Choosing which varieties of tomatoes to grow is always fun. This month a neighbour, Marian, gave me a Green Zebra tomato from Southside Farmers' Markets.
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It was raised by Paul in Bungendore who says this is the first season they have raised this variety for sale.
It gets yellow stripes when ripe, and Paul says the flavour is sweet and a little tart, it adds colour to salads and looks great on a bowl full of coloured tomatoes, echoing the first tomatoes that were sent to Europe as ornamentals. His favourite for flavour, however, is the Black Cherry tomato.
Due to trees limiting sun in my courtyard, my friend Jim is growing the Green Zebra for me.
Planted in a large pot of richest soil with a "drenching of worm wee", he says it is the happiest tomato in Canberra.
What about blue tomatoes? Renaissance Herbs sell a beefsteak tomato called "Blue Beauty".
Called a "modern heirloom", it was introduced by Brad Gates from a cross between a blue variety and "Beauty King". It has "attractive blue shoulders with a pink base", grows to 70 centimetres tall, is frost sensitive and, importantly, is high in lycopene, important for health. Renaissance suggests using in salads or baking thick slices to serve with pasta or steak.
Marty from Romantic Nursery in Victoria, the growers for Renaissance Herbs, says they have currently run out of stock but it will be available for wholesalers again in 2023.
For new blue/purple tomatoes, see Alliance for Science online and a report that Dr Cathie Martin, a plant biologist at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Britain, has investigated the important health benefits of anthocyanins in tomatoes.
In their experiments, the purple gene from snapdragons has turned tomatoes purple.
Following a tomato taste test with Canberra friends (Kitchen Garden, March 29), "Nebraska Wedding" (yellow/orange round fruit) was voted tops. However one taster preferred "Amish Paste" which originated in Pennsylvania. World tomato expert David Cavagnaro rated it 100 per cent, like Grange Hermitage wine.
A horticulturist, John, also preferred "Amish Paste" so he saved seeds by cutting them out and drying them on a tissue. He has shared the seeds and some of us are raising babies.
However, mine suffered transplant shock in the fierce winds last week so I swaddled its frame in a towel each night.
A friend and I also could not resist "Floriana's Genuwine" tomato (definitely not for its name) from Bunnings. It is a cross between the heirlooms "Costoluto Genovese" and "Brandy Wine".
What varieties are you growing and why? (email: bodenparsons@bigpond.com)
Edible gift plants
Dr Mark O'Connor (email: mark@australianpoet.com) has established in Australia a cultivar of the Saskatoon berry or Juneberry (Amelanchier alnifolia). It is called "Smokey" and Mark is expecting his first substantial crop of berries soon.
He has raised six spare pots of Smokey to give away to Canberrans. Look at Daley's Fruit Tree Nursery (they are out of stock) for a description of the shrubby, self-pollinating deciduous Saskatoon berry and you will want one. Mark's aim is for you to spread the new variety eventually, via your own propagation.
Mark also has three well-struck grafts of the "FishnChips" lemon featured in Kitchen Garden (June 16, 2020) from the garden of Drewe Just in Campbell.
It is less sour even than "Meyer", fruits prolifically and has perfumed flowers. On my visit to the garden, Drewe and I sucked the flesh from one fruit which he washed and cut in half. An excellent citrus.
