Friday, May 11, 2012

where grow tomato's ....

i was out in our rental properties tiny little veggie patch yesterday and my heart sighed -- tomato's.  and i thot .... where there grow tomato's .... there grows hope.

now .... if you follow me at all you will know that i love all things tomato .... even have a first planting calendar here that was to give me the ability to plant a significantly longer season of tomato's .... and of course, then we moved and it all went out the window.

and here we live in the Northern Rivers now ... heading in to winter that would have to be marked as laughable compared to what we had in the Blue Mountains.  but that's ok!  no frost means a significantly longer growing season in all it's glory.

to be living in an area where you can very literally grow year round OUTSIDE ... is truly amazing.  the world of choice and options that is available for all your planting is fabulous. winter veg becomes a reality and you would be amazed at just how many different types there are!

i was at the markets the other weekend and was talking to a local grower and asked them what the growing season for tomato's was like and they said that in all truth, if you were willing to put up with slow growth in July/August, and potentially cover for a few nights of cold that you could easily grow tomato's all year.  wow .... tomato's as a legitimate crop all year.

who woulda thunk it!

so that has me happy as a pig in mud!  thinking about trying a few new varieties after looking through the Eden Seeds Catalogue that i have.  i already have a a few dozen ready to be planted out.

so i am dreaming of mandala gardens full of tomato's and basil and of a spring passatta making party that will bring friends and neighbors together .... because you see, even in our little rental property veg patch .... we have tomato's growing ...


and where there grow tomato's .... 
there grows hope .... 
and the promise of more scrumptious varieties of harvest yet to come!

4 comments:

  1. As our tomato season is well and truly ending with this cold snap...I cannot tell you how jealous I am of your year round tomato growing season. What a great place to live!How is the property going...any livestock yet?

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  2. Kim ... i am in awe of what we can grow here! Truly! We are blessed! The land is going .... we haven't settled yet (ugh!) ... but have been given permission to do some planting while we wait for settlement date. so we've put a few pioneer trees on the place .... which has been fun. Now we have to figure out how to get out there ... probably gonna end up living in a caravan for the duration of the build and then turn the caravan into guest/woofer quarters. just trying to get that all resolved. as soon as we are on the land we'll get some animals .... probably just a few steers at this point. talked to some folks here and the terrain isn't right for goats (all that being said, the neighbor has them!) .... and i want to start with something a bit easier! chicken me! But the steers will keep the grass down on the back half of the block as well as giving us meat in 6 - 8 mths ... and a few bucks back at market. our permaculture designer has been on the property and has started the design ... looks like we'll be going with heaps of mandala gardens with meandering pathways and a huge bamboo area down near the dam that will capture the warmth and sunlight to create a lovely tropical micro-climate to grow our tropical / filipino foods. just about have the "justearth" blog ready to go ... but i'm taking it one day at a time with that ... we'll get to it ... well, when i have time! LOL!

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  3. "and where there grow tomatoes .... there grows hope." Love it.

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  4. Oh , Maggie that sounds lovely! I agree with starting with other animals before you get a goat , too....they aren't simple animals really much as I love them.Luckily you have neighbours who can tell you all about them.

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