Berry season - what's not to love!

I love berry season.  

Berry season came late to Australia this year, but is worth the wait!  

Below are some photos of our berries.  They taste so good.  We try to pick them when perfectly ripe, often rather soft.  They can't transport fresh berries when they are this ripe, so the only way to experience berries this good is to grow them yourself.

The darker berries below are thornless Youngberry.  They taste much like a boysenberry, can be eaten out of hand or they go tremendously well with ice cream.  Being so dark they are full of antioxidants, and they tend to add rich purple colour to ice cream.  

I love berry season

Youngberries and golden raspberries

Yellow raspberry - tastes floral and sweet 

Youngberry - tastes like boysenberry 

Sometimes the kids pick bowls full of mixed berries.  Whatever is ripe and easy to reach is picked first.  They are all delicious and their fragrance is incredible.  

Freshly picked berries, picked at their ripest, are far superior to anything you can buy from the markets.  Some of the varieties I grow are never found in the markets.  This means that the only way to enjoy them is to grow them myself.  

Berry season is here, and I love it!!!

Sometimes we only pick a few bowls of raspberries.  

I bred the red thornless primocane ones, they are nicely sweet.  This is what a red raspberry should taste like, rich, complex, and they smell like a delicious raspberry.  They are nothing like the raspberries you can buy from the market that are sour and bland at the same time.

The yellow raspberries have prickles on the canes and are a floricane variety.  The yellow raspberries taste very floral and have a unique fragrance.  A yellow raspberry tastes very different from a red raspberry.

My red raspberry is sweet and delicious 

The black raspberries are ripening and should be ready in the next few days.  

Not many people in Australia grow black raspberries.  They are a different species to the red (and yellow) raspberry, and the plant grows more like a blackberry than a red raspberry.  A black raspberry tastes very different to a red raspberry or a golden raspberry.  You likely will never see these in a market in Australia.

My black raspberries 

We have a few different garden strawberries as well as some different species of wild strawberries.  

My favourite garden strawberries are Cambridge Rival with its complex flavours, and the acid free Hokowase that is so sweet it can be eaten before turning red.

Garden strawberries

Wild strawberries are smaller than garden strawberries.  They tend to have stronger flavours and smell divine.  I grow a few varieties and several species.  

Wild strawberries tend to flower all year and fruit for most of the year, so berry season for them extends until the frosts.  This year the wild strawberries produced some really large berries, I don't know why.

Wild strawberries smell like a lolly shop

I do sell berry plants and dormant canes over winter.  I can post berry plants within Australia, but not to WA or Tasmania.  If you are interested they will be listed on my for sale page. 

Variegated pineapple sage

I have grown pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) for years.  It is such a great edible herb that smells incredible and apparently has some medicinal benefits.  I have grown some good clones, and some substandard ones.  They don't seem to love the climate here and usually need some protection from harsh frosts over winter.

For a few years I have been growing a particularly vigorous pineapple sage clone.  It grows well, produces far more leaves than other varieties, it usually survives winter unprotected, and most importantly it has the strongest, sweetest, and most delicious pineapple scent of any pineapple sage I have grown.  

One peculiarity of this clone is each spring it produces some variegated leaves.  I keep wondering if it is a sport.  If I took a cutting, grew it and protected it, perhaps it would produce a variegated clone.  Variegated pineapple sage sounds like fun.

Variegated pineapple sage

I take cuttings of this plant and have a few of them.  My plants are all genetically identical as they are cutting grown.

As summer wears on my plant grows and I lose track of the variegated parts.  After a while everything is once again green.  

I was not sure if the variegated parts die off, or if they revert to green, or if something in my garden was eating them.  The only way to know would be to take cuttings of a variegated branch and protect it.

Under side of variegated leaf

Each year I kind of wish I took a cutting of a variegated branch.  Every year I forget until it is too late.  Every year, that is, until this year!

This year I took cuttings of variegated branches.

I took a few cuttings.  Some were highly variegated, others less so.  Some were entirely variegated while others had some variegated leaves and other leaves were entirely green.

Some variegation in spring

Each of the cuttings grew well and sooner or later produced entirely green leaves.

This leads me to believe that whatever is causing this variegation, it is seasonal or environmental, and won't last.  

While I would have liked a pretty and highly variegated pineapple sage, I don't think it is going to happen.  Or if it will happen, it won't be by taking a cutting from my variegated branches in spring.  

That's ok, I really like this clone.  It has such a strong and sweet pineapple smell that I can't complain.  It also survives winters here, which no other clones have done without protection, which is just incredible. 

I would hate to lose this plant as it is better than any of the others I had grown.

Not much white on some

More white on others

Eventually they turned green

Seed grow ivy - Hedera helix

I have never grown ivy (Hedera helix) from seed before.  In fact, I don't think I have ever grown ivy.  I am growing ivy from seed now, and the seedlings are pretty cute.  

I think people use ivy for coughs and colds, but have no idea how to use it or even if it is any good for that purpose.  The flowers are meant to be great for bees.  People use ivy to make soap, to make laundry detergent, and I even found a recipe that uses ivy as a shampoo. 

Most people grow ivy up a wall or as a ground cover in the shade.  To be completely honest I am not entirely sure that I want ivy, or have anywhere sensible where I can grow it.    

My favourite ivy seedling 

It may be too early to tell, but my seedling ivy seems to be displaying some genetic diversity.  At least, the seedlings all appear different to one another at the moment.  Perhaps as they grow larger these differences will even out and I will no longer be able to tell the individual plants apart.

Several ivy seedlings in a pot

Ivy seedling with cotyledons and true leaves

This one has a mottled leaf

Some ivy seedlings are entirely green 

I like growing things from seed, so can decide if I have anywhere to grow this at a later stage.  Perhaps I can grow ivy as a potted plant, that may look good.  Or maybe I will give them away or something.  

Black Nebula carrot flowering

I like dark purple carrots.  Unfortunately there are few varieties of purple carrots in Australia, and  many of the purple carrots have lovely purple skin, and a disapointingly orange core.  

I had started a breeding project to develop carrots that were purple all the way through, then I found Black Nebula carrots.  

Black Nebula carrots are great.  They are purple/black all the way through with only a few areas of lighter colour.  They taste almost like a cross between beetroot and carrot, which I quite like.  They also grew well for me.  

I grow everything organically in my garden.  Generally speaking, pollinator insects seem to like carrot flowers.  Honey bees never seem overly interested in Apiaceae flowers, but there are many other pollinator insects and other beneficial insects that seem to enjoy them.  

Black Nebula carrots are a stable variety of carrot so seed can be collected from them and will grow true to type.  They (like any/every vegetable variety that I can access) are not Genetically Modified.  

I am told that, unlike many modern varieties of carrot, Black Nebula carrots do not have the genes for cytoplasmic male sterility.  This is a great thing for the home garden as it means they can easily be open pollinated and makes seed saving reasonably simple.

Black Nebula Carrot Flowers

I had cut off the tops of the carrots we ate and was going to grow the carrot tops to produce seed.  Unfortunately after a mishap the tops all died.  

I still had some black nebula carrots growing in the garden that I was planning to eat.  Instead of eating them I have let them all flower and hope to collect their seed.  

Strangely enough, even though 'Black Nebula' is a stable carrot variety, they do display some genetic diversity.  Genetic diversity is a good thing, especially in carrots!    

Organic black nebula carrots are dark purple

All of the black nebula carrot roots were dark purple, all had varying amounts of white.  I believe the white to be environmentally induced rather than genetic.  All of the roots were similar length, shape, and thickness.  Strangely enough the genetic diversity could only be seen in the flowers.  

Some of the black nebula flowers were almost white with a very faint purple tinge that you can't see in my photos.  

white/light purple carrot flowers 

Black nebula carrot flowers

Others black nebula carrot flowers were various shades of purple.  Some light, others darker, and some had a patch of flowers in the centre that were darker purple.

Black nebula carrot flowers

I may only collect seeds from the darker flowered plants.  Or I may collect seed from all of them.  I am not sure at this stage what I will do.

Genetic diversity is a good thing, even in a stable (inbred) line like this.  It allows me to apply selective pressure and have some genetic drift.  This enables me to make this variety more suitable to my climate and more able to withstand the pests that it will encounter in my garden.

Carrots are also known for suffering from inbreeding depression, so I want some genetic diversity in my plants.

As I want at least some genetic diversity I am allowing all of these plants to flower and have a chance of their pollen being used for the next generation.  This will increase genetic diversity in my seeds.  

I also  want the highest anthocyanin line possible, and I am unsure if flower colour has any linkage to root anthocyanin levels.  Perhaps when I learn more about carrot genetics I will rogue out some plants in favour of others, until then I will just try to keep the darkest ones.

Various black nebula carrot flowers

If all goes to plan my plants should produce copious amounts of seed with a reasonable amount of genetic diversity.  Once this is ripe I will collect some to plant and some to save for the following year.  

Carrots generally produce a lot of seed so I should have some extra black nebula carrot seed at some stage.  Once I have some fresh seed I will list it on my for sale page.  

Litchi tomato Solanum sisymbriifolium

A generous friend sent me some seeds of litchi tomato (Solanum sisymbriifolium) a while ago.  I had never eaten, grown, or even seen this species before so this was something new to me.  

Litchi tomato is also called Morelle de Balbis, vila-vila, sticky nightshade, red buffalo-bur, or fire-and-ice plant.  My kids call these 'prickle tomatoes'.

Litchi tomatoes - can you see why my kids call them prickle tomatoes?

Litchi tomatoes are somewhat related to tomatoes, tomatillos, and ground cherries.  Like many of the vegetables we grow, they are a perennial that is treated as an annual.  

I left my plants where they were over winter, fully expecting frosts to kill them.  To my surprise they handled mild winter with frosts down to about -4C with minimal damage.  I have no idea if they would survive a cold winter, but a mild winter didn't seem to bother them too much.

They flowered through winter but didn't set fruit in the cooker weather.  I transplanted them in spring and with warmer weather they started fruiting pretty quick.

Litchi tomatoes flowering

The leaves look deceptively soft and velvety, but have prickles on them.  The stems and fruit husks also have prickles.  The leaf shape varies a little from plant to plant, some have deeper divisions in the leaf while others are not as deep.

Litchi tomato leaf

Leaves look soft, but have prickles

I am told that they need more than one plant in order to set fruit.  I don't have heaps of space to use so I plant several plants in the one hole.  This ensures a pollinator is never far away.

I probably get less fruit per plant by having them this close, but it frees up space to grow other things so I am happy with the result.

I grow several plants in the same hole

Litchi tomato stems are prickly

Litchi tomatoes produce reasonably large, showy flowers that were white or bluish.  They varied from plant to plant but were always rather ornamental and showy.

Litchi tomato flower

Prickle tomato flowers

Flowers vary slightly from plant to plant

Fruit are born on a small truss with up to a dozen red fruits per truss.  I found they took a while to flower, then the wait from flower to ripe fruit felt like it took some time, once they started to ripen they were nicely productive.

Fruit can be harvested once the husk starts to turn brown.  Either individual fruits can be picked, or the entire truss can be snipped off and brought in.

I am told that ripe fruit slips out of the husk, but didn't experience that even once.  I assume different strains act differently, and this one does not slip from the husk.  

I was able to harvest carefully bare handed, but think using gloves would make harvest a lot faster and easier.

Litchi tomato truss

Unlike many other fruits, I found that picking them when fully ripe made them taste bland.  They were sweetest earlier, and got progressively less sweet and lost complexity of flavour the longer I left them.  

Their taste varied from plant to plant, as well as varying as the fruit ripened.  Some tasted a bit like cherry, some a bit fruity.  Some tasted like kiwi fruit mixed with something nice, I liked those ones the best.

Ripe Litchi Tomatoes

The fruit were glossy red on the outside, orange on the inside, and had a lot of small hard seeds in them.  

I didn't mind the seeds at all as I didn't really notice them, but my wife disliked them and found them annoying.

Litchi tomato fruit with seeds

I don't tend to grow many things with thorns and prickles.  Unfortunately Litchi Tomatoes have a lot of prickles on pretty much all parts.  

If you ever grow Litchi tomatoes be sure to stake or cage them to prevent them sprawling, and try not to grow them anywhere that you will be brushing past.

Litchi tomato - so thorny

I am glad I got to grow these, and I am growing the overwintered plants again this summer.  I really like the taste, plus the plants are intriguing and ornamental, so will likely grow them most years.  

I don't have endless space, and there are a lot of things I want to grow, so going forward may have them on rotation and grow them every second year.

I do sell seeds of Litchi tomatoes, as well as a few other interesting edibles and perennial vegetables in Australia through my for sale page.

Utricularia subulata cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers

Utricularia subulata, the zig zag bladderwort, is a small terrestrial carnivorous plant.  The leaves are tiny and often go unnoticed even among other tiny carnivorous plants such as pygmy sundews.

This carnivorous plant grows easily from division and far too easily from seed.  

Utricularia subulata flowers

U subulata flowers

This terrestrial bladderwort has lived in my carnivorous plant collection for quite some time.  

For years they have produced tiny flower stalks with cleistogamous flowers.  These were spherical flowers with no petals, these flowers never open yet they self pollinate and produce copious amounts of seed.  

These uninteresting flowers that never open seem to spread seed everywhere, as such I do my best to pull them out whenever I see them.

This year my Utricularia subulata sent up rather tall flower stalks and chasmogamous flowers.  

These are larger showy flowers that do open and do have petals.  These flowers look rather nice.

Utricularia subulata flowering

Flowers of Utricularia subulata

U subulata in a pot with pygmy drosera

This plant has been growing in my carnivorous plant collection for a number of years, under a variety of different conditions, and has never flowered like this before.  

I wish I understood what conditions it requires to send up flowers like this because they are nice.