Now that it's spring, it's time to sow your love apple seeds or plant your seedlings to ensure a bumper summer harvest.
Tomato seedlings are a good place to start. After all, they are the most popular plant grown in Australian vegetable gardens.
A tip to give seeds a superb start for germination is to sow them in pure horse manure.
Alternatively, a good quality seed-raising mix will also work.
While your seedlings are growing, prepare your garden beds and incorporate organic matter such as mushroom compost, chicken, and cow manure.
Once the seedlings have reached 10cm they are ready to plant. Choose a day that is quite mild and plant them in the late afternoon.
Place four stakes in a square pattern about 45cm apart and plant one tomato seedling either side of each stake and water the plants into their new position with Seasol to help establish their root system.
As the tomatoes grow tie each plant lightly to the stake and remove any lower leaves that may touch the ground.
Also remove lateral branches as they appear at the leaf bases. This concentrates growth in an upward direction until flower development.
Flowering shoots do not come from the leaf bases; they appear at the top of the shoot or from the section of stem between leaves.
Pruning in this way results in an open framework that reduces the incidence of disease.
Check and maintain plants regularly as they are vigorous growers. The effort will certainly be worth it when you are harvesting the sweetest, juiciest, vine-ripened tomatoes from your patch.
Tomatoes are classified as determinate or indeterminate types; determinate or bush tomatoes will grow to a mature height of around 1.2 metres and then set fruit, which all ripens at the same time.
Indeterminate varieties are known as vine tomatoes and usually grow to around 2 metres or taller with continuous cropping and fruit ripening across the growing season.
Indeterminate varieties will require staking. Selecting which tomato variety to grow is becoming increasingly difficult as there are literally hundreds to choose from.
From the sweet cherry varieties through to the large salad types, there is something to delight the most discerning gardener's palate.
Tried and tested favourites that will always deserve a place in the home garden include Grosse Lisse, Apollo, Amish Paste and Beefsteak but the new varieties and heirlooms such as Zebra, Black Russian, Rogue de Marmande and Tigerella demand just as much attention.
For something completely different try the new Yoom tomato. The best way to describe it, is it's a savoury tomato to eat.
