A li'l bit 'o this, a li'l bit 'o that....

A couple more yellow Roma

This time of the year things are starting to ripen. Like most people with a little garden i tend to get things coming in drips, unless its something like tomatoes where you get a lot of fruit all ripe at the same tim. Atm that isnt a problem tho, as the tomatoes are still just giving me one or two a day. More annoyingly im still getting at least one a day that the birds have gotten to. This morning i picked a couple more of the yellow Roma, and there are fruit coming on a largish , at this point yellow fruited, tomato as well that i dont have a name for. Just going on the size and shape of the fruit im thinking maybe a yellow Brandywine? There was also some pinkish fruit that i had to throw away (birds again) from another of my mystery plants, but im really not sure what that one could be. There is plenty of green fruit coming on though, so hopefully soon ill have enough to do something with, other than the odd sandwich. I have to admit tho that my BBT (Bacon, Basil and Tomato) sandwich is best with fresh from the garden basil and tomatoes
To make a BBT you need:

1-2 slices of good bread per sandwich-this can be white or brown, sourdough or not, its up to you. It just needs to be a bit robust to take the tomato juices.
as many bacon rashers as you want 

Yellow Brandywine?

enough basil leaves to cover your bread
mayo
cracked black pepper

Toast your bread. You can use either one or two slices per sandwich, its up to you. If you want to be really indulgent you can fry your bacon (please make it GOOD bacon, which means it has fat and its not all soggy and slimy), and then toast the bread in the pan using the bacon drippings. YUMM. In any case you need to have your bread toasted to taste, and your bacon fried or grilled or cooked to your taste. Spread your toast with mayo, then cover with basil leaves (lettuce leaf basil is best here and you can be generous with it. If you have a stronger kind (eat a leaf...if its pleasant to eat its cool, if its very strong read on) you can chop it finely and mix with the mayo to cut it a little and then use this on the toast. Lay on fresh sliced garden tomatoes, as many as you want, season with black pepper( i like LOTS) then add your bacon (and 2nd slice of toast if you have/want it) get out a napkin or a supply of paper towels, and eat.

Unfortunately the birds havent been content with the tomatoes and have also been having a go at the peaches, and this morning knocked one off the tree. Each morning when i go out to the fruit trees i check the peaches, lifting them to see if theyre ready to pick. If they come away in your hand theyre ready. Once again the birds beat me!! Anyway, there was another ready to pick and there should be more ready tomorrow. Hopefully i can beat the birds to it!!
There can be few things as pleasant as picking a peach off your own trees, and then eating it there and then. Freshly picked peaches are heady with fragrance too, shop bought ones are a pale imitation. A good fragrance from your tree is a good sign that the fruit is close to ripe as well.
The apples and pears are still a way from harvest yet but there are some good sized fruit on them, especially the Montys Surprise, which are very big, and the Gala.
The Bearrs lime is flowering again, and rapidly swelling the fruit from the last flush of blossom, and the little Meyer lemon has several good sized (so far) fruits, so i might yet get some lemons too, and from the smallest plant lol. I DO have to get my A into G and get that little Meyer planted into a decent container. The passionfruit has set more fruits, and there are now 3 on the vine which im ridiculously excited about.

Cymbeline

In the flower garden things are still blooming. Leander, up on the deck has produced another small flush of blossom, this time smaller flowers as the Autumn flowers usually are. Glamis Castle is also still flowering after a slow start this year, producing her lovely ruffled white crinolines of flowers, which stand out beautifully from her mid green foliage. Cymbeline has put out another show of blooms in her delicate ashy pink, but the star turn has to be the Jude the Obscure. Beautiful cupped flowers with a heavenly scent, produced in trusses, she has been, and still is, truly stunning. As well as the roses, several other flowering plants have produced lovely flowers this year. The Hydrangeas have flowered magnificently, in fact a little TOO well as theyre crowding the driveway. Ill have to cut them back hard this year. 

Ornamental GInger

Another plant thats flowered well this year is an ornamental ginger thats tucked into the back of the section under a cabbage tree and behind the Puka. Its never really flowered much and i just left it there as a nice foliage plant where not a lot else would thrive, but this year the Puka lost a branch on that side, and i can only guess that the increased light has allowed the ginger to put out the best flowers ive ever seen on it.

Jude the Obscure