Hottest. April Day. Ever.

The weather this week started out nicely, but ended up decidedly nasty, culminating yesterday with the hottest ever April day in Adelaide on record: 36.9 degrees Celcius. Fortunately we got some much-needed rain this morning.

The unusual burst of hot weather could be the final blow for the original set of tomato plants. I watered them every day, but I didn't expect it to get so hot, and made the mistake of not putting up the shadecloth. Last week I harvested only one tomato from the original plantings.

Last week I picked the first of the "Costoluto di Marmande" tomatoes. It tasted very good, but it wasn't as sweet as the other varieties in the garden. But that could be because I picked it a bit early.

The capsicum plants are now firing on all (five) cylinders: the fifth plant has finally started to bear fruit. Meanwhile, I made some peperonata last Monday using the first two capsicums harvested, and it tasted great. Also of note, there's a capsicum plant from last year still growing, and it looks like it's fruiting too. It will be interesting to compare the taste.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to pay as much attention to the plants lately, so I hadn't noticed that some insects seem to have attacked some of the fruit on the capsicum and aubergine plants. I may have to throw away a couple of capsicums, but I will save the seeds at least. I've already saved tomato and aubergine seeds.

I haven't mentioned the basil plants for a while. They are still growing fine. I've left the plants that are growing in the ground go to seed, in the hope that they will self-propagate. These are the ones that I've been taking photos of, but I'm going to stop including pictures due to the lack of visible changes. Meanwhile, the basil plants growing in pots are also growing well, and I've been using the leaves from these plants for eating.

To view the latest photos, click on the links below:
The tomatoes (week 28)
The aubergines and capsicums (week 22 after transplanting)
The "Costoluto di Marmande" tomatoes (week 12 after transplanting)