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Hi there!

I’m slowly working towards some simplicity within the home, but hey! It’s a lot of hard work!

I love having a go at growing my own veges and always use herbs fresh from my garden. I try to plant from seed whenever I can and have learnt to save and share my own seed for the following year. I make Award Winning preserves and pickles; and my husband brews Award Winning boutique beers as well. I love to stockpile and try to limit quick trips to the shops. I dabble in bread making and enjoy making my own stocks too.

I enjoy feeding my family good hearty meals, nothing like those tiny restaurant stacks you have to look for on the plate. My husband maintains our vehicles and machinery and we both enjoy fabricating on a small scale mostly relying on metal & timber recyclers for any materials needed.


While I don’t always have time to reply to comments, I love reading them. I hope you enjoy your stay and I hope you learn something new because I love sharing what I learn, and I'm always looking for another new skill myself.

Cheers!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Klumpin' Tomatoes

If your new to my blog, check out the give-away I am doing for my blog's first birthday...Time is running out (Friday) to be in the draw to win that fabulous book.

I get a kick out of growing the unusual....sometimes the things you can't buy in the shops; I'll give them a go. 
So when I seen these on ebay last year, I couldn't resist...I got 10 seeds for $1.00 which also included postage...so how could I go wrong...lol. They all germinated, I shared out 5....I killed 1....I unwillingly shared one with the snails and enjoyed the others (which are all finished now and have all been pulled)..... 
In their place now I have a bundle of Black Russian tomato plants soon to be flowering if the sun ever comes out.
Klumpin Tomatoes - Chosen for Seed Saving
Klumpin Tomato
Klumpin Tomato


Choosing tomatoes for Seed Saving 
Now.....I have just 1 plant remaining in my garden, which is doing rather well, considering all the rain we are having at the moment. .........Lots of the garden is either rotting away from being over watered, or the seed I plant is rotting in the soil, because of too much rain and not enough heat.




Do you like to grow unusual varieties of veg? 
If so, do you have some spare seed that you would like to do a seed swap with me?








10 comments:

  1. Oh how strange those look! They look tasty though. I think you are getting all the rain WE normally get in the wet season! I am planning my veggie garden now as we normally grow the regular types of veggies in the dry season. I got some seeds to trial - ones I normally wouldn't try in this area, so am interested to see how they go.

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  2. These are definitely strange little tomatoes. I don't have any seeds and I would really love to give you something for the garlic seeds so I have some Yacon tubers if you would like to try them. They are crisp and sweet with slight gingery over tones. There is more information about them here: http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/Perennialveg/yacon.htm

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  3. Those tomatoes are amazing! It's winter (and snowy) where I am now, but I can't wait for spring to come along so I can plant my heirlooms. Happy gardening!

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  4. Love the look of your tomatoes. I'm losing a lot of my tomatoes due to all the rain were having and they are being attacked by fruit fly. I have been keeping the plants neat and tidy and I havn't left any bad fruit lying around. Have researched fruit fly today and maybe dakpots might be the answer. Lots to learn. What do you do?

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  5. Thanks ladies, we really haven't had much of a summer, it's been very wet...so I'm still planting some summer veg as well as preparing for Autumn planting.
    Deb, I have a Yacon plant growing for the first time, so I hope to try it soon, although it's not even flowering yet. I believe when they are stored, they get even sweeter. I would love to try them earlier, but it really isn't necessary for you to offer me something in return for the garlic seed.
    Lorelle, I too deal with fruit-fly, but I have Dak pots hanging all around the garden....you MUST remember to keep them topped up though, they don't work if they dry out.

    Here is a quote from my blog:
    Set up DAK Pots about 2 - meters from your fruit trees to deter FruitFly , use soft-drink bottles and add Vegemite, Sugar & Water. The male fly will hang around the DAK pot trap, and get tired and drown....The female can only lay eggs in your fruit if she is mated....So if all the males are hanging out at DAK City....there's no hanky panky and egg laying. OR Molasses, Water & 2 coffee beans..one lady in the class suggested this recipe as the female is attracted to the coffee (Thanks Sonia).....I'm going to try both and watch closely.

    Another quote from my blog:
    Purchase some of those old fashioned sticky fly tapes to hang in your fruit trees. If any fruit-fly do go to the tree, they will be attracted to and be stick on the sticky tape. (Unfortunately, they also stick and trap the good insects)

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    Replies
    1. thankyou for your help. I love the fact that i dont need to buy anything to do this. I have planted out both our front and back yards with vegetables. I have 24 tomatoes plants and hopefully I'll be able to save some of the fruit. Lots to learn.

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  6. another comment.... I tried yakon this year, and it has been struggling - hopefully you can do a post on your yakon and I can see what I have been doing wrong....

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  7. Lorelle, your more than welcome...I knew nothing much about gardening 18 months ago...I'm happy to share what I learn. I also had great success planting Chamomile Pyrethrum and Yarrow beneath my tomato plants...nothing was game to come near them....lol.

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  8. Africanaussie: I will definitely post about my Yacon, especially now I know when I will be able to harvest it. Thanks Deb for the Daleys link.
    Thanks Africanaussie for the post idea too. Wonderful feedback ladies.

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  9. Very unusual! It must be fun to experiment. I'm such a poor gardener, I am thrilled when I manage to grow even the most ordinary veg...don't know what would happen if I started trying the odd stuff! Wait...maybe I'd have better luck?? ;)

    I just looked at (and listened to) the word confirmation thingies, and it will be a miracle if I can guess what they say!! Am I the only one having problems posting to blogs lately?

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