TIS THE SEASON TO TOMATO

Words: Lily Whiting

It was a slow start to the tomato season this year. Thankfully with less rain and more sunshine, tomatoes are aplenty now thanks to producers who started their planting last July.

Tasmania has become home to an array of professionals turned planters. Christie Lewis from Old Orchard Farm swapped slick city life for the sometimes slightly damp small-market gardening lifestyle instead. On what was an empty paddock in 2019, Old Orchard Farm now produces a wide range of vegetables and herbs on their 1300m² slice of Huon Valley paradise. As understanding and interest in our food practices grows, Christie and partner Alex are part of a new wave of small-scale farmers championing permaculture, no-dig, and organic practices. They avoid chemicals and rely on creating healthy plants and an ecosystem that counters pest pressure.

Christie and Alex have always wanted to feed their community and themselves through their weekly vegetable boxes, local retailers and close chef friends, but they also see the importance of taking care of the local wild population too. While keeping the wallabies out is a non-negotiable, birds and insects (the good kinds) are able to feast on an array of fruit trees, perennial herbs, edible flowers, and native plants planted on their garden border - on the mutual agreement all parties share of course. Starting their tomato season in July, two 15-metre long polytunnels provide long-lasting protection against the vagaries of the weather and extend the growing season.

A tomato timeline

The first seeds are sown into punnets in July using heat mats in Christie’s laundry. After a few weeks, they’re pricked out and potted up and put back on heat mats to stay warm.

In mid-September, space is made in the polytunnel and the first of the seedlings are planted. Last year, during a very long, cold, and wet Spring that fed into a slow start to summer, Christie’s polytunnel was beginning to fill up with tomato plants, later followed by cucumbers, eggplants, capsicums, basil and a rogue zucchini (a reminder to be careful with plant labels!).

Over the coming weeks and months much love and care went into ensuring they were watered, fed, pruned, and trellised. Christie uses hooks and twine In the polytunnel, clipping tomato plants to string to allow them to climb tall and strong. This allows for good ventilation and in return minimises the risk of disease where harmful spores can lay ready in the soil. This method also makes pollination easy – by simply flicking the twine - when there aren’t many pollinators buzzing around early in the season.

The tricky weather experienced in southern Tasmania during spring and the start of summer has meant that for many growers, tomatoes are only now beginning to ripen. For Christie, however, growing in a polytunnel means she’s now able to include them in her veg box subscriptions and offer them to local chefs, and that when she now opens the tunnel doors suddenly, little red, orange and yellow bulbs are everywhere!

Eating your tomatoes

While taste testing straight from the vine is hard to go past, sliced tomatoes on fresh bread with a sprinkling of salt and a drizzle of olive oil are a close second for Christie and Alex. For something marginally fancier, a caprese salad of sliced tomatoes with mozzarella or Soyoyoy’s Unfeta’d, basil and olive oil is a simple way to hero the humble tom.

Sprout Tasmania is a not-for-profit, volunteer organisation working to support local producers. For more information, head to sprout.org.au.