Tomatoes have always been one of those plants I hear about being planted 'at the right time'... September they say, my timing was right and I was ready to plant my seedlings, must get them in by October I'm told. I planted from diggers seedlings some of which I grew (planted seed in Autmn and kept them in pots til September) and some which I brought at Bunnings which were approx 20cm in height. So in the patch went 1 x Tigerella, 1 x Green Zebra, 1 x Lemon Drop,  1 x Cherry Roma and 1 x Principe Borghe.

I pretty much planted them, gave them some watered down worm juice from our compost and made sure I kept their water up.  We had some really hot days here in Melbourne over summer, some of which exceeded 40 degrees, day after day.  At one stage I was worried because all my flowers were facing down, another thing I had read that means they won't pollinate.  So I shook them each day lightly in hope that they would still fruit.  I had also been told that they dont particularly like to be watered from above and prefer watering at the base, in actual fact I did a bit of both, they didn't seem to mind and I had no pests attack them at all, all season.  I was indeed lucky.

I've also read it is best not to plant tomatoes in the same location two consecutive years.. note to oneself.  It will help prevent, diseases from building up so rapidly in the soil. I was wondering too, how I was going to support these babies?, I had never seen a tomato plant grow from seedling, I tried at first with one, then two stakes, in the end..  it was... use several. Try putting three in and add more as the plant grows worked well.

We had a household bet going, when late December came and the first little baby fruit appeared we all had a quick look and bet on how many tomatoes we would reap!... Brendan  93, Mat 88 and I go out on a limb with 120...  added to the fridge each time we picked some, the count quickly mounts and by the end of the second week of picking, we had over 170 and they pretty much fruited until now, the end of February.  We lose count at about 400 and I must say I have eaten soo many tomatoes now that I am happy to now see those brown leaves.  What to plant next...? those tomatoes must come out, though I can't wait to plant them again later in the year or even in winter in the aquaponics setup which we'll hopefully get done so we can maybe grow them indoors this winter.