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Australia Day, 2010
It was a fairly low-key day for us this year. We stayed home and had a picnic in our backyard instead of going to a park or beach. By staying home, the anxiety levels were kept down for Game Fanatic and his only compromise was eating outside.
Our meal was very international this year:
cornbread with three varieties of chillies from our garden. I used a couple jalapeños, a couple Thai chillies and one habañero. The habañero didn’t quite live up to its reputation. We thought the cornbread would be quite hot but it didn’t cause that much grief in the end. I used a recipe I had found online and it came out really well except it was too sweet. I had already halved the sugar so will probably cut that down to less than a quarter cup. I also reduced the butter to less than half and the texture was quite alright.
Sliced tomatoes, fresh from the garden. Aside from half a tomato I ate a week ago (the lower part had blossom rot), these are the first tomatoes I’ve harvested. They tasted pretty good…in fact, they actually taste like something. I’m feeling a bit more motivation to keep at the garden now that there’s been some fruits of all the labor.
The Scientist also barbecued peri peri chicken for all of us and lamb burgers with coriander for himself and Game Fanatic.
Earlier, I brought lamingtons and vanilla slices from a local bakery, so there was a bit of traditional Aussie fare in amongst all the rest. The Scientist also made a trifle, which he’s been craving for several days now.
After dinner, we played Blokus in front of the tv while a cricket match between Australia and Pakistan was finishing up. The plan had been to also play our other new board game, Smallworld, after that finished. We had it all set up and had just started the first round when the phone rang. The disruption was rather lengthy so we opted to put it away and play another time. Instead, Game Fanatic put on a video game that we’ve all been watching him play and continued through a few more chapters of the story before the Scientist retired for the night.
Overall, it was a very relaxed day that I believe was satisfactory for all family members.
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Growing things
I haven’t written about my latest gardening feats or should I say lack thereof. It’s not all doom and gloom but the cucumbers that were looking so well aren’t so well. The plants are still alive but any fruit seems to be eaten by creatures of the earth. At least something is gaining from the growth. I did harvest an odd looking fruit once about a week ago because it wasn’t really growing any longer and I decided I didn’t want it to rot. I took a bite and it was quite bitter.
I had two large pots with tomatoes growing. One of the pots has heaps of fruit and they all have tough skins. I guess we don’t water it enough. Maybe they need watering morning and night but we are just scraping along once a day. The fruit is reasonably flavorful so that’s something to appreciate. I’ve managed to get two fruit from the other plant and they were incredibly flavorful. Unfortunately other creatures agree with me because they seem to attack the bottom side of the fruit and it’s rendered inedible by the time they are mature. I’d really like to grow another one of these but I suspect it’s a bit late in the season now. I wonder how well they would last into the winter months if they were sheltered a bit. With a bit of research I should be able to figure out ways to repel some of the creatures without poisoning the earth any more. I’ll add it to my list.
I’ve had more success with the cherry tomatoes. I never managed to get the overgrown ones out of the pots and into the ground but they are still doing reasonably well. Some of the fruit went bad due to excessive explosure to the excessive heat but much of it has been quite good and it’s made for some good snacking over the last few weeks. The three plants along the back wall have done extremely well and are sprawling all over the place. Two have a treillis of sorts for support and that’s made a huge difference there. I might try to move others to the back wall too but probably won’t ever get a round tuit. :)
My coriander has all gone to seed but the leaves were wonderful. I’m going to attempt to reseed into the ground after I get hold of some soil improver. The sandy soil is annoying. Im also going to try growing some mint and plant a new crop of basil. The last time I planted basil, we had a jungle of it in the backyard. I think mint will do equally well. My intention is to have heaps of mint so that I can make fattoush more regularly. I might even try for some Italian parsley.
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Strawberries and tomatoes
The strawberry plants I potted a while back are doing quite well and I finally harvested about six strawberries yesterday. I discovered, to my horror, that the snails also like strawberries and have been chomping on the fruit and leaving little to taste. I’ve put the big planter box up on bricks to try to keep the snails away since the other plant hasn’t been bothered at all. The harvested strawberries are okay but not nearly as flavorful as the ones being sold about six to eight weeks ago just about everywhere. I don’t suppose I will ever have such tasty fruit.
My cherry tomatoes are also doing quite well, except for the ones that are crowded into a pot. Those are looking a bit yellow right now. If we don’t do something with them soon, I suspect they will just die out for lack of nutrients. That will still leave five plants, which I believe will be more than enough. Still haven’t planted regular tomatoes or chillies or cucumbers. Maybe this weekend I can put some chillie plants into a big pot like the cherry tomatoes.