BUSY TIME OF YEAR

 Well, we are always busy but at the moment it seems more so.  

It has been hot and dry so watering every day.  The tomatoes, in particular, have done really well and I have frozen a lot (just washed and put into bags and frozen.  Later will be taken out have boiling water poured over them, the skin comes off easily before they are used in sauces, casseroles, soups etc. I have also given kilos to friends, neighbours and relations.  

The peaches are doing well this year.  A couple of years ago we had the tree (self sown) topped and only got a few peaches last year but they are fruiting well again.  They are similar to a Golden Queen.  Unfortunately, a lot have the Guava Bud Moth larva in them but I cut around that a stew them before freezing.  

We have just bought  a load of firewood from Grand-daughter's husband (a misunderstanding meant we ended up buying 4 cubic metres plus another cubic metre better for kindling).  Yesterday we moved and stacked 3 cubic metres and did the remaining one this morning.  Not bad for two octogenarians. Should have enough firewood for a couple of years as we already had quite a lot.

Still a few peaches left on the tree.

New lot of firewood stacked.  Shed now full.

Spare bedroom turned into storage for peaches and tomatoes.

RE-USEABLE VEGETABLE BAGS.

In July last year single use plastic bags were banned in Produce Departments.  Paper bags have been supplied since then and re-useable bags on sale.  One Supermarket has heavy cotton bags for sale and the other, I have just discovered, has lighter bags made from recycled plastic.

On a Vegetable Gardening Facebook page I recently read about using these bags to cover tomatoes to protect against birds and insects.  

They are only 20 cents each and I bought 6 to try them out.

They are brilliant.  We have Green Vegetable Bugs here that cause a hard unripened lump in the fruit and these bags work in keeping the bugs away.

Yesterday, I bought another 10 and they are now all in use.  Still plenty more problems that can  beset the plants, blight being the main one, but I have my fingers crossed.

At the moment I am picking about 1.8 kg a day with the largest just under 400 grams so plenty for us, friends and family and, hopefully some will go in the freezer for adding to casseroles and soups in the winter months.