Coffeehouse.co.nz

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day. The frosts and shorter days finally started to take a toll on the last tomato plant remaining in the tunnel house, so it was time to say goodbye.

This plant has been an oddity from first I saw it growing up though the weed-mat and gravel in the tunnel house having (presumably) self seeded from another plant last year. But none of those plants have reached anything like the size or productivity levels that is one did!

At least six feet tall, and it’s provided a constant crop of eating and cooking toms, as well as batches of chilli jam and pasta sauces.

And as a last parting gift it assisted in the production of about 2 litres of green tomato chutney today.

Pulling it up from the gravel it appeared to have about 3 roots creeping though the weed-mat that have somehow sustained it though the season. If this is what you get from that sort of arrangement then I’m very tempted to just cut a few holes in the weed-mat and plant the toms in the soil rather than pots next season…

Bye bye, supertom! We’ll all miss you!

I hear that true orchardists are fairly dismissive of the toy plantations that us lifestyle blockers call orchards, but I’m going to keep using the term. And as always about this time of year we take stock a bit and try to work out what we’re missing. And this was it this season. (We actually planted them a while ago – Just clearing the camera of all the doings. Expect a few more catch up blogs to come!)

A trio of cider apples! All the better to make some cider with. But it’ll take a few more years before they’re producing enough to make a brew. And expect to be subjected to a glass if you visit after that!

A better year than last year!

And still room on the paper for another year or two. Unless they’re bumper years!