Cold weather

It is now officially winter where I live and it certainly feels like it. We have had a few frosts and most of the plants in the dirt garden are looking much the worst for it.
The tomatoes in the growbeds are still alive and there is still some fruit ripening on the vines. They look pretty sad as plants and I think this is probably due to some mineral deficiencies which I am attempting to remedy with blue metal crusher dust. I am told that basalt dust contains all sorts of mineral which will slowly become available to the plants. To this end I have mixed about 8 or 9 cupfulls into each growbed. Too late for these tomatoes but perhaps of use to the next crops.
Di has put in another crop of peas and they seem to be doing quite well.
This is despite overnight temps in the shed dropping to as low as 4 degrees C.
The water in the fish tank is now around the 10 degrees C mark and the fish are not eating much.

The fish are refusing everything except daphnia at the moment.
Fortunately I have found a source for good quantities of this and I collect a couple of litres of daphnia every week or so. I then put this into the spare water trough I have outside the shed and scoop out a couple of tablespoonsful daily or at least every couple of days. As it is alive this doesn't cause any problem in the fishtank if not eaten straight away. The picture is one I found on the net and looks just right. The dark "balls" inside the daphnia are eggs or the equivalent. These little critters are only a couple of millimeters long so are really just a viable food for the fish while they are at their current size of between 50 and 100mm.
On that note I have had the fish for almost 8 months and I must say I am somewhat disappointed in their growth rate. It looks like we will not be eating fish until next Autumn!! If then!!
As they are still so small it is simply amazing how much plant growth we have had. I can only assume that when the fish are almost at the harvest size that we will have riotous growth in the growbeds and will probably have to plant and harvest like crazy.


The 3rd picture shows the second
plantings of peas .
Peas were quite successful the first time around. As it is winter I expect this planting to be a bit slower to grow than last time but we will see.
Nothing quite like chomping on fresh peas straight from the bushes while doing fishkeeping chores. Enough still make it to the kitchen for stirfrys and the like.



The final picture in this post shows
some Tat soi which we are letting go to seed as Di couldn't find new seed for next time. This is an experiment and I don't know how succesful it will be but it is worth a try. And the flowers are quite pretty.
We let some coriander go to seed earlier and a few little plants have popped up in one of the other grow beds.