Time to plant tomatoes! - Sep 02, 2011
Dear gardening friends
We have been so busy in the nursery again this week it seems everybody has fallen in love with gardening. The weather has been so nice and the soil is still moist from all the rain. But the main reason we have been so busy is that spring has started.
Pig has given his milkcrate a spring makeover and it is now surrounded with lavender flowers.
Maybe it is time you gave your garden a spring make over too. Sometimes the shrubs just get so old and woody they really need to be pulled out and replaced with something more suitable. Most people plant shrubs too close together so when they grow the garden turns into a jungle. We are always horrified how close they plant trees and shrubs on the reality TV renovation shows. Come and see us if you need help with your plant selection.
Great news this week we have found a new seedling nursery that is growing all of The Diggers Club Heirloom Tomatoes.
These tomatoes have only been available by seed in the past but now we have them in seedlings.
Heirloom tomatoes are varieties that have been past down from gardener to gardener for hundreds of years. They are very special because they taste delicious where as modern varieties have been grown because they can be picked green and travel well in a box. Taste doesn't come into it.
These new/old tomatoes look very different. We tend to think that all tomatoes should be red when ripe but these tomatoes are all different colours. We have a Black Russian Tomato. This has black and red coloured fruit that just taste so sweet when ripe.
Green Zebra Tomato has Apricot sized green fruit with yellow markings. The birds don't eat these tomatoes because they never look ripe.
Mortgage Lifter Tomato was bred during the last recession and it is said to produce so much fruit you will be able to sell it and help pay off your house. A beaf steak style tomato it has less seeds and more flesh.
The reddest tomato ever is a variety called Principe Borghese Tomato. It has Apricot sized tomatoes that go the most amazing red colour when ripe.
If you like something a little fancy then the Tigerella Tomato has stripes. It is red with yellow stripes and very prolific.
The good news is these plants are available in single pots so get a selection and see which variety you think is the best.
But don't forget to get one of Tim' Taurus Tomatoes. This tomato has been around for 40 years and it is a beaf steak style tomato with thick sweet flesh and fewer seeds so it just tastes sweeter. Most of these tomatoes are available from $4.25.
We do have some of your old favourite varieties from just $2.99.
Tomatoes can be grown in any sunny position in the garden. Dig some of Tim's Cow Manure into the soil first and mulch with sugar cane to help save water. If you don't have room in your garden then grow your tomatoes in big pots. Use Tim's Best potting mix and you can't go wrong.
You need to stake your tomatoes so they don't blow over in the wind. We have timber stakes of all different sizes.
The builder turned up last week and put on our new roof. Wow what a difference the new sky lights have made to our shop.
Our indoor plants are going to be so much happier with all the extra light and everything just looks so much more colourful.
Come and have a look you won't believe the difference. The new insulation is going to make our shop so much cooler in summer too. Poor Karyn has been working in a crock pot for 20 years. We nearly cooked her.
Yvonne has been having lunch competitions with me for months now. She has an Italian mother in law who helps her concoct all these exotic lunches. It really isn't fair. I am so happy when she's comes to work sometimes with a cheese sandwich.
Too busy to waffle on too much today, come and see us if you are planting up the veggie garden this weekend.
Happy gardening
Tim