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Before expanding on the title, it's time to get your tomatoes in the ground. Generally, about the first week of October is the sweet spot for the last seasonal frost accompanied with the soil starting to warm. I have talked to a few half glass full growers (me included) who took a punt on planting out mid-September, lulled by the Spring like weather, only to lose beans and toms to the last brutal frost.
The general view is that these are old varieties and I would guess the original species would differ from today's fruit. Grosse Lisse, an old Australian variety with a French name, possibly dates back to the late 1800s . There are also many modern heirlooms. They exhibit the ability to produce true to type from seed and are open pollinated. They have great flavour and come in a multitude of colours and shapes.
Do we need more heirloom varieties when we already have hundreds? Probably not, but as a tomato nerd along with Queensland fruit fly infestations, I thought I give it a try.
Whilst growing different varieties over the years I have noticed that the smaller tomatoes like Cherry tomatoes seemed to be a bit more resistant to fruit fly that the larger softer skinned varieties such as Grosse Lisse. My thinking was that if I could cross both these varieties I might get some QFF resistance with a larger fruit. Serendipity stepped in with the discovery of a self seeded, bonsaied tomato growing in the crack of a tennis court, on a property on South Head Road. It had proved it's drought tolerance, was red and black in colour, fruit to 30mm diameter and very thick skinned. It looked like a good choice as a prospective parent I later found this variety to be called Indigo Rose or Red and Black. This is a modern American heirloom produced at Oregon University and released in 2011. The black colouration in the skin is a pigment containing the flavonoid, anthocyanin. This antioxidant like other red, purple or blue fruit or veg are regarded for their health benefits. The black colouration appears usually in the upper half of the fruit that is exposed to the sun giving a distinct black/red banding.
The second parent was Apollo, an F1 hybrid. F1 hybrids do not produce seedlings that are true to type so the resulting F2 fruit from this cross were variable. Selection for the best characteristics required from these took a few years to produce a tomato that best suited my original intentions. This being more of a sandwich size than mixed salad. Having QFF
resistance, and so far this seems to be the case however this means it is a bit more robust than some of the softer large hybrid Toms. As such it would pass the supermarket bounce
test. The flesh is consistently red inside and not coloured with anthocyanin like a Black Russian or Black Krim. The fact that it is a beautiful looking tomato is an added bonus. Flavour
is also very good.
This selection has continued so that now I have a variety that is producing consistent fruit that is true to type. It requires a few more years to stabilise its breeding and has been fascinating process to follow. The colouring has led to it being dubbed the Redback. The current experiment is now producing early plants in a polytunnel and growing new season stock from cuttings. I am wanting to compare clonal propagation against seedlings to see what difference there may be in growth rates and fruit production.
Hoping for a bountiful harvest this Summer growing season.
Concern is mounting that new food safety regulations could put local vegetable growers out of business and bring about the end of the iconic SAGE Farmers Market in Moruya.
The NSW Food Authority recently released a draft of its new food regulations which will impact all vegetable growers, dairies, and egg, meat and seafood producers from February 2025.
