Tomato feast!

The end of daylight savings officially heralds the end of summer and the shift into winter. For my beloved tomato plants the shift came a little earlier. After watching them struggle to ripen I took my Mum's advice and picked them and placed them on the windowsill. 

After a few weeks they had magically changed colour!

Arriving home from work one night, hungry and tired, I threw the newly-ripened tomatoes into a hastily-invented dish: potato, chorizo, tomato and rocket on toast - with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and sprinkling of shaved parmesan cheese. Delicious, satisfying - and the tomatoes were divine!

Have a Happy Easter! I hope the Easter Bunny hides lots of chocolates around your own garden.

Toma(y)to, Toma(h)to

There's no denying that home-grown tomatoes easily kick the arse of supermarket ones. Once your taste buds become spoilt by the burst of flavour, the plastic-tasting supermarket varieties don't really hit the spot (for an extreme analogy, I imagine it is like heroin addicts switching to methadone - still okay, but not quite what you're after). 

The last time I wrote the wind was whipping my plants into a frenzy and my flatmate had dragged some inside to protect them. My tomato plants spent a few days looking drained from the ordeal and I worried that they wouldn't recover. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw some fruit appear! 

 

At last count I had a dozen of these babies. Now I just need to be patient and wait for them to ripen.

In other tomato news, my Dad has grown the Costoluto Genovese variety this year. Perhaps I have been a bit sheltered in my exposure to tomatoes, but I have never seen these before. Looking more like a capsicum than your traditional tomato, this bright red baby has a nicely balanced flavour. 

Finally, why did the tomato blush? Because he saw the salad dressing! (I will forgive you if you decide to throw some tomatoes at me for that - just make sure they're home-grown.)

Celebrity Garden - My Parents

We've had some proper hot summer weather of late and the plants seem to be loving it. The herbs are plentiful, the tomatoes have flowers and will hopefully fruit soon and the mexican cucumber plant has almost outgrown its pot. All was on course to upload some pics of fabulous-looking plants. But yesterday was wild and windy and the plants took a bit of a beating. The flatmate brought a few pots inside as the sight of them being blown around upset her a little. Unfortunately the Violas are attached to the railing so couldn't be moved and today they look a little tired and sad. Hopefully the sunshine over the next few days helps them to perk up a little.

So in the absence of healthy plants of my own I've decided to dedicate this post to my parent's garden (perhaps not the celebrities promised in the heading, but they are very well-known in my family). This is what can happen when a backyard is in the equation. Corn, tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and more grow here. My parents and grandparents have always had something growing in the garden, I guess it's just been continuing our Ukrainian farming heritage (spuds are the family specialty). It's taken some time for the gardening gene to kick in with me, but I seem to be getting there. 

Practically enough corn to run through or at least hide a small child in. 

Tomatoes are 1000 times more tasty when eaten seconds after being picked - like nature's candy. 

Crack open the corn and be rewarded with a taste sensation. This little beauty came from the garden, was steamed and eaten as part of my dinner. No butter or salt needed, was delicious enough on it's own. 

Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some tomatoes of my own to show, but until then I'll keep raiding my parent's garden. 

I made a carrot!

I returned home from Christmas with the family well-fed and happy with a few gardening items in my swag of gifts. Santa (still believe, get more presents that way) gave me The Edible Balcony by Indira Naidoo and from my sister I received some microgreens which according to the box are a 'great gift of nature'. 

My lovely Dad gave me some tomato seedlings upon request - a variety of red, black and yellow and these are now enjoying hanging out on the very crowded balcony. 

But the most exciting moment was when I inquisitively pulled up a carrot to see if anything was going on under the soil, and this knobbly little stumpy thing appeared. While it looked like a baby's finger, it tasted sweet and fresh - not at all how I imagine a baby's finger would taste. And with that very wrong thought, I shall leave you all to have a Happy New Year.