Its cold and rainy here in South Australia, and I keep picking tomatoes.
Winter isnt a good time for tomatoes, but mine seem to be having fun anyway.
My four tomato plants that are growing so their roots are suspended in the fishtank water seem to be fruiting a lot later in the season than they should be. The plants are out in the cold, but their roots are inside the fishtank which is inside a little growhouse.
The plants look like this.
And they are still doing a lot of flowering.
And there are plenty of fruit all over the vines.
And the fruit are still ripening.
These were todays pickings.
Not many today, but there are always some. And a few didnt make it inside.
And there are a lot more on the vines that are nearly ripe. Ripe enough to eat.
All these pics were taken today. Its winter in the southern hemisphere, so the tomatoes should have stopped fruiting a while ago.
Its strange that they are still growing and fruiting this late. Strange enough that I thought Id contact someone from one of our universities. I remember someone from my research into bees, who was working on growing native bees to pollinate tomatoes. Im not sure if there were a bee person or a tomato person, but I emailed them in the hope that if they dont care, they might know someone who does.
It might save the industry a bit of money if it turned out the entire plant didnt need to be kept warm to keep them fruiting.
120 Things in 20 years says to be on the lookout for tiny hot houses with tomatoes growing out of PVC tubes, coming to a winter tomato farm near you. Or not.
Read More..
Winter isnt a good time for tomatoes, but mine seem to be having fun anyway.
My four tomato plants that are growing so their roots are suspended in the fishtank water seem to be fruiting a lot later in the season than they should be. The plants are out in the cold, but their roots are inside the fishtank which is inside a little growhouse.
These were todays pickings.
Not many today, but there are always some. And a few didnt make it inside.
And there are a lot more on the vines that are nearly ripe. Ripe enough to eat.
All these pics were taken today. Its winter in the southern hemisphere, so the tomatoes should have stopped fruiting a while ago.
Its strange that they are still growing and fruiting this late. Strange enough that I thought Id contact someone from one of our universities. I remember someone from my research into bees, who was working on growing native bees to pollinate tomatoes. Im not sure if there were a bee person or a tomato person, but I emailed them in the hope that if they dont care, they might know someone who does.
It might save the industry a bit of money if it turned out the entire plant didnt need to be kept warm to keep them fruiting.
120 Things in 20 years says to be on the lookout for tiny hot houses with tomatoes growing out of PVC tubes, coming to a winter tomato farm near you. Or not.
My displacer started life as a soft drink can.
I scratched a series of arcs with a bent piece of sharp wire, each at different points, to find the centre, then punctured it with a drawing pin. 
Next I took a tin can and smacked a hole in it with my familys trusty meat mallet.
And sanded down a small plastic bottle so that its contour matched the tin cans.
Then cut a really big hole in the side of the small plastic bottle.
All this, so I could glue the small plastic bottle on the side of the tin can with a big hole in the side. 
I think this is the original motor because it fits perfectly. This is the motor that made the laser head move from the centre to the rim. Now its the motor that moves the photographic subject towards the lens, changing which bit is in focus.
