Despite being a big fan of small, traditional nurseries, I have to confess that on occasion, I visit the hardware behemoth in Toowoomba’s western suburbs to pick up gardening supplies. It’s almost impossible to resist a quick poke about the nursery while I’m there. Some interesting plants are sometimes unearthed – I’ve found things like a Beschorneria and a sought after Heuchera tucked away among a sea of shrubs – and sometimes I’ll go home with a punnet of veg seedlings for a quick result.
I was dumbfounded though when I visited the other week to notice that the range of vegies changes little from season to season. Customers galore were grabbing punnets of sweet corn, beans and tomatoes, but I’m yet to come across any locals who grow their own in a heated greenhouse. Therefore I get a bit annoyed. How much audacity does it take to sell frost tender plants to unsuspecting gardeners in the middle of a Darling Downs winter?
For those who caught last Saturday’s Secret Garden, you’ll hopefully be reminded that our part of the world can be prone to severe frosts. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s not the time to be planting summer vegetables, even in the warmer eastern suburbs of Toowoomba, and even if you’re the ambitious type. You’ll almost inevitably do your dough. Worse still, the hardware behemoth and its suppliers will be laughing all the way to the bank.
I’ve learnt through hard won experience to play it safe. To garden traditionally. Winter vegetables are physically made for cold weather, so my advice is to ditch the tomatoes and buy a broccoli punnet instead.
Actually, any member of the Brassica genus will do the trick. These remarkable plants have natural antifreeze proteins in their leaves, and old timers believed that frost tolerance could be increased through an application of one cubic inch of salt per plant early in the growing season. The latter probably makes anecdotal sense. Wild cabbages can still be found growing on chalky sea cliffs in Britain, Wales and the Mediterranean, totally exposed to salt laden winds.
The species that is probably of most interest to home gardeners is Brassica oleracea, which includes cultivars like cabbages, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi. My favourites of this bunch are broccoli and kale, and I especially like the heritage Italian varieties. Tuscan black kale, or ‘Cavalo Nero’ is about as ornamental as a vegetable gets in my opinion and ‘Di Cicco’ broccoli is superb eating. I always grow the odd cabbage as well, preferring ‘Ruby’ for its looks and ‘Sugarloaf’ for its substance.
Brassica rapa is the other main species of interest. It includes the Asian greens like bok choy, mibuna and mizuna, all easy plants to grow yet so versatile in the kitchen. My favourite of the lot is mizuna. It grows well from seed, and is a cut-and-come-again crop, renewing itself quickly after harvest with a fresh batch of pepper-infused leaves. It’s a knockout in a warm winter salad, like rocket but better. Another beauty is bok choy. It grows like a freight train, but is best picked when small and tender. Perfect in stir fries.
The biggest enemy of the brassicas is cabbage white butterfly. My kids think they’re pretty (as all butterflies are), but in reality, they’ll merrily chew your crop to stumps if you give them a chance. Thankfully, they’re less prevalent during winter. If control is necessary throw a fine weave net over the crops, or spray with Dipel, a product containing a natural bacterium that kills the caterpillars.
The next biggest enemy in my experience is the possum. This year they’ve massacred the broccoli and slaughtered the cabbage (don’t mention the rhubarb), so I strung up netting to protect those plants that were relatively untouched. The little blighters simply ate the plants through the holes. Wire cages are being planned as I write. It’s an aesthetically challenged solution, but I love my broccoli and have no desire to share with a marsupial, cute as it might look under torchlight.
I’m under no illusion that this column is likely to change the selling habits of the mother of all “big box” stores. So it’s up to us, fellow gardeners, to choose wisely. Traditional cold climate vegetables are traditional for a reason: they don’t fade to black as soon as the temperature hits zero. Grow some brassicas and you’ll not only eat well this winter, but save yourself money, and an ounce or two of disappointment in the bargain.
Edited version published in the Toowoomba Chronicle 27th June 2009. Photo by Justin Russell.
