All about tomatoes and potatoes, peppers and other relatives, is another excellent book from Diggers and Clive Blazey. Although this small book does have all you need to know for your tomatoes to grow and thrive, it also looks at the history of tomatoes, talks about open-pollinated versus hybrid seed and why we all need to grow and save the free, open-pollinated, non hybridised types. Diggers has done years of research into tomatoes and their yields, colour, texture and flavour. Clive has listed the 60 that they think are the best. With mouth watering beautiful colour photos it’s hard to resist planting them straight away. But there are nearly 5500 heirloom varieties available around the world so maybe you need to try some of those too. The majority of the book is about tomatoes, but there are 8 pages at the back that cover some tomato relatives like potatoes, capsicums, eggplants, pepino and several more. Borrow it from your library, buy it from an independent bookshop or online from Diggers
All About Tomatoes by Clive Blazey, The Diggers Club, Dromana, Australia. Hardcover, 80pages, $24.95
Across southern Australia this week, gardeners are watching their tomato seedlings anxiously and hoping this season will be better than last. But I’ve been reading “Tomatoland”, by Barry Estabrook, and I will never look at a tomato the same way again.
Some people are tomato growers rather than gardeners. They grow nothing else. Tomatoes have a place in folklore. They prompt conversations in lifts between people who barely know each other: Will you have tomatoes before Christmas? Which ones have you put in this year? This week I bought supermarket tomatoes and they’re as tough as old boots and taste like nothing! Do you take out the
side shoots? Do they need more than potash? That smell! It takes me back. Why would you bother to buy them? Hydroponics? You must be joking. How can you grow a tomato without dirt? You might as well eat a kitchen sponge…
Would you like to know how modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit? Or more importantly, why? That’s the book that Barry Estabrook has written. Continue Reading
This fabulous resource Australia’s Open Gardens National Garden Guide is out again. A must for every serious gardener it is full fascinating and beautiful gardens that will be open over the next twelve months. Also articles Gardens as therapy, What it’s like to open a garden and the story of Harvey Ottley: Crocs, cheating death and her own top end oasis. This year the one’s I won’t be able to miss are Pat and John Anderson’s garden show casing sustainable water use (17th & 18th of March), The plant fair at Cruden Farm (3rd & 4th of March), Pepper Tree Place community garden in Coburg (18th & 19th of Feb) and Nancy’s Haven (4th & 5th Feb). And these are just a few in Victoria.Grab a copy from your local newsagent, borrow it from your library or buy one online from the Open Gardens Australia website
Australia’s Open Gardens 2011-2012, $19
Smart Gardening: Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables by Marcelle Nankervis is packed with useful information for the home gardener. Marcelle grew up on a small farm, has a degree in Horticulture and a wealth of experience in gardening. She has worked in the horticultural media for more than 16 years. Part one of Smart Gardening covers all the garden basics from water, sun, soil, fertilising, mulching and pruning, to growing and harvesting fruit trees and vegetables. Part two encompasses the bulk of the book and is a really useful month by month guide divided into tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and cool regions. I would buy it just for the lists of what to sow when because I always forget and plant things too late. My only quibble is the layout. There are no pictures (which is fine) but I find it hard to navigate my way around. Perhaps that will come with time and familiarity. The information is all there though, and this would make a great gift for an organic gardener who is just starting out. To purchase a copy go to any good bookstore or Exisle Publishing
Smart Gardening by Marcelle Nankervis, Exisle Publishing, $34.99
This is an updated edition of the classic Fleming’s Guide and while many of the plants listed are exclusive to Fleming’s, the cultural advice is much more widely applicable. Fleming’s Nursery is renowned in southern parts of Australia as a wholesale supplier of productive and ornamental trees. This guide details a huge range of productive trees including currants, cherries, apples, figs, pears, persimmons and more. As well as the new naturally hand pollinated F2 crosses between apricots and plums, and fruit trees grown on dwarf rootstock. Ornamental trees range from maples and hibiscus, to ginkgo and crab apples. The photos are superb. Useful for landscapers, retailers and avid gardeners the book can be purchased from Fleming’s Nursery website.
Fleming’s Fruit and Ornamental Tree Guide, Fleming’s Nursery, $29.95 (incl. postage in Australia).
Organic Gardener Essential Guide: Fruit
This mook (a cross between a magazine and a book) is the second in the series produced by Organic Gardener Magazine. It is made up of articles by well-known garden writers from across Australia. Some articles have been previously published by Organic Gardener, others are written specifically for this mook. There is everything from pruning (an article I keep going back to, to check how it should be done) by Peter Cundall to pest control by Jerry Coleby-Williams and planning the orchard by Phil Dudman. It also looks at harvesting and storing the produce. The fruits covered include apples, avocado, bananas, berries, citrus, grapes, mangoes, melons, nuts, olives, passionfruit, stone fruit and strawberries. Comprehensive and cheap at only $10.
Borrow a copy from your library, buy one from your local newsagent or go to the store on this website and buy a copy online
Organic Gardener’s Essential Guide: Vegies A – Z
Rising costs have combined with anxiety about food security to create a critical moment for people considering growing their own food. Right on cue is “Vegies A-Z”. It’s the third OG special (after Getting Started, $10.00, and Fruit, $10.00). Vegies A-Z combines new material with recent OG articles from reliable writers. My quibble with this third volume is that there is not more on soil preparation, which is crucial. Perhaps that’s in Getting Started? Perhaps the three volumes need to be read seriatum, and would make a great gift, possibly to yourself. PW is a major contributor. — AMS.
Note: There is more on soil preparation in Getting Started which is unfortunately currently out of print. A reprint is planned for later this year
Borrow a copy from your library, buy one from your local newsagent or go to the store on this website and buy a copy online
Tropical Cuisine by Clare Richards is a revelation. It is obviously the work of a lifetime spent travelling and cooking and asking questions. It is encyclopaedic without being daunting; innovative without being ridiculous; beautifully photographed by Alison George and very well laid-out. It is, surprisingly, self-published, without the design faults usually accompanying such projects – the mark of an author who is open to good advice. All round, Tropical Cuisine is an investment worth making, no matter where you live in the world. It ranges across the Antipodes, Asia and the Middle East, and is up-to-the-minute in terms of food trends in our changing culture (brilliant recipes for goat and a good grip on the bounty of Asian herbs vegetables, which we don’t use enough of in Australia). Clare Richards is good at research and documentation, and it shows. If you are buying just one cookbook this year, make it this one. – AMS.
To purchase a copy go to any good bookstore or Clare’s website
Tropical Cuisine: Cooking in Clare’s Kitchen by Clare Richards, Wet Season Press, Australia 2010 $59.95
The Bee Book by Ann Cliff. At last an Australian book on keeping bees. Ann Cliff has had a lifetime of involvement in sustainable gardening and bees play an integral part. In this book she looks at native and European bees, then moves on to beekeeping basics, honey harvesting and beeswax, candles and other bee business (including how to make mead!). It’s not a glossy, coffee table book, but simple and straightforward with detailed information on where to get your bees, who to go to for help and other essential resources. If you are thinking of keeping your own bees this book would be a great place to start.
Borrow a copy from your library, buy one from your local bookshop or go to the store on this website and buy a copy online
The Bee Book, Ann Cliff, Manna Press, 2010, RRP $21.95
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