Spring is the best time garden. - Sep 01, 2017
It's time to plant tomatoes!!!!!
Dear gardening friends
It's the first day of spring, so it's time to get back in your garden. After a long winter you're probably dying to get out in the sunshine to plant something.
It's time to plant tomatoes, and we have the biggest selection in Macarthur. If you love growing big tomatoes, plant Tim's Giant Tomato. I grew these monsters a couple of years ago, now you can grow them too. This variety only sets one Tomato, on each spike of flowers, so all the energy goes into the one Tomato, so they just grow bigger!
But our most famous variety, is Tim's Fruit Fly Resistant Tomato. These apricot sized tomatoes have a natural resistance to fruit fly, so you can leave them to ripen on the Vine until they develop that home grown tomato taste.
This heirloom variety is resistant to diseases so it's easy to grow. Simply plant your seedling in a big pot using Tim's Best Potting Mix, water daily and watch it grow. You will need to stake this vigorous growing variety. Water daily to prevent your tomatoes developing Blossom End Rot.
Tomatoes that don't get watered often enough, can develop a calcium deficiency this causes the fruit to get a black base.
Tim's Fruit Fly Resistant Tomato can also be grown in your veggie garden. Dig in a bag of Tim's Cow Manure into your veggie patch first, with a dressing of Tim's Fast Food Fertiliser, then cover the soil with Sugar Cane.
Plant your Tomato seedlings thru the mulch and water daily. Drive a 2 metre garden stake in beside each tomato plant and as they grow, tie the plant to the stake. We do have stakes and Tomato trainers at the nursery. Use stretchy material to tie up tomatoes. Never use garden wire or it will ring bark your plants.
We have been eating rock hard cricket ball like tomatoes from the supermarkets for so long, we have forgotten that fruit is suppose to be soft. When I was in Italy about 5 years ago I discovered a Pear shaped tomato that was as sweet as Water melon. It was so sweet because it had fewer seeds, than other varieties. The Italians use it to make tomato sauce.
I brought this variety back to Australia, so now you can grow it too. It's called Tim's Italian Tomato. It's the sweetest tomato I have ever eaten. You will have to pick the fruit as they start to change colour from green to yellow. Take the fruit inside and ripen it on your window sill. If you leave them outside to ripen they will be full of Fruit Fly. Italians have been growing this heirloom, Pear shaped variety for centuries, now you can grow it too!
We have at least 30 varieties of Tomatoes to choose from, so come and check them out. It's a good idea to plant a selection. They will Fruit at slightly different times this way and they are less likely to be all struck down by disease.
Don't remove the side shoots from the leaf axils. Just let them grow wild. You may need more stakes this way but you will get up to 30% more fruit.
Petunias have arrived in potted colour this week. You can fill your pots and gardens in sunny spots with these flowering plants, and look like a master gardener overnight.
I'm an old fart, so I'm still planting Petunias from seedlings. I plant Oasis Spreading Petunias. Each plant can grow up to one metre wide. My favourite colour is the purple variety in the photo above.
But they also come in Red, White, Blue and Pink.
Oasis Spreading Petunias truely are amazing. I only plant one plant in my terracotta urns and look how big they grow!! You get 3 plants in each punnet.
They look spectacular in hanging baskets too, or use them as ground covers in your garden.
If you are planting seedlings in your garden, prepare the soil first, by digging in IGC Planting Compost. This brilliant product contains Seaweed, Slow Release Fertiliser, Wetting Agent and Compost. Cover with Sugar Cane then plant your seedlings thru the mulch. Water daily for the first couple of weeks and don't forget the Snail bait. We have one that's safe for pets, birds and lizards.
Spring is the best time to plant so come and see us if you need help.
Happy gardening
Tim