And Then I Trod On A Brown Snake? - Oct 16, 2025
Dear gardening friends
Some exciting news!! Tim's Fruit Fly Resistant Tomato is back in stock today. We are sorry if you've missed out recently but this amazing apricot sized Tomato is our biggest seller.
Customers rave about this heirloom variety that has a natural resistance to fruit fly. No nasty chemicals needed to grow this vigorous Tomato plant that produces hundreds of fruit.
Grow it in your garden or in a big pot. Use multiple stakes to support the growth and fruit. Don't prune this variety, just let it grow wild. More growth means more Tomatoes.
The fruit will ripen on the vine, they are sweet and delicious. Pick them before they split, or they will get fruit fly.
A couple of plants will keep you in Tomatoes all summer long. Sometimes it survives winter and it just keeps growing.
Nice plants cost $4.99. We have Tim's Italian Tomato in the nursery today too. Don't forget to use Tim's Best Potting mix and water twice a day when the weather gets hotter.
I went to Market day yesterday. The Nursery Industry has a market once a month where growers sell their plants to retailers like me. It's shrinking slowly as there are less and less of us.
But I like going, I see people I know, they are part of my nursery family and I suppose I'm part of their family too. I catch up with old friends, we talk about business, we have a laugh.
Yesterday I went to especially get Bougainvilleas. John and Carol from Vanderley nursery grow smaller growing Bougainvillea for us and they are all named varieties so gardeners can collect them and know which one's they have.
I got talking to Carol she's a lovely lady, she read one of my stories about planting trees once and the next time she sent me Bougainvilleas there were 3 trees she donated me to plant somewhere. I'm not sure if John knew anything about that. One of those trees is 3 metres high now and it's growing at Onslow oval.
But yesterday I noticed Carol was talking to Dave from Sydney Wildflower nursery, he doesn't sell Bougainvilleas but he was telling Carol a story so I joined the conversation, Dave's story went know where so I interrupted his story to tell him this and then he said "And then I found $5.00".
What has that got to do with the story I enquired?
Well he said, "my wife told me if my stories ever get too boring just put that on the end, and it creates interest."
Well I laughed so much I got a sore tummy and I've used that line four times this morning and I haven't even got to work yet. It might be worth a try.
See if you can slip it into a conversation. If it doesn't work change it to "and then I trod on a brown snake".
P.S Lots of Bougainvillea here now.
Are you sick of your neighbours looking into your garden? Then you might need to plant a hedge called "Goodbye Neighbours". It's a super fast growing native plant that can grow one to two metres a year, depending on how close you live to the coast.
"Goodbye Neighbours" is a small leaf Lillypilly and I've never seen this variety flower or fruit, so it's not messy. It's also resistant to Psyllid's so no nasty chemicals are required.
I've got it growing in my garden, I've pruned it so it looks like a big Banana. Check out the photo.
Plant your "Goodbye Neighbours" one metre apart in Tim's Cow Manure improved soil. The more often you water it, and prune it, the faster it grows.
"Goodbye Neighbours" can be pruned at any width or height. It can grow up to 4-6 metres high. But it's best kept at 2ms high, so you can easily maintain it.
"Goodbye Neighbours" is exclusive to Tim's Garden Centre, we have nice plants for $29.99. Spring is the best time to plant them, the warmer it gets the faster they grow!
Spotted this Snow ball tree growing in Elderslie. It looks like a Hydrangea but it's an old world shrub or small tree, that gets these spectacular white ball like flowers.
They are extremely easy to grow and you can hide one in your garden and every spring it will burst into bloom and surprise you. The ball like flowers start off green then they turn luminous white.
There's something arty about this amazing plant. Dr Seussish. Can you see it? I need one in my garden.
I went back to take a photo of this plant again and it was gone!!!!!! I asked to owner why did he remove it? "Too messy" was his response, it drops its leaves in winter. Too messy????
Help me, we have plants in stock today.
Supertunias are amazing, you can grow them in pots, hanging baskets or gardens. They flower non stop for 9 months. They will add colour to your garden for Christmas if you plant them now.
Happy gardening
Tim