Tomato time

I've got four different types of tomatoes going - hopefully they will ripen at different times. These little grape size romas are going first.

Cthulhu parsnips

People doubted me when I said all my parsnips look like the evil god Cthulhu. All I can say is - if these parsnips don't make you wake in fright, you have my undying respect. I am going to bury them again now.

Care to try my artisanal dirt-grown garlic?

This is the best thing I have grown! It looks and smells fantastic, and tonight it will feature prominently in dinner. The flavour of the smaller one we picked was magnificent. Thanks to Dad for bringing the seedlings and actually getting the whole veg garden enterprise going again.

Vegfest 2011

Some may be thinking "what the hell has happened to the vegie patch?" Well, my inadequately occupied friends, it lives! I went to the local hardware/garden mega-shed and carefully chose whatever they had on sale out in the carpark. Came away with parsnips, fancy lettuce, spinach and tomatoes. I believe tomatoes are tricky so if I come up with a crop there I'll be delighted. I have been cooking roasts more this year than ever before, and that's where the parsnips come into their own. They are strangely expensive in the shops for something so basic and root-vegetabular. I don't really like fancy lettuce much, although you can can pick it progressively as it grows. Last year all my icebergs were ready at once and we didn't do them justice Elf didn't like them as they were sluggy.

 I also have some chives in that I don't remember planting, and some garlic dad planted for me which is cranking along nicely. Elf bought me some mulch today and I have just mulched for the first time in my life. Felt great.

Left to right: spinach, garlic, tomatoes. Behind: grass - my specialty.

Give a worm a camera

Spring onions at worm grovel level.

Lettuce - worm shot this from the hip, photojournalist style.

I gave him a boost for this one.

My mighty spinach

Last night we dined on spinach (hidden in a pizza) from my very own veg garden. A big moment. I got overexcited and picked too much - had to eat a few large handfuls on its own. Delicious! For spinach.

Spinach of the future

Weekend roundup

On Friday we became the proud owners of three cubic metres of dirt. Then we had to move it uphill to the new garden bed. Mum and Dad are visiting at the moment, and they, the boys and Elf and I formed a kind of bucket-and-ice-cream-container brigade. I finished filling the bed this morning. Winston has been enjoying his new podium and vantage point, leaving massive pawprints in the loam. It was obvious we would have to fence off the tiny seedlings from the crushing weight of the hound. We happened to have a roll of sheepwire, so I have used that to make an ugly but hopefully effective barrier. This evening we planted spinach, iceberg lettuce, spring onions and leeks.

So, yeah, there's a lot of dirt under my nails and I am pretty much the veg expert. Just ask me if there's anything you wanna know. Just try and get those lettuces in before the Hobart Cup.

Winston has been eating apples off our immature apple tree. The boys said they had seen him munching them, and Elf was concerned, but I assured everyone that they must have been windfalls. As we ate dinner this evening, he mooched in with the evidence hanging out of his immense jowls - apple, stalk, twig, leaves and a little bit of branch. Yes, he's eating them off the tree.

Yesterday Rob, Mel and Livvy came over for lunch. It was originally going to be a Photoshop lesson - Rob brought his laptop, but after we spent the best part of an hour talking about football and art, the laptop never had a chance. The term "footy tragic" has been used, but we just love talking about football. Rob also brought with him a fantastic book, Our Great Game: The Photographic History of Australian Football and that set us off. It's still summer, and the season is still some way off, but I think that just makes us keener.

The book is divided into 7 themes, two of which are Joy and Despair. One of my favourite images is from the Melbourne Herald, a cold Tuesday night in 1951. Young Essendon goalkicking prodigy John Coleman is leaving the tribunal after being suspended for four matches for striking, meaning he would miss the Grand Final. Well wishers are grasping for him, trying to console him, but he looks inconsolable. Even though its just football, the drama is so intense that there are similarities to the famous photo of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.