Piopio Fruit & Vege Stand

Birdtalk Magazine Oct/Nov 2023

ALMOST prime time for planting out our summer vegetable gardens, hooray! If you have a glasshouse trust it is bustling with seedlings to be planted out Labour Weekend. And we’ve all learnt the hard way about jumping the gun on planting too early, haven’t we? If you still need to learn that lesson, go ahead and plant earlier. Mother Nature typically hits us with a frost just before Labour Weekend to remind us who is in charge. This year she may decide to take pity on us but it’s hard to know either way.

We will be doing the annual seedling heirloom tomato extravaganza once again just before Labour Weekend. I need to query followers on our FB page whether stand supporters prefer to do “click and collect” inside our front gate again or distribution out at the stand, so keep an eye on the page if you’re keen. After a certain point the plants I have left get put out at the stand anyway; because, and I know it’s hard to believe, I can’t spend all day on tomatoes. This year the varieties on offer are Oxheart, Purple Cherokee, Black Cherry, Black Krim, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Vintage Brandywine, Green Zebra, and “Big Heirloom.” The latter is a lucky dip and includes Super Steakhouse, Oxheart and Vintage Brandywine me thinks. The tomato season last year was so mixed that I simply didn’t keep track of varieties as I saved seeds, just saved them from the best tomatoes.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions/issues. Contributions of surplus to the stand would be welcome. Lemons going to waste? They would be gratefully appreciated. Updates are posted pretty much daily on our FB page.