WHEN tomatoes go bananas, go it alone and grow your own.
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That's the advice of one of Canberra's most experienced fruit growers for ACT grocery shoppers and salad lovers facing tomato prices that have increased five-fold in recent months.
Sold for as little as $2 a kilogram in the ACT last year, tomatoes have cost up to $11 a kilogram in the past few weeks and $7 a kilogram in recent days.
Rain and cold weather delaying the north Queensland harvest had constrained supply so much for Griffith organic vegetable grocer Karen Medbury that she had broken with tradition and started selling non-organic tomatoes.
She said her premium organic tomatoes retailed for $15.80 a kilogram this week, $6 a kilogram higher than normal.
The deputy chief executive of grower group Ausveg, William Churchill, expected tomato prices to drop to their usual level before Christmas.
Mr Churchill was confident the tomato would not lose its place as Australia's third most popular vegetable behind carrots and potatoes. ''You can't have a garden salad without tomatoes,'' he said.
If the humble tomato was too good to lose then Canberrans could be picking their own by December, according to experienced Canberra fruit grower Maurice Haddad.
The Deakin resident, who has grown tomatoes for 40 years, knows his Roma from his San Marzano: he has 18 varieties planted in his yard.
Mr Haddad said growing tomatoes was straightforward as long as amateur gardeners adhered to some simple rules. ''There's no particular variety best for Canberra, so it all depends on your taste,'' the 73-year-old said.
Now is the time to transplant small tomato plants, grown indoors to avoid the frost, into the ground outside. Seeds can also be put into the ground now because it is warmer.