Grow

Fi n v i ns

N o t a l l g r a p e s e n d u p b o t t l e d — t h e j u i c y b e r r i e s a r e d e l i c i o u s t o e a t a n d t h e v i n e s c a n a l s o b e m e r e l y o r n a m e n t a l

word s jennifer s tackhouse

We live up the road from a vineyard. It was planted around six years ago on what was open pasture and enjoys a cracking view across Lake Barrington towards Black Bluf f and Cradle Mountain in nor thwest Tasmania.

The vines are now well established and the owners, Ray and Deb McGinty, have just har vested their third vintage.

Wine grapes are har vested when their Brix levels (a measure of sugar levels in the fruit) reach around 21 –25 . This region is classed as cool climate so grapes here ripen slowly and aren’t ready to har vest until April. By the time they ’re ready, it’s touch and go to get them picked as frost is a real threat to the crop.

This year, the ‘Pinot Gris’ grapes weren’t har vested until the end of April when their Brix levels reached 22. The grapes successfully weathered a frost just before har vest.

GROW YOUR OWN Whether you want to make wine or just want an edible vine, grapes are generous, long-lived plants. They bear delicious fruit in autumn, which can be transformed into wine (or vinegar), dried or eaten fresh.

If the vine is trained over a pergola, it will also give cool shade right through summer and autumn. If you’ve opted for an ornamental rather than fruiting variety, you’ll also enjoy glorious autumn colour as its leaves colour brilliant red, burgundy and yellow before they drop.

In return, all vines ask for is a hard prune in winter. Ray and Deb spend many months pruning over winter when the vines are dormant. It can be an arduous task, especially if the weather is cold, wet or windy.

While the vine’s base can be old, gnarled and thick, the fruiting canes are constantly renewed to maximise fruit production. Winter pruning removes old wood and encourages new, productive wood.

Grapevines can sur vive for a centur y or more and tolerate all sor ts of soils and climates and are drought hardy due to their deep roots.

Although they get by with little care or attention, for a good har vest you need to put in some work to train, manage and care for your vine throughout the year.

Back at the vineyard, Ray and Deb also put a lot of time into weed control around the vines. Some growers with small vineyards use miniature sheep to keep the grass down.

Soil pH levels are also impor tant for grape production. Last year Ray and Deb limed the soil to raise its pH as most vines prefer a pH of around 6 –7 and the local red Tassie soil is more acidic. This has paid of f, bringing their best har vest ever this year.

The main pests of both vineyards and back yard grapes are birds. In the vineyard, the rows are carefully netted as the grapes begin to ripen.

In the early years af ter planting, each vine is trained to its desired height and encouraged to form a framework of horizontal grow th.

From then on, each winter, the previous year’s grow th, some 90 per cent of the plant, is cut back to the horizontal framework. Some varieties have more specifi c pruning needs so it’s impor tant to check on the correct pruning method for the variety you are growing.

VARIETIES There are many grape varieties so the one you grow will depend on what you’re planning to do with the har ves t .

If you like a glass of wine, you probably already have your favourite varieties (think Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc for cool climates and Grenache and Shiraz for hot regions) but check which varieties suit your climate as well as your palate.

Varieties for eating fresh are known as table grapes. There are also varieties suited to dr ying as raisins or sultanas.

If you have the space and want fresh grapes over many months, select several varieties that ripen between mid-summer and late autumn.

Popular varieties include ‘Flame Seedless’ (early to mid-season) and ‘ Thompson Seedless’ (opposite), also called sultana (late-season and also used for dr ying).

In warm or humid areas, the heritage variety ‘Isabella’, a table grape, is grown for its disease resistance.

Grapes can be seedless (that is, with no seeds or ver y few) or seeded and the fruit can be red (known as black) or green in colour. ‘Pinot Gris’ has small light-brown fruits.

A s well as selecting the right variety for the right use, there are also dif ferences in ripening times, fruit size, disease resistance or susceptibility and, of course, fl avour.

If your interest in a grapevine lies more in enjoying the shade beneath the vine or adding a splash of autumn colour to the garden, select an ornamental vine and grow it over a pergola.

One of the most dramatic of all the ornamental varieties is the crimson glor y vine V itis coignetiae, which has large leaves that colour to rich tones of red, burgundy and orange in autumn.

GROWING NEEDS Winter chilling requirements are low compared to other deciduous fruit plants at around 150 hours, which is why they suit a wide range of climate zones. However, grape quality and production are best in areas with cold winters and hot but long dry summers.

If you want to har vest the crop to make wine or for wor thwhile amounts of table grapes, it’s necessar y to grow the vine or vines on a traditional trellis or fence so they ’re easy to maintain, can be protected from birds and are easy to har vest.

Vines are widely available for purchase in winter but are also sold in spring and summer as potted plants. If buying a vineyard’s wor th, wait until winter to buy bare-rooted plants. But if it’s just one or two plants, buy them as needed.

A productive, well-trained and pruned fruiting vine can yield 20 – 40 bunches of grapes. For wine production, many vines of the same variety are needed to provide the quantity needed to press. Those 40 bunches may yield just four bottles of wine!

PESTS AND DISE A SES Many pests attack grapevines and their fruit, from caterpillars that eat newly opened leaves to birds that decimate ripening grapes. Large pests such as birds can be managed in an organic garden through exclusion methods such as netting over vines or bagging of fruit clusters.

One grape pest is considered of national

G R A P E V I N E L A B E L

Common name: Grape, grapevine Botanical name: V itis vinifera Family : Vitaceae (grape family) A spec t & soil: Sun; well-drained soil Best climate: Subtropics, Mediterranean, temperate, cool Habit: Deciduous vine Propagation: Cutting (hardwood) Dif fi cult y : Moderate

impor tance. The transpor tation of grapevines (including cuttings) in grape-growing regions is controlled to limit the spread of grape phylloxera, an aphid-like pest of vines.

This is a serious pest that attacks the roots and causes vines to have poor grow th. Phylloxera Exclusion Zone road signs should always be obser ved.

Insect pests need other physical or chemical intervention. The caterpillars of grapevine hawkmoth and grapevine moth feast on grape leaves and can skeletonise leaves and defoliate the vine.

They can be removed by hand or sprayed with organic caterpillar control such as Dipel or Bt (B acillus thuringiensis), which are suited to edible crops.

Grapeleaf blister mite and grapeleaf rust mite are microscopic insects that cause blistering damage on leaves. Although the vine may look tatty, fruit will not be af fected. To control mites, remove af fected leaves and make a note to spray in late winter af ter pruning with lime sulphur.

Downy mildew is a fungal disease that attack s grape leaves , causing brown, yellow or red patches on the top of the leaf with patches of white downy grow th on the underside.

Remove af fected grow th and use preventative control in winter by applying a Bordeaux mix, a traditional mixture of copper sulphate and slaked lime.

Grapes that are well managed — watered in spring, lef t drier in summer — will be less susceptible to disease. Grapes that don’t receive full sun as they ripen may be slow to ripen or ripen erratically.

HARVEST, STOR AGE AND PRESERVING Grapes ripen in late summer and autumn, the timing depending on the variety and the growing conditions. They are har vested when the fruit is at its maximum sweetness.

While you’re waiting for your fi rst grape harvest, the new spring leaves can be used to wrap foods. Dolmades (stuf fed grape leaves) are a traditional dish made from grape leaves.

The fruit can be dried and the leaves can be blanched and frozen or packed into brine for storage so they are available later in the season when grape leaves are too coarse to use as wraps.

Fr u  of the v i ne

A h o m e g r o w n t o m a t o p i c k e d o n a w a r m s u m m e r ’s d a y i s h a r d t o b e a t — a n d h a r d n o t t o e a t o n t h e s p o t

word s jennifer s tackhouse

Tomatoes are among the most popular and rewarding crops in the summer vegetable garden. While all fruit and vegetables taste better picked fresh from the garden, when it comes to homegrown fl avour, tomatoes are in a class of their own.

A s well as tasting good, tomatoes are packed with vitamins and health-giving antioxidants. Tomatoes provide lycopene, an antioxidant found in red fruit, along with vitamins A and C and carotene as well as a good amount of dietar y fi bre. These are all ver y good reasons to grow your own.

G E T TI N G S TA R TE D Tomatoes of fer a dizz ying number of choices. While ultimately gardeners grow their favourite varieties, a good approach is to select a mix of early- and late-fruiting varieties to ex tend the har vest.

If there is room for extra tomatoes, throw in some of dif ferent colours, shapes or fruit size to add variety to the plate. There are also egg tomato varieties best suited to bottling or making tomato paste.

Once you’ve narrowed down your planting choices (see box on page 42 for some colour ful suggestions), it’s time to get growing.

While tomatoes can be grown from seed, star ting with a seedling or a graf ted plant in late spring or early summer speeds up production and makes the most of the warm summer growing season.

In frost-free subtropical and tropical zones, tomatoes can be grown year round; however, large tomatoes grow best in these zones in late autumn, winter and spring. For ease of growing, plant cherr y varieties to grow in summer and early autumn especially in warm zones.

Most tomatoes are tall-growing vines (of ten called indeterminate) that need plenty of space and the suppor t of a stake, tripod or trellis.

In smaller spaces or containers, look for patio tomatoes, which are small, sturdy plants that don’t need large stakes and can grow without suppor t. There are also cascading or tumbling varieties such as ‘ Tumbling Tom’ that can be grown to spill over the edge of a pot or raised garden bed.

Tomatoes need full sun and shelter from cold conditions, especially early and late frosts. In ver y hot climates, plants benefi t from a little af ternoon shade as hot sun can burn fruit. In ver y cold regions, they ’re grown in glasshouses.

Tall-growing tomatoes are spaced 45 – 60cm apar t. Grow in rows to make them easier to care for and keep the rows at least 1m apar t. Use 2– 3m tomato stakes for suppor t or grow them against a trellis.

Tomatoes do best in a well-prepared bed. Seedlings or graf ted plants should be planted deeply, bur ying the bottom few centimetres of the stem to encourage ex tra root formation. This not only gives the plant suppor t but can also help it source ex tra nutrients and water.

Regular chores include watering (daily or even t wice daily in ver y hot , dr y situations), liquid feeding or applying regular side dres sings of organic fer tiliser such as blood and bone once f lowering begins .

T O M AT O L A B E L

Common name: Tomato Botanical name: Lycopersicon lycopersicum Family : Solanaceae A spec t & soil: Sun; moist soil Best climate: All Habit: Annual vegetable Propagation: Seed, seedling, graf ted plants Dif fi cult y : Moderate

A s tomatoes grow, bind them to their suppor t using a sof t tie so as not to damage the stem. Tie below a leaf stalk or fl ower cluster.

Excess grow th can be removed by pinching out lateral shoots (new grow th from the leaf axil). A s the plant reaches the top of the stake, it can be tip pruned to control its size. Without pruning, most tomatoes just keep growing.

Also, remove lower leaves so the vine isn’t in contact with the soil and keep the soil beneath tomatoes lightly mulched. This is done to reduce the chance of pests or diseases splashing up from the ground during watering.

Once fruit is forming, it’s vital that plants don’t dr y out. Water-stressed tomatoes fail to take up enough calcium from the soil and their fruit can be af fected by blossom end rot, which causes brown, leather y patches to form at the base of the fruit.

FRUIT FLY AND OTHE R PROBLE M S One of the main problems that beset tomato fruit is fruit fl y. These pests, found in all par ts of Australia except South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, can ruin a crop of tomatoes.

There are two types of organic products used to protect tomatoes as they ripen. Dak.pots, which are pheromone traps designed to attract male fruit fl y, are widely used but are not enough by themselves to control the pest. Dak.pots do provide an excellent aler t that fruit fl y is active. In addition, use baits containing spinosad such as Eco Naturalure. These baits lure the female fruit fl y to feed on protein before she lays eggs in the tomato fruit. Af ter feeding, however, she dies so the eggs are not laid and the fruit isn’t infected. Eco baits are painted onto a stake or board near the plant rather than applied directly to foliage or fruit. Baits need to be protected from rain and water and reapplied regularly to remain ef fective.

Other organic methods to control fruit fl y include covering fruit clusters before they ripen with mesh or calico exclusion bags, or covering the vines themselves with fi ne netting to exclude both insects and other pests such as birds.

If fruit fl y continues to be a problem, har vest the fruit before it’s fully ripe and ripen it indoors.

Regular dusting with tomato dust, which contains sulphur, copper and spinosad, controls or reduces many of the other problems you might encounter when growing tomatoes, including caterpillars.

Tomatoes may stop fl owering and fruiting when temperatures rise above 35°C . Once the temperature drops again, however, they should return to normal productivity.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N

Tomato: Know Sow Grow Feast by Penny Woodward, Janice Sutton and Karen Sutherland is an up -to - date reference for growing, har vesting and eating tomatoes with advice, information on heritage varieties, a comprehensive illustrated varietal list and recipes.

Shadow cabi nt

L o v e f r e s h f l av o u r s h a r v e s t e d s t r a i g h t f r o m t h e g a r d e n b u t s h o r t o n s u n s h i n e f o r h e r b s ? T h i n k a g a i n w i t h t h i s s h a d y s e l e c t i o n

word s jennifer s tackhouse

My neighbour’s sunroom is fi lled with potted plants. Some are the usual suspects you’d expect to fi nd indoors such as devil’s iv y and ferns, but last winter she moved one of her favourite herbs indoors as well.

A late sowing had produced lots of basil plants that weren’t large enough to har vest. A s the cold nights arrived, she decided to shelter them indoors. The pots of basil have done so well she was able to enjoy homemade pesto in late June.

Even sun-loving basil can be grown in less than full sun in a warm, sunny room or on a windowsill. My friend’s trick was to keep the plants growing with feeds of liquid fer tiliser and to har vest leaves as soon as there were enough to use.

Herbs are among the easiest and most rewarding of all plants to grow and a great place for novice gardeners to star t productive growing — even those without much direct sunshine.

Although herbs seem synonymous with sunshine, many of these adaptable plants can get by on less than full sun while some, such as mint and cher vil, prefer the shady spots.

Other top choices for shaded spots include parsley, lovage, coriander and lemon balm, but it’s wor th experimenting with any herb you really love to see how it per forms in par t shade.

Herbs that do best in full sun may become elongated if they are grown in a shaded spot and some may not develop the same intensity of fl avour they would in the sun, but they ’ll still add fl avour and nutrients to a meal and will be something you’ve grown yourself. GROWING TIPS FOR SHADE A handy hint for growing in shade is to star t out with an established plant rather than tr ying to germinate seeds or plant seedlings, which may struggle to grow.

If the shade is too much for the herb to tolerate, it will tell you. It may become weak and lax in its grow th habit or begin to develop pest problems such as scale or white fl y.

If a herb has been attacked by a pest or disease and is struggling to grow in low light, cut it back, give it a liquid feed and move it into a sunnier spot. If you can’t fi nd a position with more sunlight, dig the herb up to give to a friend with a sunny garden, verandah or windowsill.

A s well as tolerating some shade, some normally sunloving herbs may benefi t from par t shade. Herbs such as coriander that of ten bolt into fl ower may respond to the lowered stress of af ternoon shade by being more leaf y and productive.

Where both full sun and space are at a premium, growing herbs in pots allows them to be moved into the sunniest spot even if that space is small or has no natural soil.

Where spaces at ground level are in heav y shade, look up — there may be more sun just out of reach. If a herb is growing in a pot, for example, it can be elevated on a pot stand or mounted on a wall to allow it to grow in a sunnier situation.

Whether in sun or shade, herbs are not fussy about nutrients and many grow well in poor soils. Once established, many even tolerate dr yness and most do best in well-drained soil. One possible exception is mint, which doesn’t like to dr y out.