Ceding to the seedling

It's been all action in the veggie patch this week with weeding, digging and tilling the soil. I'm starting a little earlier than I normally would but I've already got tomato seedlings in the ground to take advantage of the warming weather.

You'll recall how I was really pleased with the performance of the 'Apollo' tomatoes last summer. I found a good variety of plants on offer at the nursery on the weekend and decided to give others a try. Of course 'Apollo Improved' were the first in the basket but I also picked up the ever reliable (and tasty) 'Grosse Lisse', an excellent slicing tomato for sandwiches and salads.

In the late 90s in the garden of a Blackburn rental house I gave 'Burke's Backyard' Italian tomato (Costoluto di Marmande) a try and the results were disappointing to say the least. It may have been that it was a cool, wet summer but my thought at the time was I'd never try them again. This time I've thrown caution to the wind and have decided to give them another go. I also picked up 'San Marzano', a compact bushy variety and 'Roma Toms', good for sun-drying and cooking. Oh yes, I got some Lebanese eggplant too.

You may be wondering why I've not raised my tomato plants from seed. Sure they cost a few dollars more than a packet of seed but unless you're planning a large crop I see some real advantages in purchasing them this way:

1. You get to select the exact number of plants you want and don't end up with a still largely full pack of seed, which if you're like me somehow gets lost in a draw and after a few years when you eventually find them again are out of date anyway.

2. No need for spending the time raising and carefully nurturing seedlings. All this work's been done for you.

3. Buying off the shelf you can select the healthiest looking specimens and being around 30 centimetres high you've got a more if a head start for summer.

However, I don't grow all my veggies this way. Some plants prefer being grown from seed in situ, like coriander or spring onion. Others such as green beans and sweetcorn are so easy to raise from seeds planted direct where they are to grow I'd never consider any other way.

It's just the beginning and in the next couple of weeks more things will be going into the ground and then watch them grow.

Spring is well advanced in Melbourne. Iris planted in Autumn produced beautiful flowers. How good would these beauties look planted en masse?

The Dicksonia Antarctica tree ferns in the backyard have thrived because of the wet. I love the way the fronds unfurl.

Cheers