Tomatoes For Everyone

Real World Gardener 2RRR 88.5fm Wed 5pm Sat 12noon
Feature Interview: Frank Hogan of Colourmaster nursery talks about tomato cultivars, growing tomatoes and more.
Vegetable Hero: Wheatgrass. Triticum aestivum-grow it to make wheatgrass juice. Regarded as a superfood to boost your energy, suppress your appetite, supply your nutrient deficiencies.
To grow wheat grass, you'll need wheat grass seeds (available online or at health food and garden centers), some soil (any soil will work, but potting soil is convenient), planting trays (any 1" to 2" deep tray will work) and plastic wrap or mini green house.
Preparing your container. Fill your tray with potting mix leaving about a ½" to 1" of empty space. Your tray should have drainage holes or slits -if has has too many-line with newspaper to stop mix from falling through. 
To begin growing wheat grass, soak your wheat seeds in water for 8 to 12 hours. Drain the water from your wheat grass seeds and rinse. Repeat this process-you may have to repeat two or three times-until the seeds produce tiny, white sprouts. Moisten the soil in your container and then place your sprouted wheat grass seeds on the surface of the soil so that the surface is covered with seeds. Cover the container with a layer of plastic wrap or place in mini greenhouse.Place your wheat grass tray out of direct sunlight-a closet or pantry will work well. Spray the seeds once a day with a light mist of water.
After three or four days, the wheat grass will begin to sprout. The emerging leaves are very pale yellow. Remove the coverings and place the trays in a protected, warm, lighted spot. The grass soon turns green.Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Mist or spray with a little water every day or two when the soil feels slightly dry. .Water a little for another 7-14 days (depending on whether it’s summer or winter – wheatgrass takes longer to grow in cold winter months
Ready set go!, your wheat grass should have grown to15-20cm or 6" to 8" and will be ready to harvest. Cut the blades of grass with a sharp pair of scissors about ½" 0r 1.3cm above the soil. Wheat grass is best served fresh, but can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Wheat grass can be juiced into smoothies or used in salads.

Design Elements: Famous garden Designer Vita Sackville-West. Listen to the podcast.
Plant of the Week: Rondeletia amoena. Memeber of the Rubiaceae family. On the www.weeds.org.au website  Rondeletia amoena is the “grow me instead” of plant for Butterfly Bush or summer Lilac-Buddleia davidii. What's On.

This is a tall evergreen shrub up to 3m, with large shiny leaves which look attractive all year round. It has rounded clusters of tiny pink perfumed flowers in August and September. Originates from Central America, it is a very tough, drought-tolerant plant for our gardens and is useful as a background shrub or grown as an informal hedge.