Saturday, January 14, 2012

Garden Jobs.

2 little bowls of sunshine. The first blueberries and a pick from my little yellow drop tomato. We have now picked and eaten the first 2 big red tomatoes.
Brandy Wine on the left and Kakanui Choice on the right.( they both had marks on the other side. ) The brandy wine was recommended in the NZ Gardener magazine by one of their writers. We remain unconvinced. It is an  ugly huge plant and the tomatoes are very wrinkly. Fine for eating raw skin and all but not for cooking if you want them skinless. It tasted quite nice BUT certainly isn't the best tomato I have every eaten - which was it's claim to fame in the NZ G. 
   Today I have weeded 2 patches of garden and mowed all the lawns. The temperature is just pleasant for working. NO RAIN!.( did I mention Dec 2011 was the wettest month we have ever recorded in 31 years! )
 Here is one of my rewards - discovering this flowering. It is an Echinacea called Tomato Soup. I bought 2 quite expensive plants last year - they both flowered a little then one died. So I am quite excited that this last plant is doing well and is going to have quite a few flowers.The colour really is brilliant.
 Further to the previous post mentioning hedgehogs.....I did a little research and yes Isabelle hedgehogs can cough and snore and sniffle and squeal.( and fart and hiss )They are referred to as insectivores. See here. Or goggle hedgehogs.There is lots to read and lots of photos.
I haven't seen or heard anything more from our resident hedgehog.
 *  I read on someone's blog ( can't find it again now ) that from March this year following blogs list is going to disappear. Is that true? If it is I better transfer lots blogs I follow onto my list on my sidebar.
 I hope you all got things done this weekend where ever you are. Did South Otago or Westland get any rain?

7 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Oooh Yum -- your little harvest looks delicious!

I'm assuming you're talking about bloglines? You could transfer to google reader -- I think they even have an import feature to copy the blogs that you follow. I switched several years ago and it's really a timesaver.

Nicky said...

The blueberries and toms look yum. You've had your wettest December, down South we had our driest Dec since the 1940's! I can't speak for Westland, but in Southland we have finally had lots of rain, we're near the South Otago side of Sthlnd and we're at 70mm so far since Wednesday ..... fantastic, and smiling farmers everywhere! Sorry can't help with the blog list thing, but will keep an eye out.
Hope you get a nice sunny Sunday!

carole brungar said...

Unfortunately the wind has given my vege garden a good battering, last Sunday it was from the East, and all the leaves were stripped off all the fruit trees bar the citrus, and the last couple of days it has come from the West and battered everything. Please I planted the peas thickly as they seem to have been so thick they came through pretty well.
Mother Nature can be very disappointing sometimes! lol

Jennifer said...

What a pretty echinacea! We've had some wild and woolly weather too - yesterday afternoon's storm was a doozy.

Shirley Goodwin said...

Lovely! Your tomatoes are well ahead of mine.

YankeeQuilter said...

Really like the Tomato soup flower...on this side of the world the only gardening we are doing is in our dreams!

Meggie said...

Love seeing your fruit and flowers. After my mother died, I went mad on planting and growing flowers and vegies. I had great success, but now.. well it seems everything I touch turns to dust and decay- or gets eaten by the white butterflies.