The program to install water meters in all Hobart properties visited my house.

Water meter and shut off lever

The water meters are part of major reforms of local water and sewerage systems so Southern Water can charge for the amount of water used. Currently householders are charged a fixed fee based on the property’s value.

The intention is to provide a financial incentive for householders to conserve water. Unlike other Australian capital cities the availability of water is not an issue. There is plenty of water even though Hobart is one of Australia’s driest capital cities. The Derwent River is a significant contributor to the cities water supply.

The Derwent rises in Tasmania’s central highlands and there are a number of large dams for Tasmania’s Hydro Electric power generating system.  These store snowmelt and winter rain, and the demands of the power grid means that there is substantial amount of water flowing all year round.

The immediate concern is the capacity of the distribution system to supply peak water demand in summer.The current management system is to restrict the usage of water is allowing watering of gardens on certain days of the week between specific times.

City water storage in summer

The installers removed the old mains stop tap and its associated access tube. They replaced them with a new pit and shut off valve as part of the meter system.  The old tap did not completely shut off the water and plumbers routinely turned on the first water tap after the stop tap to divert the any residual water flow. This suggests that the older styler stop taps often do not turn off the water flow completely. This could be a a big advantage of the new system.

The new water meter and stop tap cover

The pit housing the main tap and the water meter has a green plastic cover with water meter moulded onto the top surface  making them easy to find if you need to quickly shut the water off if there is a plumbing emergency.

The front garden is not the usual Australian style with an expanse of lawn kept green and trimmed, mainly for show.  It is a mixture of local shrubs and small trees that need far less water than a lawn of European grass, while a natural mulch helps keep the moisture in the soil.

The middle of November is a good time to plant out Tomato seedlings in my garden in Hobart, Tasmania.

The seedlings have been sitting in individual pots on a sheltered shelf on the outside of the old garden shed. But, now they are getting too big for the pots and the weather is slightly more settled in mid November than in October when many gardeners traditionally plant their tomato seedlings.

The garden bed is nicely prepared and the soils is warming up with a few really good days this month.

The new seedlings are now in the garden bed, ready to spread and fill the space. There is a plastic compost bin in the background

Preparation of the bed is an ongoing task with a yearly rotation over three different beds. Now I am not a gardening fanatic, but I love fresh homegrown tomatoes, so the other parts  of vegetable garden  are really only waiting for their turn for tomatoes. Any other crops are bonus and more of way to keep the soil active.

I try to follow organic principles but fertilisers and pesticides do have their uses, in moderation. The main activity is feeding the soil and improving its structure.

Soils structure is one of the most important aspects of growing anything.  The local soils is has a very high clay content. This results in poor drainage in winter and dry hard soil in summer.

The cure is to keep adding organic material, mainly in the form of compost. The organic material eventually decomposes to form humus that is mixed in with the fine clay soil particles and prevents them from packing tightly together. This allows water to drain away in winter yet still hold some moisture in summer.

The  simple test is to feel the soil, if it crumbles easily but has enough moisture so it is not dry and dusty then it has a reasonable structure.

My composting methods are probably inefficient, I just load all the food and garden scraps into a compost bin, occasionally adding a bit of limestone, and leave it to work once the bin is really full. Then I start loading the next one.

The worms and micro organisms eventually reduce the contents to about half and it becomes more like a rich soil. This is then added onto the garden bed.  Repeating this process over the years has  improved the soil structure noticeably.

The other benefit of the composting is less waste going to landfill  and less carbon pollution from carting it there.

This time of year thoughts turn towards growing tomatoes in Tasmania. The traditionally Hobart’s gardeners plant tomato seedling in their gardens just after the Royal Hobart Agricultural show.

People love growing their own tomatoes because when they come straight from the garden they have a fantastic taste.

The taste principally comes from growing the right variety. The commercial tomato varieties are developed with transportation and supermarket display as the main priorities. This means they have tough thick skins and internal structures to survive handling. They also have the classic round shape and bright red colour so they look good on the supermarket shelf.

What they lack is taste and texture.  The more traditional tomato varieties have thin delicate skins and soft juicy interiors. They do need to be handled with ordinary care but nothing extreme.

Apart from choosing a great tasting tomato variety the other important consideration is the local climate and the length of the growing season.

Hobart nestles between the Derwent River and Mount Wellington producing a range of micro climates even within suburbs. My garden is close to the foothills making it colder, with a shorter growing season than some other areas of Hobart.  With this in mind I choose tomatoes with a short to mid length growing time.

My tomato seedlings in pots on a sheltered shelf

One of my favourite varieties is Rouge De Marmade. The shape of the tomatoes is variable, often not perfectly round, but they have fantastic taste. In my garden they manage to ripen nearly all their fruit over summer and the sweet taste is fantastic and they have beautiful soft texture.

I buy my seedlings around Show time because the local nursery has a good stock of seedlings. To give them a head start I put them out in larger pots before they go to the garden.