I Grew an Apple

Sort of.

How big must an apple be before you can call it an apple?
I ate it. It almost popped my eyeballs out of their sockets, but I grew it, and so I ate it.

I'll bet all sorts of problems would have been avoided if I had been the gardener of Eden.

A Rare Red Fruit

How could I resist in the face of this advertising line?

Oh you so know that I couldn't.

This is a Red Centre Lime. Or an Australian Blood Lime, and is a cross between a native Finger Lime (I don't actually know what a finger lime is, but I do feel as though I should. At least I am giving it capital letters) and a mandarin (I know what that is).

Which is just so very, very exciting.

Who doesn't love a lime? And if they are good in green, how fabulous are they going to be in red?

Ooo red and green.

This is practically a Christmas post.

The Hanging Cucumbers of Mitchelton

I adore a good cucumber.

This variety is called "Muncher Burpless", and it most certainly lives up to its name, being both munchable, and not causing any burping.

I have the cucumber plants growing up one of my bamboo teepees, sitting in a bed with lots of lovely aged cow manure. I am pretty sure I threw some ground coffee into the mound as well, but that's hardly surprising - I collect so much coffee now that I use it in everything.

So whether it's the coffee or the manure, I am doing something right as I am picking a lovely fresh cucumber every other day. I love them fresh with mayonnaise, or sliced, salted and squeezed to within an inch of their lives and then drenched with lime and creme fraiche.

Yum.

It Blinked at Me

And that's when I realised it was alive.

Who finds a tortoise in their backyard? In the middle of the suburbs?

Quite obviously, we do.

We named him Mr Beaujangles, and after a lovely play sent our newfound friend safely on his way into a neighbouring backyard.

One without a dog, cat, chickens and small children.

It may have been my imagination, but I am relatively sure I detected a look of relief on his face as he trudged off.

The boys really liked playing with him.