Episode: #13 9/12/06
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

If you want to cook with the freshest tastiest ingredients, then you have got to grow your own. Garden picked tomatoes and capsicums are a must for fresh salads and they love the summer heat.

Flavour is what inspires many of us to grow our own food, but another great bonus is that you can experiment with so many varieties that just aren?t available in supermarkets, from black and green tomatoes to sweet peppers of every colour and shape ? which look as brilliant in the garden as they do on the plate.

Tomatoes and capsicums are both members of the Solanaceae family, so they need similar conditions - that means a well-drained, open and sunny spot in the garden - although capsicums do like a bit more heat.

Before planting, prepare the soil by digging in plenty of compost ? and avoid the temptation to add excessive amounts of animal manure because high nitrogen levels will encourage leaf growth rather than flower and fruit formation.

Weight for weight peppers contain more vitamin C than oranges and tomatoes are the richest source of vitamin c in the vegetable patch. But it is actually the red colour or lycopene in tomatoes which studies have linked to the prevention of some cancers.

Capsicums and tomatoes love the heat, but they also enjoy regular, deep watering. Apply water to the base of the plant, rather than the leaves and avoid over-watering as this increases the incidence of fungal problems.

In areas where you can hand water, a pistol action watering gun is a great device. It has several different spray functions ? from a soft mist to a hard jet ? so it gives you a lot of flexibility for different purposes and different spray choices so you can easily get in and around plants to water at the base. You can also easily adjust the flow.

It has also got a rubber grip so it is comfortable to hold and it has an automatic shut off feature so you don?t waste water.

Holman Industries
www.holmanindustries.com.au
1800 058 080