Tim's got big news! - Oct 24, 2013
Dear gardening friends
I have been away for a couple of days in the Snowy Mountains trout fishing. I have always been a catch and release fisherman but now I don’t even catch them. No fish lips get damaged when I go fishing! But what I did notice is how green everywhere else is. Goulbourn, green, Canberra, green Cooma, green, Tumut even greener! The cows are dancing in Tumut. So it is only brown in Sydney so don’t panic, we aren’t in a drought.
Last Sunday I was sitting in a café in Camden reading the In Macarthur Magazine and I saw an article about Glenmore House being open. I have always wanted to see this famous garden which is only 10 minutes from Camden. Linda Ross has run vegetable gardening classes out their so I had heard it was something special. The place was amazing. Beautiful old buildings and fantastic gardens full of plants that all survive during drought. This place must be over 100 years old so it has seen plenty of dry weather. Many of the plants had grey leaves. Grey leafed plants are drought tolerant and they thrive in full sun.
There were lots of old fashioned rose bushes too and these were all black spot free because we have had no rain. One of the roses was quite new; they had a row of White Iceberg roses that were looking sensational. White Iceberg was first released in 1958 and it is still the best selling white rose in Australia. It has healthy green foliage and bunches of white flowers in profusion. This rose has fewer thorns than other roses so it is one of my favourites too.
The garden had a fantastic vegetable garden with espaliered fruit trees and art structures made out of sticks and branches to support the tomato plants and climbing beans. They had potatoes growing all beautifully labeled. There was a great chicken coop that was built around a grove of citrus trees. I have never seen happier chickens they seemed to be dancing too. This dance involved a lot of scratching.
There were lots of succulents growing in pots. I am a cactus and succulent collector so I really love these drought hardy plants that seem to thrive on neglect. These plants were invented for the brown thumbs. They are such arty looking plants that always look good. There were Kalanchoe everywhere. One of my favourites is one called Flap Jacks. This has bright red and purple foliage all year. Check out the photos. We have a few of these in stock. I loved the Agaves too.
There was a great display of home grown pumpkins on a table. I have fallen in love with pumpkins, they look like art! When you get sick of looking at them you can eat them.
Glenmore House with probably be open again in autumn so if you get the chance check it out. To see more photos check out Instagram on our Facebook page.
You might not know this but I send this article to family and friends who have ended up all over Australia and the world. Some of them send me photos of their gardens hoping that I will put them in the news letter. One of my cousins Amy Dickson has been sending me photos of her garden in London constantly. I have never seen so many photos of Wisterias. She has never made it into the Newsletter but a couple of weeks ago she became quite famous. Amy won Break through Artist of the Year at the Classic BRITs at London Royal Albert Hall. An Australian has never won this award before so we are really proud of Amy. She has been playing the saxophone at our Christmas Parties since she was 6 so no wonder she is so good. I have attached a photo of Amy; I wish she had a few more freckles.
The seedlings of that giant tomato I bought at Noosa Produce Markets are ready to go. This giant tomato cost me $6.00 it was so big. It is a variety known as Mortgage Lifter and it was bred by an American in the early 1930s. Marshall Byles owned a small mechanical repair shop at the bottom of a mountain which was well known for making trucks over heat. The location of his shop generated a steady business as trucks over heated and needed radiator work. This is where he earned his nickname “Radiator Charlie”. With no experience he began breeding tomatoes. He started with the 4 best varieties grown in the area. German Johnson, Beefsteak, an unknown Italian variety and an unknown English variety. He cross pollinated these and 6 years later came up with a plant that would make him rich. Radiator Charlies Mortgage Lifter Tomato.
I have saved the seeds from this giant tomato and we have grown them here at the nursery. We have around 200 plants. This amazes me because when I cut this huge tomato open it looked like it was all flesh but when I scooped this out there were hidden seeds. We have grown them in Tim’s Best Potting mix so they have had a great start. We have potted them into bright green pots so you can find them easily.
We are selling the plants for $4.50 each and all this money is being donated to The African Aids Foundation in Camden. You can buy as many plants as you like. We want to see if you can grow a giant tomato too. Look for them in the seedling area. I am planting some in my garden too so you have some competition. These tomatoes grow tall so you will need a tomato stake for support. They can be grown in a big pot. Use Tim’s Best Potting mix and you will have success.
Pig made the paper this week. Check out his photo in The Macarthur Chronicle.
Happy gardening
Tim