Tomatoey Thoughts

We had a lot of rain last week, and this cracked 'Brandywine' was the result. It had to be eaten right away, but still tasted wonderful. They really have an excellent flavour and I like the pink shade, too.

The real problem is in cultivation. 'Brandywine' is from North America and is (I think) named after the Battle of Brandywine Creek, in Pennsylvania. If it was developed in this area, it is not really adapted for Sydney conditions. I should have realised from the potato leaves that the plant was adapted for lower temperatures and light levels: my plants are horribly burnt. The fruit fly bags have protected the fruit from scorching, but fruit set has been poor. The average tomato plant, according to Malcolm Campbell, will set fruit as long as there are periods below 27 C during the day. I suspect that the 'Brandywine' might stop setting fruit at something closer to 24 C, or that it prefers lower overnight temperatures -- our minima rarely fell below 20 C in January. I plan to keep growing 'Brandywines', but in future I will plant them early and late in the season. If anyone has ideas on what would be a good mid-season tomato for Sydney, I'd like to hear about it. My Dad used to plant 'Grosse Lisse'.

I'm completely unimpressed with 'Tommy Toe', after two years of growing it. I'm used to rampant cherry tomato plants which just appear as volunteers and produce trusses of yummy fruit. 'Tommy Toe' takes ages to flower, and then only gives you a couple of tomatoes at a time. Worst of all, they don't have much flavour. A big thumbs down to this one.

The other variety I grew this year was 'Principe Borghese', which are small "paste" tomatoes, used in cooking and for sun-drying. I managed to sun-dry some and they taste fine, but I prefer fresh tomatoes. Worth the experiment, but I probably won't bother buying the seeds again.

How about you?

Simply a List of Seeds

I have found I don't need to buy any seeds for winter crops; I seem to have everything! So here's my complete list. Most have come from the Digger's Club.

• Bush Beans: 'Yin Yang'*, 'Green Stringless',and 'Stringless Pioneer'
• Beetroot 'Globe Free' and Heirloom Mix
• Broad Beans 'Aquadulce'
• Broccoli 'Romanesco'
• Cabbage 'Mini'
• Capsicum 'Mini Sweet' mix
• Carrot 'Mini Round'
• Celery (collected here)
• Coriander, Chervil, Dill, Rocket
• Cucumber 'Mini White', 'Lebanese Mini Muncher' and 'Lemon'
• Eggplant 'Listada de Gandia' and Heirloom mix
• Florence Fennel
• Ground Cherry 'Aunt Molly'
• Kale 'Tuscan Black'
• Kohlrabi
• Leek 'Elephant' and 'King Richard'
• Lettuce 'Flame', 'Yellow Leaf' and 'Forellenschuss'
• Onion 'Borrettana'
• Pak Choy 'Red F1' and green type
• Parsnip 'Hollow Crown'
• Pea 'Snow Climbing', 'Purple Podded Dutch' and 'Greenfeast'
• Pumpkin 'Queensland Blue'
• Radish 'French Breakfast' and 'Easter Egg'
• Silverbeet 'Five Colour'
• Spring Onion 'Evergreen ' and 'Red'
• Sweet Corn 'Golden Bantam'
• Tomato 'Broad Ripple Yellow Currant', Tommy Toe', 'Principe Borghese' and 'Brandywine
• Watermelon 'Golden Midget'

When did I find time to do this? It's been raining, so I haven't been in the garden. Summer rain in Sydney can have a tropical intensity. We've had over 150mm since Tuesday, which is one-and-a-half times the monthly average... and it's only the 7th!

* Alas, the packet is marked 'Ying Yang', which in Australia, at least, means something different.

Slug by Slug, Weed by Weed...

Arlo Guthrie MUST be a gardener.

How to Deal with a Broody Chook

Lizzie has gone broody again. She has taken to fluffing herself up and holding her wings out, so she looks like a big clucky chestnut ball. If not pushed out, she sits in the 'nesting box' all day and growls when you get too close (yes, a growling chicken is as funny as you think). She has even pecked the Geek. Yesterday I heard a weird squawking. I think Annie had managed to lay an egg, proclaimed this feat in the usual manner, and Lizzie had immediately hopped up to boot her out!

The current nesting box is the top of a bag of sugar cane mulch.

In nature, a chook lays a clutch of eggs, then sits on them (the eggs will stay in suspended animation until she starts sitting). She will sit as long as it takes for the eggs to hatch, with only the odd trip to forage, drink and poo, neglecting her own health in the process. She won't lay during this time, either, and in due course the brood of chicks will hatch.

Humans alter this process a bit to suit themselves. If you remove your hen's eggs every day, she never gets a clutch together to sit on. Many breeds are less inclined to broodiness, because we don't need it and we prefer our hens to put their energies into laying most of the year rather than sitting.

Broodiness ought to be discouraged when there are no fertilised eggs to sit on. Hens aren't very bright, and they will sit until they get a result. They can starve themselves or attract parasites, and of course they don't lay while brooding. In our case, the weather can be very hot, and I'm worried about dehydration. You can see that Lizzie is panting in the picture; it's not even 25 C today.

The solution is to isolate the broody hen in an airy, cool spot with no nesting site or material available. In our case, it's the chook dome, as it's not in use at the moment. We've put it under a shady tree and Lizzie is sulking inside it. Poor Annie, bereft of a companion, hangs disconsolately around nearby.

Lizzie had an attack of broodiness in early December and it only took a few days to break the habit. Unfortunately, she's becoming better at getting around the shadecloth door on the dome... not a good habit for her to have!

Another Man in my Life

Well, it was only a brief encounter. He joined us for dinner.

Why did the Ladybird Blush?

Because

she

saw

the

spider

undressing.

Picture This: Winter's Beauty

Here is my entry for the Gardening Gone Wild Photo Competition for January.

It is a bit difficult for a Sydneysider to photograph snow, frost and so forth; our winters include the occasional light frost and once we had to scrape ice off the windscreen of our car -- that's once in the last eight years! While Australia does have a couple of places to ski, I haven't visited any of them since I married, as my husband is convinced that skiing wouldn't be fun. But then The Geek's idea of fun includes kernel hacking and going to Anglican meetings.

This picture is of a flower on my Correa 'Dusky Bells'. It's a pretty little plant, which is thought to be a hybrid of two of the eleven Australian Correa species. The plant is supposed to grow slowly to about 1m high and wide. After five year, mine is only about 30cm each way. The tubular flowers are about an inch long and would attract honeyeaters if they were higher off the ground. Those tan smudges in the background are buds.

I hope the deep pink and green of this winter-flowering plant helps give a lift to those who have seen too much of the white stuff lately!