I know this looks silly but I only caught this question by accident as it
was threaded to some stuff of 5 months ago, so I have brought it up to date
as a new thread. Maybe OE is having another hissy fit... anyway, Fran asked
me:

FarmI wrote:
What's happening in your garden David. Have you got your tomatoes in
yet?


Yes weeks ago, I have small fruit on some.

Here we don't plant them till we know who won the Cup

Without getting too personal you must be on a mountain somewhere. I was up
at Sodwalls (near Lithgow) yesterday and they are just planting tomatoes
now. Last summer we lit the log fire there while the rest of Oz was at the
beach. You can keep it.


but I put in a
few protected by plastic sleeves a week or so prior to that. I
bought more Grosse Lisse yesterday (that is the best variety for long
term preservation TMWOT). But I'm now astounded to find out that
Grosse Lisse is considered to be and heirloom variety!!! Introduced
from France prior to circa 1950 so that makes it so according to
something I read.


They were very popular in the 50s and 60s. Spread by Yates I think.

Anyway, I am up to my kneecaps (and in some places, thighs) in weeds
and am trying to fight the good fight there. I cna't recall a better
Spring for years so will also have to do bushfire prep around the
places just in case.


We have had a great spring too. Up to the eyeballs in clover, stock all
fat. Flowers are bright, summer veges coming on well.

I have chickens coming- from an incubator - lost my lovely rooster
about a month ago so am trying to get one of his progeny from some
eggs from around the time of his death. So far 5 hatched and 4 left
alive.

Well our girls are doing well. Now I am looking for a rooster, I could get
a Heinz (57 varieties) for nothing as surplus cockerels are not always
eaten. But I would rather have an australorp that is not too pricey. I may
have to get a bantam hen too as none of them look at all interested in
sitting on eggs.

I must go as SWAMBO has just announced that the neighbour's weaners are in
after the aforementioned clover so Leila and Flynn must earn their keep.

David

Thanks dear for share the information. it will provide the help to us....

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

FarmI wrote:
What's happening in your garden David. Have you got your tomatoes in
yet?


Yes weeks ago, I have small fruit on some.

Wait a minute. November 2 "Down Under" is like April 2 to the Northern
hemisphere, and your tomatoes are setting fruit already? I can plant in
May, but nothing happens until the ground warms up in June. You really
have green tomatoes?!
--

Billy

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 16 April 1953

Billy wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

FarmI wrote:
What's happening in your garden David. Have you got your tomatoes
in yet?


Yes weeks ago, I have small fruit on some.

Wait a minute. November 2 "Down Under" is like April 2 to the
Northern hemisphere, and your tomatoes are setting fruit already? I
can plant in May, but nothing happens until the ground warms up in
June. You really have green tomatoes?!

Yes, most have fruit and much blossom now, the early ones have good sized
fruit. They are still green but I expect some to be ripe by Xmas unless La
Nina camps right on the door step and we have no sun for a month. They will
produce well until the end of March (unless the Girl brings mildew) and then
slow a little until they finish in May. Fran is rather cagey about exactly
where she is but I think she is further poleward, further inland and higher
than I am, all of which shorten the growing season.

Similarly all the citrus were a riot of blossom in September, now they are
covered in fruit. I picked all the early apricots last week. [Yes! I beat
the possum this year!] They were absolutely yummy, several nights we had
them for dessert au naturel and there were enough for jam. The summer
squash are flowering well and have small fruit, there may even be some ready
to cut, I haven't been out today due to rain.

Soil temperature is not often a limiting factor for me, once the last
probable frost is past I can plant all the summer annuals and expect them to
grow. If I had an unheated hothouse (I wish) that provided frost protection
and some warmth in mid winter I could probably grow tomatoes all year round.
The winter ones wouldn't do as well as the summer crop but I would get
*something* off season. Given a few more years of global inaction on
climate change I might not need the greenhouse.

David

Derald wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Similarly all the citrus were a riot of blossom in September, now
they are covered in fruit.
Is it too early to tell how hold its fruit affected the kumquat?

The cumquat does its own thing, often it will flower and fruit later than
the rest. It has no fruit yet but that isn't the last chance.

D

Derald wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

If I had an unheated hothouse (I wish) that provided frost protection
and some warmth in mid winter I could probably grow tomatoes all
year round. The winter ones wouldn't do as well as the summer crop
but I would get *something* off season.
Would some manner of hoop house or hoop tunnels help? They're
simple as dirt. Tried and discarded?

A hoop house covered with plastic does give some warmth through the day by
trapping the sun's heat but doesn't give much frost protection as the heat
radiates right back out through the plastic on cold clear nights. Also the
humidity can be high here which leads to fungus risks. So I need something
with adjustable cover and adjustable ventilation. Add to this the fact that
we can get very strong winds here so there is a risk of the whole thing
taking off or ripping apart if it isn't well built. A neighbour had his
whole shed (made of timber and corrugated iron) moved about 40m by wind a
few years ago.

I think a minimalist design using ready at hand materials might not be such
a good idea for me. So I have spent my time and money on other aspects of
the garden and when my ship comes in I will go for a more solid structure.

David