adam! What's that colourful stuff? Marigolds?

Sarah, unless it's edible stuff, I'd either give the shrubs a really hard prune, or get rid of them. Same with that tallish tree at the back.

:)

Most of those trees are citrus so will be allowed to stay, there's plenty of room for vegies along the right hand side, which faces north.
Most of the grass will be going, just the fruit trees I'm taking with me will take care of that! I thought I could have a decorative border of toms around the deck, the cages would be quite a talking point!

Tomato bed today:
L-R: BR Yellow Currant, BW Suddeths, Principe Borghese, Keooogg's Bfast, Cherokee Purple, Jaune Flamme, Roma San Marzano
http://www.netguru.com.au/gdh/images/tomatoes1218.jpg

First ripe ones. A couple of cute BRYC
http://www.netguru.com.au/gdh/images/BRYCbaby1.jpg

Not-quite-ready babies:
Jaune Flamme
http://www.netguru.com.au/gdh/images/JF3.jpg
Gazillions of BRYC
http://www.netguru.com.au/gdh/images/BRYC3.jpg
First PBs
http://www.netguru.com.au/gdh/images/PB1.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: More on our blog

Dammit, forgot to put in the html :-)

Tomato bed today:
L-R: BR Yellow Currant, BW Suddeths, Principe Borghese, Keooogg's Bfast, Cherokee Purple, Jaune Flamme, Roma San Marzano
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First ripe ones. A couple of cute BRYC
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Not-quite-ready babies:
Jaune Flamme
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Gazillions of BRYC
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First PBs
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Bloody Skite. great pics though.
We're all going to be eating them in March. Yes spatz, they are Marigolds. I had some twisted notion they did something to the soil or to pests or something. I should have put them in the floral garden at the front. But they are colourful, in a grandma kind of way.
I've got five beds of corn. I don't eat it that much, but I always feel more successful if the corn grows, I have no idea why.
Ray dug a good bed today, and put the red currants in from their prison pots to their liberation.
We're the talk of the neighbourhood. Wierd people with wierd things to eat. I'll have to start wearing a ballgown 'round the backyard. It'll set of the Orb and Sceptre I currently carry. Which may go some way to explaining the wonky tomato stakes.

Great stuff Mabbs. They're looking good. Ours seem to be at about the same stage - cherries beginning to ripening and plenty of unripe fruit around. Roll on summer!

Yes, looking forward to March and trying everyone else's tommies too :-) I am pretty stoked with the JF - a couple are on the turn, and they are way prolific!

We're going to buy some advanced corn & capsicum seedlings because the ones we started from seed are not doing so well. Hasn't been hot enough yet I don't think. We have to get a greenhouse!

Heres a 609 gram Brandywine just picked today YUM
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Mabbs, you are very quickly becoming 'show-off' No. 2 (no surprises as to whom is No.1 !!!!) My tommies in Melbourne have stalled a bit. Good big plants but not a lot of obvious fruit (except for PL Mystery Green, Druzba, Money Maker and some of the cherries). At Marysville plants are OK considering the max temp on Sunday was 14!!! Well, should be some for March.

Nice photos and supurb looking plants Mabb. Mantis this must be your year for big tomatoes, seen those other photos on the other forum and they all look great you definitely got a red thumb.

Lomatia, I doubt I'll ever reach the show-off level of #1, LOL. We're pretty happy with the toms this year. Turning the beds N/S from E/W has done them good I think, and we have 4 beds now rather than 2 which is excellent. Cherries are good instant gratification aren't they :-) I'm hanging out for fruit on the Big Beefies tho. There probably is some fruit in there already but the bushes are so lush that I can't see them!

A small offering for the salad at lunch today. More pics later of the gazillions coming up in the next few weeks...

Here is a link that might be useful: gdh

Here is what I harvested last Sunday.
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Here are some Sioux and two Wes. The only two I am going to get me thinks so I will save seeds from them.
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Mantis, you wait I'll be catching up to you soon I have some lovely Cherokee Purple on the way :-)

Apols for the blurry pics... must have had the DTs at the time :-)

First yield from the spuds - Dutch Cream and Royal Purple
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A nice plate of Jaune Flamme and BR Yellow Currant
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Jaune Flamme on the bush - there's heaps of them!

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BRYC - goodness knows what I'm going to do with them all

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Principe Borghese now on their way

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V Cute baby Waltham Butternut

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Pics of the CPs and Romas to come... the ones I took got too much flash and are blinding :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: If the HTML doesn't work, it's all in the blog

OK here are the rest.

Cherokee Purple babes
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Roma San Marzano coming along nicely
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European Yellow Chilli

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Well done Flick. The plants look great. My pumkins are doing nothing this year. I pulled 5 more tommys from the greenhouse today. I am thinking of cleaning out the greenhouse completely by the end of next week, and starting some more seedlings when we return from hols. I have my hopefully Brandywine X College Challenger cross to try out as well.
I saved seeds from one of those Wes and fair dinkum you nearly need a miners licence to find the seeds. Found quite a few in the end.

Good one Mabb. Great pics. Like your blog too. Does your ISP provide WordPress, did you sign up somewhere, or do you have your own web site?

Thanks Mantis, this is our first year with pumpkins and we're growing them amongst the corn as they are meant to be good companions. They'll certainly provide a living mulch, LOL, they're growing like mad!

Ray, we have everything hosted by an all-you-can-eat hosting place in the US now. Costs US$7.95 a month for 10Gb space and tools to install all sorts of apps with a few clicks of the mouse, including WordPress and Coppermine which I'm trying out for a gallery.

Excellent value you'll never get in Oz, we tried, but I couldn't even find someone who supported everything we need for WP let alone with Fantastico which makes it all so easy.

We are with www.bluehost.com and they have been very reliable. Changed everything over in October after one too many attacks on the server we used to host at home. Oh, and unlimited subdomains too, so I have my own for all my personal/quilting stuff (www.flick.netguru.com.au) way kool!

We use Westnet as ISP cos the broadband's good value, but I don't use the webspace and mail that comes with the account because we have our own domain, so everything's at bluehost now.

First tomato platter of the season:
Jaune Negib, Black Plum, Striped Turkish Monastery, Ida Gold.

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Here they come :-)
Looking good Spatz

Spatz, I really like the look and the size of the Striped Turkish I prefer smallish tomatoes. What about taste? Any good?

Lyn, I can't tell you anything about taste yet. I seem to have picked them too early. I swear they felt ready to pick when I did the grope-test on the plant. But when I brought them in, they felt a lot harder. But will report back on taste when I've had a bite in a few days. :)

Yummo. And interesting varieties too. You beat me with ripe ones ;)

Here's my tomato harvest from last week:
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From bottom in anti-clockwise direction: Schimmeig Creg (with Stripes); Pale Perfect Purple; Purple Cherokee; Jaune Negib; Unknown volunteer; Grosse Lisse; Jaune Flaummee
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From bottom in anti-clockwise direction: Yellow Tommy Toes, Sweet Bite, Broad Ripple Yellow Currant, Rose Quartz Multiflora, Principe Bourghese

You can see lots of new photos from my garden at the link below

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

Things are certainly starting to ramp up now - look out Mantis, here they come :-)

Spatz, v nice plate. I like the look of that Black Plum. I'm looking forward to a taste report!

Fin, that's a pretty good haul, we have some varieties in common this year. What do you think of the Jaune Flamme? I had some in a warm beef salad the other night and they were perfect, much better than when I tried them on toast (didn't really work). A friend gave me some ideas on how to use the BR Yellow Currants, other than putting them in a salad that is. I'm going to try a few - apparently they cook up nicely, sliced in half and poked into the top of a focaccia.

So far I think Jaune Flamme are one of my favs. They have been very prolific , beaut colour and I like the taste. My hubby likes them best of all the ones we've had so far, but I think I prefer the black early and purple cherokee (just!).

Yesterday I had my first Earls Faux Brandywine on toast and it was superb! The flavour was just divine, and even though most of my fruit hasn't survived, the few I will get will be wirth every ounce of growing they took. This one's definatelyon my grow again list, along with Jaune flamme and purple cherokee.

This is my first Moldovan Green on homemade bread and cream cheese.
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Yum!!!

I'm hanging for a green. Nice combo, Spatz, and you make me salivate so bad. Looks almost like my Mystery on the inside. Sounds like it tastes really good. Greens are go.

Grub, your mystery green is my only plant left in the green house. It is trying its best with some sort of leaf problem. Havent had a fruit set yet even with me tapping out pollen and helping out. Heres hoping eh.
Cheers Mantis

Thanks Mantis,
Sound like tough times down your way.
Whatever will be will be...
(Unsure of spelling at this point of time on ka sera sera).
Anyway, dun worry, I think i have some good saves :)
Cheers, Grub. And get that greenhouse clean :)

What's the Moldovan Green taste like Spattypops?
I'm growing one as well, but mine are still a bit immature.

Adamops, the Moldovan Green was delicious. I picked another one today and I might be able to describe it better once I tasted that one.

Here's today's haul:
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They look great. As did my lunch :)

Here is a link that might be useful:

Great lunch, grub! :)

Thanx for the critique Spattalina, and thanx for the photo Grublet. That looks wet and tart and cool and tangy. And even some crusty bread to go with it.

Now I am very hungry! Think I'll have to have some tommies for breakfast, LOL. Principe Borghese are now starting to ripen and since it's so hot, I don't want to roast them. Oh dear, will have to eat them raw!

Tried this the other day and it was superb!

First macerate halved cherries (I used BRYC) by sprinkling with salt and olive oil, for at least 30 mins at room temperature (not the fridge!)

1. Grab some frozen puff pastry sheets, cut squares in half to make rectangular strips and blind bake until pale golden (not fully cooked)
2. Take it out the oven and cool for a little bit
3. Spread cooled puff pastry with your favourite pesto (I tried both basil & Capsicum/Chilli), then Ricotta cheese
4. Finally, top with drained, macerated cherry toms (save the juice for salad dressing etc)
5. Pop these back into very hot oven (I did 240 deg with fan) until cherries are caremlised at the edges (10-15 mins or so)
6. Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and allow to cool enough to handle with your hands

These are also nice at room temperature.

I'm going to try something similar with focaccia dough, just poking halved BRYC into the dough, maybe alternating with halved olives.

Sounds yum Mabb.
Here's a pic of a couple of Azoychka. Haven't eaten them yet so can't attest to taste. In real life they are bright lemon yellow.

I call it "Yellow on Green"!
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And just because it's pretty, here's an artichoke flower.
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Great pics. Interesting flower.

Here is a 250g Wes left and Red Brandywine.

Nice and red.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Is Wes a heart? They both look delicious.
Faves so far, in no particular order - Orange Heirloom, Cherokee Purple, Moldovan Green, Heatherington Pink, Clear Pink Early and Burracker's Favorite. San Marzano was a tasteless disappointment. Been getting more Galina's Yellow than we know what to do with.

Hi Ray,
Wes is a heart and it's really really delicious, more complex that any othe heart I've tried. I strongly recommend it. Very very few seeds though.

Galina's Yellow must taste pretty nice. I'm really enjoying my cherries now: Rose Quartz Multiflora (red), Broad Ripple Yellow Currant (not sure if it's a currant), to a lesser degree Matts Wild. But really liking Sungold from the part of the patch where they are growing. Gets less sun and the fruits are delicious and not too sweet like others I've tried.

I will have to try Moldovan Green next season.