Broadies, Asparagus & Tomato Seedlings
Saturday down on the Merri Creek in between barking out loud chok-choks and high-speed pursuits of honeyeater rivals, the Red Wattlebirds are busy flying up, stalling and plunging down upon the insects that have hatched in the warm north winds.
High in the river red gums the Little Ravens are building their big nests, while down on the water the squeaky cries of the Dusky Moorhens are becoming more urgent as breeding season hits its peak.
Up on the walking trail the Willie Wagtails, who disappeared for a couple of winter months, have reclaimed their territories dive-bombing passing dogs and chit-chittering at them to get out of their patches.
Getting near the old swing bridge we run into a stream of people coming from Joe’s Garden loaded up with bulging bags of Joe Garita’s famously large and sweet broad beans and bouquets of U-pick flowers from the annual Fava Festival.
By the time we arrive the festival bean plot barely has a broad bean pod left to pick.
For any latecomers who want to take home a bag, Vince, Joe Garita’s younger cousin, is bringing a wheelbarrow full of Joe’s broadies down from his plot at the top of the garden.
Broad bean season at Joe’s means asparagus season is in full swing at Maurie Cafra’s farm down in Koo Wee Rup.
His thirty pickers are in their annual race against time to harvest the world’s fastest growing vegetable — which after the warm weather is growing especially quickly and is predictably on special this week.
Asparagus and broad bean season also means tomato planting season.
Kelly, who manages the CERES Propagation team in Honey Lane Farm at Brunswick East, has been flat-out since August seeding up trays, pricking out seedlings and getting ready for her busiest time of year.
Each spring Kelly sends Fair Food a few of the twenty-five varieties she grows for the CERES Nursery, which we deliver to Fair Food customers.
We always sell out quickly so this year Kelly has upped our allocation to 450 seedlings, which we’ll be delivering every Tuesday and Wednesday for the next three weeks
(a hot tip — set your delivery cart to Tue or Wed the 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st, 27th or 28th October, or the seedlings may appear to be sold out, even though they aren’t).
This year’s varieties are:
Tommy Toe — Kelly’s reliable best seller — easiest to grow, it has big crops of golf-ball-sized fruit with a bright, sweet-tart flavour — best for salads and snacking straight off the vine.
Grosse Lisse — The classic backyard slicer (its name means “big smooth”), a large, round, juicy red tomato with a straightforward tomatoey flavour. Does everything well: sandwiches, salads, grilling.
Kangaroo Paw — A newer breed with small, thick-skinned cherry tomatoes in green, yellow, brown or purple with a sweet tangy flavour and a firm bite that’s good on a platter or tossed whole into a salad.
Rouge de Marmande — A French heirloom with squat, ribbed, slightly irregular fruit and deep, rich, acid-balanced flavour; crops early and copes with cooler weather, it’s the one to slice thick with salt and olive oil.
Roma — The workhorse: egg-shaped, dense and meaty with few seeds and low moisture, perfect for passata, slow-roasting and sun-drying.
Be quick, if past years are anything to go by they’ll be snapped up before you can say Wapsipinicon Peach.
Of course you can find all of Kelly’s twenty-five heirloom tomato varieties and so much more at CERES’ incredible nursery.
And here’s the hot tip again!
If tomato seedlings appear to be sold-out, set your delivery cart to Tue or Wed the 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st, 27th or 28th October.
Have a great week
Chris
