By Penny Woodward, Janice Sutton, Karen Sutherland

It’s tomato season again. So don’t forgot about our beautiful Tomato book, written for Australian conditions.

Tomato: know sow grow feast, written and published by Penny Woodward, Janice Sutton and Karen Sutherland.  This book was awarded the Gold Medal in the House and Garden category of the Independent Publisher’s 2019 Awards (the IPPYs), judged against books from all over the world.  Early in 2020, it shared the Book Laurel from the Horticultural Media Association Australia for the best gardening book in the previous two years. Hardcover. RRP $65, but $60 from this site.

Tomato: know, sow, grow, feast is a hardback book celebrating Australian heirloom tomatoes. These colourful heritage gems are full to bursting with juicy deliciousness and are enjoying a renaissance in Australia today. This book brims with information about heirloom tomatoes, so that tomato lovers throughout Australia can identify, learn to grow and enjoy them.

Tomato explains why a ‘red tomato is red’, why ‘real tomatoes’ taste so good, and why tomatoes are so ‘good for you’. The book also leads both experienced and aspiring gardeners through the practice of organic heirloom tomato growing and explores the history of heirloom tomato cultivars in Australia. It also provides, for the first time, a comprehensive description and extensive illustrated list of the more than 220 different cultivars of heirloom tomatoes available from seed suppliers in Australia today. What also sets Tomato apart, is the book’s extensive list and description of heirloom tomato pests and diseases, painstakingly researched by gardening expert Karen Sutherland, that includes an indispensable pest and disease chart to help gardeners identify and control them.

Uniquely too, for a gardening book, Tomato includes a substantial dedicated cooking and recipe section, where internationally award-winning cookbook author, Janice Sutton, explains not only how to preserve tomatoes and create the perfect tomato passatta, but also delves into the enticing realm of heirloom tomato variety flavours. The cooking section also contains more than 60 delicious recipes (each with its own beautiful full-page image) shared by a raft of talented chefs, cooks and passionate tomato lovers from throughout Australia and beyond – including some of Australia’s most respected culinary icons: Peter Gilmore, Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Sally Wise, Christine Manfield, Mark Olive, Matthew Evans and the Agrarian Kitchen’s Rodney Dunn.

It is for tomato lovers, gardeners and cooks; and all those who love beautiful books.

“This is the ultimate book on tomatoes, brimming with information based on experience. It covers everything anyone ever needs to know about selecting, growing and using the best and tastiest tomatoes in all districts and climates.” Peter Cundall 2018

To find out who wrote what and to read the Table of Contents and see a couple of short extracts from my section, then

Karen leads you through organic heirloom tomato growing, from seed sowing to feeding, pruning and training. She outlines a variety of ways to grow, tells the stories of some passionate growers and helps you keep problems at bay with an extensive illustrated pest and disease section.

Penny chronicles the history of heirloom tomato varieties in Australia and explains how to breed your own heirloom tomatoes. She also details why tomatoes are so good for you, and why a red tomato is red! Finally, Penny lists, and describes in detail, more than 220 different heirloom tomatoes that can be sourced in Australia today.

Janice explores the enticing and diverse range of heirloom tomato flavours, describes in detail how to select, prepare, preserve and cook heirloom tomatoes, and explains how to create the perfect tomato passatta and paste. Finally, she shares more than 60 delicious tomato recipes from renowned chefs and passionate tomato lovers throughout Tasmania, Australia and beyond!

Extract from Tomato

 

Extract from Tomato

I am thrilled to say that my new book has been released and is in bookshops and can be purchased online from my website shop . If you would like your copy signed to a specific person, then send me an email through the contact page. I’ll be talking about garlic and the book on radio over the coming weeks and there will be reviews in newspapers and magazines, so keep an eye out for them.

The book has taken me three years to write, but has been much longer in it’s gestation. It covers everything from more than 50 different cultivars of garlic, to 
guidelines for growing organic garlic around the country as well as interviews with
 twelve Australian garlic growers telling you how and where they grow their garlic.
 There are also recipes for cooking, preserving and smoking garlic and even making your own black garlic as well as medicinal uses and an extensive list of growers and suppliers.

This book starts to make sense of the confusion surrounding garlic and explains that garlic is not just garlic, it is Creole, Rocambole, Purple Stripe, Turban, Silverskin and more.

These are a couple of short extracts from the book, starting with Garlic ThoughtsPushing my fingers into the soil I pull back the dirt and feel the surface of the hidden bulb. The cloves are well-formed, so I know it is ready to harvest. I slide the fork underneath and unearth this compact, beautiful parcel of close-fitting packages of sweet, nutty, biting perfection. I know that in a few weeks, like unwrapping a birthday present, I will split open the papery white skins to reveal the glossy red cloves inside. And when these skins are removed they’ll release the creamy white flesh of odiferous wonder. A chemical miracle, thousands of years old. It has such an impact on all our culinary adventures and increasing importance in maintaining good health. Is it any wonder that garlic is my favourite edible plant?

And this is from the chapter on Growing Garlic

Bull’s Blood beetroot

I was leafing through the book I wrote with Pam Vardy, Community Gardens: A Celebration of the People, Recipes and Plants  because I had been thinking about refugees and immigrants and how much they have enhanced our lives. Since the new government has been in power (and to some extent the previous government) the rhetoric has again resembled that of the Howard government and the Tampa. It was the events surrounding Tampa that prompted Pam and myself to get together and combine our skills (hers in interviewing and cooking, and mine in gardening and writing) to produce a book that show cases just a few of the very many ways that people from other cultures and countries have added to our lives and lifestyles in Australia. To highlight this, I thought that from time to time, by taking extracts from the book,  I would focus on unusual individual plants or ways of using plants that we would not otherwise have available for our gardens or meals.

Detroit Beetroot

Beetroots Beta vulgaris are biennial root vegetables that grow as a clump of oval to lance-shaped leaves with a swollen root. If left in the ground, in the second year the plant will put up a flower stem to about 1 m topped with small green flowers. Swollen roots are usually bright red, but can be white or yellow or striped red and white.
Grow beetroots from seed sown directly into the soil where they are to grow from spring to late summer. Space seed 10 cm apart in rows 30 cm, thin the seedlings once the seed have sprouted. Start harvesting roots about two months after planting. Beetroot grows well in any reasonable well-drained soil in full sun. Make sure they have adequate water once the bulbs start to swell.
Garden talk
Both the leaves and roots of beetroot are eaten raw in salads. Take only the outside leaves, and don’t take too many from each plant, or the roots will not develop. The roots are baked, boiled or steamed and eaten hot or cold. Kapitolina believes that beetroots, and beetroot juice, are fantastic for those who have stomach problems, like ulcers. Rawda uses beetroot in salads, after it has been boiled, and sometimes pickles it.

Ethiopian Recipe from Tawfik
Vegetable Salad
1 fresh beetroot, boiled until tender
1 large carrot, sliced and boiled until tender
2 hard boiled eggs
juice 1 lemon

Drain the beetroot and carrots. Plunge into cold water to cool quickly. Drain again.
Peel beetroot and slice. Peel eggs and slice. Arrange the beetroot slices on a plate, top with carrot slices, and then egg slices. Squeeze lemon juice over top and serve. Serves 2

Bull’s blood beetroot in a pot

Russian Recipe from Lioudmila
Beetroot Salad
100 g green beans
500 g sauerkraut
5 potatoes, boiled but still firm
1 large beetroot, peeled and boiled until tender
3 dill pickles, diced
1 large onion, finely sliced
100 g parsley, finely chopped
50 ml olive oil

Top and tail the beans, boil until cooked but still firm, drain, plunge into cold water to cool quickly. Drain again. If using tinned sauerkraut, rinse well. Peel the boiled potatoes and dice. Grate the beetroot. Mix all the vegetables and herbs together in a bowl and toss with oil. Serves 4

If you are interested in reading more about the people, recipes and plants of our community gardens then borrow the book from your library, buy it from your local bookshop or buy it online from this site. Community Gardens

Eager to keep their Italian traditions alive after coming to Australia in 1965 Lina and Tony Siciliano started a new life together in suburban Essendon. With only a small garden they yearned to grow their own food so in 1981 acquired a barren block of land in East Keilor where they planted fruit trees and vegetables and raised chickens. Thirty years on and the couple have transformed the site into a profitable business boasting a productive bounty of 400 olive trees, an orchard, vegetable garden and their Rose Creek Estate vineyard.
Taking a month by month approach author Gabriella Gomersall-Hubbard has documented the family’s sustainable way of life from preserving – think big tomato day and sausage making – to producing olive oil and wine. Colour photos throughout capture the essence of the Siciliano’s seasonal activities in the garden and kitchen while traditional recipes reinforce that achievable goal of growing organically, knowing where your food comes from and ensuring low food miles. Try a spicy pasta with potatoes and cavolo nero or the slow cooked capretto with fresh peas.

Review by Penny Woodward

This lovely book is full of delights. For those of us lucky enough to have visited Rose Creek Estate, to have met Tony and Lina, and eaten their food, this book is a wonderful evocation of their lives and lifestyle. The beautiful pictures of everyday life, and those of the garden and produce, combine perfectly with the text about each season and the delicious recipes from preserved chopped tomatoes to sauteed broad beans and a restorative almond drink (something I would need all the time if I worked as hard as Tony and Lina do). There are so many recipes and I am going to try them all over the next year or so as I harvest my seasonal produce.  The author has done a great job of capturing the essence of the Mediterranean lifestyle lived by the Sicilianos. Growing Honest Food is very reasonably priced for a coffee table sized book full of pictures, and would make a great gift for anyone interested in productive gardening and food. Ask for it at your library (get them to buy it if they haven’t got it), buy it from you local independent book shop or buy buy a copy online from the store.

Gabriella Gomersall-Hubbard

Hyland House Publishing, HB, rrp $39.95

Your garden should not only be beautiful to look at but also a dynamic, balanced haven for all creatures (and plants) big and small.

These a just a few short extracts from my book Pest-Repellent Plants

from Chapter 1 Pests plants and predators

I hope this book will encourage you to embark on a journey of discovery, a journey that will add a fascinating new dimension to your gardening experience. Start by closely observing your garden and its inhabitants.

Everything in your garden depends on the other garden occupants and interacts with them. From the lowliest worm, centipede and ant … beetles, caterpillars and bugs … to frogs, lizards and birds … and finally to you. Your observations will show you the complexity and fragility of your garden ecosystem and some of the astonishing relationships that exist between insects and plants. Forget about bombarding everything that moves with a cocktail of the latest pesticides.
Instead, experiment with growing various masking and insect-repellent plants as well as plants that attract predators into the garden. Gradually you will build up a complete ecosystem where plants, pests and predators live in balance and remedies are needed only when this balance is upset.

from Chapter 3 A-Z of pest-repellent plans and other organic remedies

Catmint flower

Catmint Nepeta cataria Lamiaceae
True catmint grows as a mounded bush to 80 cm. It has square stems and grey-green, heart-shaped, downy leaves with an aromatic fragrance. The flowers are usually white with pink markings, and grow in whorls in the leaf axils at the top of the plant. Another catmint species, Nepeta × faassenii, grows to 60 cm, has smaller grey leaves and mauve-blue flowers but does not have the pest repellent qualities of true catmint.
How to grow?
Catmint grows well in most soils as long as the drainage is good. It likes full sun and does particularly well in coastal regions. Cut back the flower heads when the flowers have finished. Grow catmint by dividing a clump into three or four pieces, from seed sown in spring or from tip cuttings taken in spring.
Pest-repellent uses
Garden Nepetalactone is one of the active chemicals found in catmint and some other plants in this family. It repels some insects and it also mimics one of the pheromones given off by aphids, which attracts parasitic braconid wasps. Scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States are using pheromone-like chemicals extracted from catmint to attract wasps and lacewings, and build up their populations so that they are ready to start parasitising aphids and mites as soon as they become active. When planted around onion patches catmint will repel onion maggots. The spray can be used as a general insect repellent if other stronger sprays are not needed or available.

Soft blue gray catmint leaves

Home and pets Research at Iowa University has shown that nepetalactone is ten times more effective than DEET at repelling mosquitoes (Peterson, C. & Coats, J., 2001). Other research has shown that it also repels blood-sucking flies that attack cattle and horses and even that catmint will repel cockroaches (Junwei, J. Zhu et al, 2010). Catmint oil has also been used to kill hair lice and plants grown around the vegetable garden and near houses will repel mice and rats. Fresh catmint leaves sprinkled along ants’ trails will repel them.
Catmint spray recipe Pour 1 L of boiling water over 2 firmly packed cupfuls of catmint leaves. Allow to steep until cool. Strain and use within a few hours.
Other uses Catmint is very attractive to cats and, as cats are quite capable of destroying young plants, it is best to protect them with a wire cage until well established. If you don’t like cats and don’t want them in your garden then don’t grow catmint! N. cataria is the species of catmint used medicinally.

from Chapter 4  A-Z of pests – in house and garden, and for personal and pet care.

Caterpillars of the Australian painted lady feed on daisies, capeweed, Scotch thistle and lavender. Photo by Libby Woodward

Caterpillars
The larvae of moths and butterflies. Most caterpillars are voracious feeders and can strip a leaf in a short time, but many are very species specific so will only be a problem if you are growing those plants. If there is a huge invasion, as can happen with army worms (caterpillars of several different moths) then it may be necessary to spray immediately with soap as treating with Bt or Spinosad could take too long to take effect and the damage may be done. Protect young seedlings with collars. Pick off and squash or drop into soapy water.
See Bacillus thuringiensis, basils, bay, chilli, clay, collars, diatomaceous earth, elder, feverfew, garlic, molasses, neem, oil, pyrethrum, quassia, rhubarb, soap, southernwood, spinosad and wormwood

(reproduced with permission)

If the pests are taking hold, this useful reference has plenty of quick and easy organic solutions to getting the upper hand in both the garden and home.
With a host of ideas, strategies and answers this new revised edition has been updated and expanded, documenting more than sixty relevant plants along with traps, barriers, sprays and more to assist in addressing all manner of pest problems while maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle and garden.
Penny Woodward who has a wealth of knowledge, having penned seven herb and garden related books has divided the plants and recipes in this volume into four categories; those that will kill pests, actively repel them, those that can mask the scents of plants targeted by pests and those that will kill or control fungi and bacteria.
Importantly it is imperative to take a holistic approach in maintaining a balance between pests and predators and the book also features tips and safety guidelines when making and using homemade pesticides.
The comprehensive A-Z of plants and organic remedies is fully illustrated with clear colour photographs throughout and also includes recipes using many easily accessible household ingredients including coffee, bicarbonate of soda, milk, molasses, flour and garlic.
Many plants have multi-purpose benefits – dill helps repel spider mites and white cabbage moths while simultaneously attracting bees and other beneficial insects to the garden, sage not only has a natural culinary affinity with pork, it also helps repel ants and is used medicinally as a tonic for colds and sore throats while a simple milk spray can be used against powdery and downy mildew and botrytis blight.
A further A-Z chapter on pests contains a diagnostic chart to head you in the right direction identifying various problems along with cross references to suggested plants, sprays, traps and barriers to safely remedy the challenges at hand.
Listings of useful websites and suppliers further extend the scope of this invaluable reference which is highly recommended and is a must-have for those seeking chemical-free alternatives to a balanced organic approach to both home and garden.
If you want to buy a copy, get it from an independent bookshop, borrow it from the library or buy a copy online from the store.

My new book has finally arrived on the bookshelves around Australia. This is the second edition of the book of the same title that sold more than 20,000 copies with three reprints. This edition is completely updated with new information and new photographs. It covers the philosophy of pest-repellent gardening, that the garden should be a haven for all creatures and plants, big and small, not a battle ground. That sprays that kill (even organic ones) should be a last resort. That gardeners need to concentrate on healthy soil and healthy plants, as well as a diversity of planting, including predator attracting plants. We also need to provide homes and food for frogs, birds, lizards and bats, all of which feed on pests. Then the book looks at masking, repelling and killing plants and their numerous uses. As well as other solutions such as traps, trickery, netting and barriers to keep pests away from our precious plants. And common household items that are organic and can also be used against pests: soap, molasses, coffee, bicarbonate of soda, copper, sulphur and even water, to name but a few. The final section looks at the pests.

I encourage you to spend time in your garden, get to know your insects, as not all insects are pests and only spray once you have tried all the other solutions. Ask your local library to get a copy, buy the book from your local bookshop or buy it online in our store. Pest-Repellent Plants