Tom-ar-to, Tom-ay(as in hay)-to

Yep tomatoes.

The cheapest exclusion bag.

If you got them in early enough and depending where you are by the time you read this you may well be eating them, hopefully you have avoided spraying them with copious amounts of chemicals to keep bugs that love them more than you do from eating them. If they are still green and the birds haven't found them and you are looking at spraying them, well STOP NOW, go down to the shops and buy yourself a packet of brown paper sandwich bags, if you happen to have "Tims Taurus" tomatoes growing your going to have to buy exclusion bags possibly.


Tigerella and Cherry tomatoes.

OK once home open the sandwich bags up and take one out, place it over the fruit (on the vine) or some of them, you may end up with a couple of bags per truss, scrunch up the top of the bag and then grab a clothes peg off the line, or the lawn if its like my place :) and put it over the scrunched up bit closing the bag off, this will stop the fruit fly getting in, the bags wont rot off in a hurry with rain and your fruit will continue to grow and ripen, if you have put them on a bit early you may find them bursting from the bags, in this case just re bag them with more bags, every few days check the bag for its contents. Your tomatoes will taste like they should or like they used too and not like some genetically modified orange or red shape full of mush. If you need exclusion bags, try the likes of Greenharvest, they sell a range and can be mail ordered, alternatively visit your nearest specialist garden supplier and ask for them, if enough people want them they will be sure to get them. The bags will not only keep out bugs but will trick the blackbirds into avoiding them, one thing they won't deter is Cockatoos, so good luck with keeping them out.

The other thing to consider seriously is companion planting with tomatoes, check the following link for a great comprehensive listing Permaculture news, breaking this down even further, some crops will encourage growth, some inhibit some improve flavour check the link Tomato Companions who list specific benefits or pitfalls. As this was typed in the blackbirds discovered my tomatoes that i hadn't quite got too with paper bags, so its blackbirds 2, me 5 :)

Christmas around the corner

This week as promised

• Rocket Science Workshop
• Christmas Recipes
• Drought proofing your garden
•  Zucchinis

Ok, first off the ranks, Rocket Science, lets just say its the edible kind of Rocquette so don't be afraid, Camden Council is running this in conjunction  with Camden Kids, preference will be given to children <6yrs old not engaged in formal childcare, enquiries can be made via 46455106, the workshops will run for an hour, adults must accompany children, its a free workshop and is on the 17th and 19th of December at Camden Community Garden on the Town Farm site. The workshops will be a chance for youngsters (and adults) to get their hands dirty, learn a little about the origins of their food as well as take home some uselful goodies.

First off your favourite Christmas recipes from around, and to save you looking everywhere and me typing endless mateial in try the next couple of links, Taste.com.au, Saveur.com, Christmas with maggie beer, these should keep you going for some time.

Summer has hit with a vengance out west, Camden recorded 37.3, and if your wondering do i need to drought proof my garden the following figures might help, courtesy of BOM.

Month	Ave Rainfall, mm	Max Temp, C	Ave Temp, C
August	3.4	29.3	19.5
September	21.8	33.9	23.4
October	34.2	34.9	25.4
November	30.0	37.3	26.3