Something From Lambley Nursery

I'm always able to find something From Lambley Nursery that is a little unique or unusual that I really want to try.

Here I run through this Spring's selection.

Pumpkin, Buttercup 'Bonbon F1'

Pumpkin, Buttercup 'Bonbon F1'

 Occasionally i get a little adventurous and courious about varieties of seeds I haven't tried before and Buttercup 'Bonbon F1' Pumpkin from Lambley Nursery seed catalogue is one example.

I planted two 125mm pots with two seeds each and as you can see all four germinated. Not unusual for seeds from Lambly.

The second photo shows a vigorous root system just rearing to go and the third photo is of their final growing position. The other two are planted about two meters away.

An All American Selection winner ‘Bonbon’ is a classic looking buttercup pumpkin....Read more

When they're ready I'll let you know how they went and what they taste like.

Also, with our sometimes hot and humid summers, I'm keen to see how they go for mildew which can be a curse for cucurbit growers around these parts.

Christmas in July

He's making a (seed) list and checking it twice.

Everything below in 'italics' is used from the Lambley Nursery Vegetable seed catalogue.

Carrot 'Mokum' F1:- Experimenting with a few new carrot varieties.

'One of the quickest carrots to produce 36 days for baby and 54 days for full size. The slender roots have a very good sweet flavour and a crisp texture. Performs well even during hot weather.'


Carrot 'Sweetheart'

 '‘Sweetheart’ is very sweet, flavoursome and productive bunching carrot for year round production. It takes about 90 days from seed sowing to harvest and maintains its flavour at a larger size.'

Bean, Bush ‘Simba’ I grew this variety last Spring/Summer and was very pleased with the results. Easy to grow and tasty to boot.

 'A round dark green bush bean with terrific flavour. It is a heavy cropper and has good disease resistance. Its heavy frame keeps the beans straight and clean as they are held well off the soil.'

 Beetroot ‘Red Ace’ F1 Also grew this one last season, same as above.

'This is the best beetroot I’ve grown. Fast growing, good as a baby beet as well as full size. It lasts well in the garden and is tender even when it makes a large size. As it is slow to bolt we plant it from August through to early March.'

 Leek ‘King Richard’ (Organic) What can I say, I like leeks.

'I sell the true strain of this very early leek. From an early November planting I was digging decent leeks by March. In fact Criss and I served fifty people with Leeks a la Grecque at a charity lunch here one March a couple of years ago. As it is slow to bolt it is happy well into winter too.'

Lettuce, Baby Leaf 'Encore' Another experiment. Just looking for a lettuce I really like.

'A mix of stunning colours, textures and shapes. Includes green and red oakleaf, green and red cos, Lolo Rossa. Can be grown year round and cut several times.'

Lettuce, Adrianna Same as above.

 A new butter-head with great flavour and disease resistance. It is especially good during the heat of summer as it is strong against tip burn. It can be sown from August until may for year round production.

Radish ‘Pink Beauty’ (Organic) I like radish, I'm just looking for one I like even more and this one looks appealing.

'Quick to grow and beautiful to look at this pink radish has a mild, sweet, delicious flavour. It is resistant to pithiness. It takes 26 days to mature.'

Baby Leaf Mustard Greens 'Scarlet Frills'  Don't know what I'm doing here. Trying something new maybe?

'21 days baby 40 days full size. A sweetly flavoured mustard green with finely cut, dark red, ruffled leaves which will add a beautiful spicy touch to a mixed leaf salad. Sow from August until April.'

Brussels Sprouts Diablo F1
I've tried growing Brussels Sprouts on and off over the years without much commitment and little success. Possibly due to planting too late. So I'll get some good seed and plant at a more appropriate time of the year and see how we go.

'The best Brussels Sprouts strain I’ve ever grown and I’ve tried twenty or so. Diablo produces crops over a long period from late autumn through most of the winter if seeds are planted no later than November.'

Pumpkin, Buttercup 'Bonbon F1' And this one is just for fun, simple as that.

'An All American Selection winner ‘Bonbon’ is a classic looking buttercup pumpkin with deep green smooth skin and a prominent grey button on the blossom end. Deep orange fibreless flesh has a good sweet flavour. Fruit weighs 2-2.5kg and each vine produces an average of 4 pumpkins.'

So there you have it Spring, Summer and Autumn all sorted. I'll buy the odd packet of seed from here and there. I'll need to get some seed potatoes from somewhere as well but the year ahead is looking interesting to say the least.

Cheers and happy seed planting

Stewart.

The Coming Season

Getting ready for the coming growing season can mean only one thing here at My Veggie Garden, seeds.

This year I'm taking a different path to the one I usually take.

After reading David Glenn's, from Lambley Nursery, spiel on growing F1 hybrid tomatoes for improved yield and increased disease resistance I've purchased two packets of tomato seeds to trial here in My Veggie Garden.

Lambley Nursery is set around an old farmhouse in the hot dry wind swept plains of the central Victorian Goldfields so it will be interesting to see how they do in my, usually hot and humid summer.

 At around a dollar per seed they could be considered expensive but I consider it a small price to pay, for if they do crop well it will be a good investment.
The two Tomato varieties I'll be trying are,

• Tomato, Gourmet, 'Gabriella' F1 
• Cherry Tomato, 'Tycho' F1

On the Lambley Nursery web site, David Glenn goes on to say,

"If you are having trouble growing a good crop or indeed any crop at all of “heirloom” tomatoes or seedling tomatoes bought from garden centres or big box stores you will be joining a growing band of gardeners.  The answer is to plant disease resistant varieties. 

We trialled 10 varieties of disease resistant hybrid tomatoes and the 3 listed below were the best for taste and for disease resistance. I was still picking good, ripe, full size tomatoes at the end of April. 

The seed of modern, good flavoured, disease resistant tomato hybrids is expensive but it more than pays for itself in the vastly improved production of ripe tomatoes."

I've also ordered other seeds that I will trial for myself as well, these include,

• Cucumber, Australian Slicer 'Icebreaker F1' 
  
  • Beetroot, 'Red Ace' F1
  • Broccolini, 'Happy Rich' F1
  • Cabbage, Mini, 'Gonzales' F1
  • Carrot, 'Nelson' F1 
  • Coriander, 'Calypso' 
  • Scarlet Runner Bean, 'Scarlet Emperor' 
  • Bush Bean, 'Simba' 
  • Spinach, 'Tyee' F1 
  • Zucchini, 'Bush Baby' F1
   

I'm keen to get started and can't wait to see the results but I'll be posting as I sow and plant and hopefully have a bountiful harvest to share.

Lambley Nursery has a good reputation among my circle of gardening friends and my seeds arrived well packaged and inside the two week time frame I was advised to expect.

Lambley Nursery

Lambley Nursery

Has anyone ever bought any seed from Lambley's before?

They have a few varieties I'd like to try but thought I'd check first.

http://lambley.com.au/uploads/lambley-2014-2015-seed-manual