Black cockatoos (Zanda funerea)

This was the sight outside my bedroom window the other day.  

Black Cockatoos outside my bedroom window

There were about twenty black cockatoos at the start, but some flew away before I even thought to take a photo, and others are off the screen.  

Black cockatoos really are lovely birds.

Variegated 'snow queen' pothos

I like pothos (Epipremnum aureum), it is an ornamental climbing plant that survives through a lot of hostile conditions.  They are ornamental but they don't produce showy flowers, and they are not edible.  I used to have one growing  near me in office work back before they got rid of all the plants.  I really miss having office plants. 

I have read on monster fish keeping forums how some people use pothos to lower nitrates in fish tanks.  Their results are nothing short of remarkable.  I have also read a NASA experiment (and things written by people who greatly misunderstand that experiment and have misinterpreted its results) about pothos and purifying the air. 

I have seen snow queen pothos for sale online and really can't justify the money to buy one.  A while ago I found a small variegated pothos plant for sale in a shop that really isn't known for selling live plants.  It was a fraction of the prices I have seen online and I think it is 'snow queen' pothos.  It was a little banged up, but I figured it would come good in time.

Pothos plant not long after I got it

Over the next few months my plant declined badly.  It died back, leaves rotted, and died back some more.  

Eventually my little pothos plant was nothing but one sick looking leaf and a nub of a plant that was starting to turn to mush.  

I was worried that I would lose this one and repotted the plant.  It was originally potted in what looked like cocopeat.  I even went so far as to wash what was left of the roots before planting in soil.

Presumably my pothos did not like cocopeat because after repotting into soil it picked up, survived, and has grown slowly since then.  

My plant is healthy and strong now.

Pothos plant - looks fake but is real

I like the variegation in this plant, I particularly like how white the white is and how it has different shades of green.  The white is very white, which I quite like.  Some leaves can be almost entirely white while others can be mostly green.

Snow Queen pothos looks great, but for me is a relatively slow grower.  While it looks amazing I won't be able to use it in aquaponics as I don't think it will grow fast enough to make any difference to the water quality.

I grow this pothos in the bathroom, it gets indirect light

I recently got a cutting from an all green variety of pothos, it has larger leaves and a lot more area to photosynthesize so should be much faster growing.  

It hasn't started growing roots yet, but it should grow them in time.  All green plants tend to be a lot faster growing than variegated plants, so the all green pothos should be better to use in the filter of fish tanks to lower nitrates.  

Green pothos cutting

I hope my pothos cutting goes well, I only have the one so all my eggs are in one basket.  I am keeping it in water for now, once the little root shows any sign of growth I plan to plant this in a pot of soil.  Or maybe I will plant it in a pot of soil next weekend.

One day I would like to also get marble queen pothos, I think they look amazing.  I really can't justify the price of buying one as they are surprisingly expensive here, so will have to keep an eye out and see if anyone is willing to trade a cutting, or maybe I will be lucky enough to find a plant somewhere and be able to take a cutting for free.

Dwarf Snake Bean

I have grown snake beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis) in the past, green and red, but never a dwarf snake bean.  I had considered growing a dwarf variety, but had not bought any seeds.  It is difficult to justify the cost when I didn't need them.  Then someone kindly gave me some seeds of a dwarf snake bean.

These dwarf snake beans produced compact plants up to around a foot tall, each growing numerous long red bean pods.  I didn't get around to taking any photos until the pods were a little old.  

The pods didn't get quite as long as the snake beans I used to grow, but smaller plants were easier to fit into tight spaces, were a lot simpler to manage, and produced a really large crop.

I think the colour of the pods is pretty impressive, the yield was great, the flowers were pretty, and the plants did not take up much space.  

I saved plenty of seed and plan to grow these again.

I like the looks of these

Dwarf snake beans

Dwarf snake beans

Young snake beans are dark purple

Snake bean flowers

Breeding Better Tomatoes

I have been breeding tomatoes for a number of years, far more than I care to admit.  

I have a bunch of different breeding lines, each with a different end goal in mind, as well as a bunch of stable varieties that I have developed.  Some are named, some are not, some are better than others.  

If you read this blog you probably do a little backyard vegetable breeding, so you know what it is like.

Black on yellow skin, green flesh

I have been working with one line of tomatoes for a number of years now, and I think it is pretty close to a perfect salad tomato.  

It has all the traits I was after with these, and after the number of years I have been working on them I think they are stable enough for me to name them.  

These are probably the darkest true black tomatoes that you will ever see

They are a high anthocyanin line, meaning they are high in the same powerful antioxidant as blueberries and turn black where the sun hits them.  They carry more of this antioxidant than most other black tomatoes as they are intensely black.

The unripe fruit are purple like an eggplant, while the ripe fruit is incredibly black, which makes this variety ornamental as well as being productive and delicious. 

They are yellow underneath the black so you can easily tell when they are ripe without having to squeeze them.  They have green flesh, with an incredible taste.  They taste great raw in salads or on a sandwich, and are good cooked and in sauces.  

The fruit are round and smallish, but not too small to be useful on a sandwich.  They are very productive, and so far (heat, drought, smoke, and a mild wet summer) have not failed to crop well for me.

They are indeterminate and produce large crops from early in the season until killed by frosts.  They have regular leaf and in my garden do not appear overly bothered by any pest or disease.  The seeds are large enough that they have good germination, meaning seed saving is simple.

Black and yellow skin, green delicious flesh when ripe

I had a few lines and I was unsure which to continue with.  One tasted by far the best, but had green skin under the black so was difficult to see when it was ripe.  Another didn't taste quite as good, but had yellow skin under the black so was easier to see when it was ripe.  

Antioxidant rich and bursting with flavour

This variety has the best of both worlds.  It has the incredible taste that appears to be linked with green flesh, and has the yellow skin making it easier to see when it is ripe.  Where the sun hits the fruit it is darker black than any black tomato I have ever seen.

The richness of the black colour is incredible, only a few years ago this colour was unthinkable and all 'black' tomatoes were a muddy brown.  

Being so dark indicates incredibly concentrated anthocyanins.  Any part that is not hit by sunlight means you can tattoo them using stickers, much like what I did to my apples in the photo below.

Words and pictures can be stenciled onto apples using sunlight

these tomatoes are an incredible colour

Simple to tell when fruit is ripe

I have given these to a few people for a taste test, along with tomatoes from a dozen or so other varieties.  So far this has consistently been the favourite tasting larger fruiting tomato.  

I say they are consistently the favourite 'larger fruiting' tomato because so far everyone says that Verde Claro is their overall favourite tasting tomato.  Verde claro is a green when ripe cherry tomato, and has different uses to a slicing tomato, so you are not really comparing the same thing. 

Unripe tomatoes are purple like an eggplant

More unripe fruit

Tomato only turns black where hit by the sun

I am not good at naming things, but once they are named I will probably list seeds on my for sale page.  

While I am not certified organic (and have no interest in paying for certification) I have grown them organically since I started to breed them, and have selected for all the qualities that make them suited to backyard growing and delicious taste.

Rice Paddy Herb - Rau Om

I heard about rice paddy herb, aka Rau Om, years ago, and have wanted to try it ever since.  Rice Paddy Herb (Limnophila aromatica) is a perennial edible plant that is said to taste/smell like citrus and cumin.  Other places say it is similar to coriander seed.  Other places describe it as being  spicy, lively and reminiscent of citrus or curry.  Sounds intriguing.

Everyone says the best way to grow it is to get a bunch of rice paddy herb from the grocers and grow a cutting from there, unfortunately I have never seen rice paddy herb anywhere.  Very few online places sell live plants, and when you factor in postage, unless you also get other plants from there, it puts the price out of reach.  So it has taken me a few years to actually get one.

I recently got some rice paddy herb (and some other nice edible plants) from Midsummer Herbs, and was very impressed.  Firstly, there were several plants in my package, all were healthy and strong, and they were packaged well for postage.  

Secondly, and far more importantly, was the smell and taste of this plant.  Rice paddy herb really does smell spicy and lively like citrus and cumin, but far better.  This plant has already exceeded my expectations.  It smells incredible.

Rice paddy herb is commonly grown in Vietnam and other wet tropical places, it loves water and can be found in rice paddies or roadside ditches with water.  Some people grow this submerged in an aquarium as an ornamental plant.  For some inexplicable reason it is not commonly grown in Australia.  

Rice paddy herb loves water, humidity, and heat.  Apparently it can be difficult to grow in temperate areas.  Which makes me wonder why I got this plant going into winter instead of waiting until spring...hmmm...

Most references to over wintering this plant speak of wrapping the plant, pot and all, in a plastic bag.  This is meant to increase humidity and help reduce the severity of temperature swings. 

As Christina from Midsummer Herbs gave me several plants I am able to try growing it in a few different ways and hopefully at least one makes it through winter.

I have a cutting sitting in some water on the window sill.  I should probably take that to work and keep it on my desk as it is usually pretty warm in the office and it can get cold in my house over night.

Rice Paddy Herb

I have some rice paddy herb planted in pots, under the shelter of the north facing verandah, next to a brick wall.  They won't get any frost there, hopefully the brick wall helps keep them a little warmer.  They will get some direct sunlight first thing in the morning, as well as bright indirect sunlight during the day.  

I covered one in a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off, and the other with a plastic bag.  I plan to keep an eye on them and move them if they appear to be declining too badly.

Rice paddy herb with plastic bag covering it

Rice Paddy Herb with a plastic bottle for protection

I have grown some tropical plants over winter and had great success as long as there is no frost or ice on them.  I have tried to grow other species and they died quickly as soon as the temperature got too low even without frost or ice.  

I have no idea how rice paddy herb will cope over winter, so I am also growing a plant in a small pot on the kitchen window sill where it will be  a bit warmer over winter.  I have grown micro tomatoes there over winter, so there is a chance my rice paddy herb should be ok.  This pot is also sitting in water, and has a plastic bag over it to increase humidity.  I do fear that being close to the window may be too cold at night, or it may experience temperature swings that are too large for it to cope with.

Rice Paddy Herb on kitchen window sill

As well as these I also put two very small plants in a floating pot of herbs in my goldfish aquaponics barrel.  I have lower hopes of this surviving as it will likely get too cold out there, but it may be ok.  You need to look closely, one can be seen in the bottom left of the picture below.

Rice Paddy Herb in aquaponics - you need to look closely to see it

There is a chance that my rice paddy herb will survive in the aquaponics because the other plants may provide a microclimate to shelter them from the cold, the large volume of water should retain some heat, and the barrel is under the eves of the house next to a brick wall, so the whole thing may be able to retain enough heat for it to survive.  We have already had a couple of nights where the temperature has dropped below -6C and so far everything looks ok, but we will see what happens once this happens regularly over winter.

I think over summer when the weather is warm that growing rice paddy herb in aquaponics may be the way to go in my climate as it gets hot and dry here.  In aquaponics rice paddy herb would have unlimited water, constant humidity, and access to a stream of nutrients from the fish waste.  

If things go too poorly for all my plants I have a heat mat in the garage that I use to germinate seeds, I could move one or two plants onto this heat mat and put it under lights.  Hopefully I notice in time and am able to save this little plant.  I haven't started them on the heat mat because they may do just fine where I have them.

Hopefully at least one of my plants survives and I can give this a go over summer.  If not, given how much I like the smell and taste of this herb, I think I will have to try and buy another one.

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Update after one month:

Almost the opposite of what I had expected.  

The aquaponics one lost a few leaves from frost, but generally looks good.  It may still die once we get a lot more frosts, or it may power through.  I really think that once the weather warms aquaponics will be a good place to grow rice paddy herb.

The two growing outside near the brick wall both got a little cold damage, but also look like they should survive.

The one in a pot on the kitchen window sill is doing very poorly.  It has suffered a lot and has died back somewhat.  I moved it to another room as I thought being near a window the temperature swings may be too much, but it kept going down hill.  I have just moved it into the garage on a heat mat and will see how that goes.  Hopefully some bottom heat should help it pick up and get through the colder months.

The cutting I took and put in a glass of water is doing poorly.  I moved it to the heat mat too.  Hopefully a little heat should help it grow some roots.

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Update after two and a half months

The aquaponics rice paddy herb had some damage from frosts, but is still alive.  If it survives until spring I have a feeling it will do well in my little barrel.

The two outside near the brick wall are alive.  They both were damaged from cold.  Hopefully they survive.

The one that was in a pot on the kitchen window sill, then put on a heat mat, has died.  The cutting in water that I put on a hear mat also died.  This surprised me, I expected these to be the last ones alive if all else failed.

If all goes poorly I will have to buy another plant when the weather is warm because I really love rice paddy herb.  I think getting plants before winter was my downfall, and if I had established plants leading into winter that they may have fared a lot better.