musings near Christmastime...

 Is it too late to plant out my tomato seedlings? i don't know. but i just did yesterday. It still feels like winter here in Tassie, last night's temperatures at 8C. Wish I had a hothouse!

Socks here was getting cozy on the carpet, out of the night cold.
Another year's nearly gone by already!
i rmbr last christmas, how we were eating Christmas lunch with a bunch of aunties [middle aged women, in my culture everyone who's 20 yrs older than you must be called "auntie"] and one of them asked what Gav did. I said "he's a factory worker" which was true at the time! I was utterly and completely surprised when one of the aunties gave me a telling off, saying i shouldn't "put down" my husband like that. but gav laughed when he heard, coz he says it IS true, and even a manager at a factory is a factory worker. thr's no shame in doing honest work, he doesnt look down on factory workers or watever workers. Aren't we all workers if we work? haha. Even the prime minister is a public servant, and we should all strive to be servants of all if we want to be great in God's kingdom.

my first ever tomato!

after the flowers, come the fruit! I'm really pleased to see this tiny little tomato, after putting so many emotional energy into this plant since Oct 12th when I bought it as a seedling in Carrick for $2. I don't even know what type of tomato this is, but after seeing it grow for 2 months now im so glad to finally see a fruit. it's tiny and green no doubt but still! not sure if the leaves are meant to be curled up like that though...

kangkung or otherwise known as water convulvulus and more pictures from the balcony garden

 These are very good for making pressed flowers as they're nice and flat, and the more you cut them off the plant, the more buds will grow!

 Above, kangkung stalks, also known as water convulvulus, water spinach or kangkong. They're one of my favourite vegetables, most Malaysians would known this one quite well. It's widely eaten in Sri Lanka and the Philipines as well I think. I just love dark leafy greens [like spinach, rocket, silverbeet, choy sum] and this one is especially good stir fried. But, because it's not widely eaten here it was hard to find, and when we finally found it at an asian shop, it set us back $7 for a bunch! [you could buy a kilo of a pork leg and have change leftover!] A bit of research on the internet showed that it grows like a weed, and is indeed a weed in some places in the US, so I thought it couldn't be too hard to grow. So we saved some stalks from our $7 bunch and instead of eating them, we put them in potting mix and flooded them with water.

 In just a day of soaking in water, tiny roots appeared at the nodes, and now, after 2 1/2 weeks, they've grown some leaves! i do hope they'll grow enough for us to harvest after a month or so!
They weren't too expensive in Melbourne, I rmbr seeing them sold at Preston Market for $2.50 a bunch. But still, there's that thrill of growing something and seeing something appear out of nothing. It's like a miracle!

More of the pansy shots. I just couldn't help myself. :) hehe

scallops

 I just can't help admiring my pansies every morning.

 Gav brought home some Tasmanian scallops that he got for $25 a kilo. I'd never cooked them before so this was our first scallop dish ever. Fried in butter with garlic and lemon juice.

served over pasta with parmesan cheese. yummy and simple but no fibre at all in this meal.

it's the 1st day of summer!

 pansies in a row...

 I think these are raspberry plants, the previous tenant planted them

 I don't want to pay $2.50 for a lemongrass stalk so I'm attempting to grow it. don't know if it'll like cold tassie weather though...

my tomato plant has grown quite a bit since we bought it nearly 2 months ago now but still no fruit!