I stepped into the back garden to check on the tomatoes and was immediately diverted by a nearby carpet of flowering thyme that appeared to be moving. It was, with the rapid movement of bees among the blossoms.
Next to the thyme, plants around a half-circle of tall, sturdy wire fencing were bouncing up and down with the activity of hover flies. The flowers that attracted these superbly useful pest predators were cilantro plants I鈥檇 allowed to stretch up into flowering and seed-making mode.
In the spring, I鈥檇 discovered a听thriving patch of self-sown cilantro within and around the half-circle of wire. I used what I听wanted and then let the hot weather stretch the plants upward to produce their lacy umbels of dainty white flowers, much beloved of beneficial insects.
Cilantro blooms are a rich source of nectar for these insects. Fuelled with this potent food, they become able to produce large numbers of eggs and听subsequent pest-destroying larvae.
The easiest way to have an听ongoing supply of cilantro is听simply to let the plants flower and set seed. Then, you鈥檒l have easy waves of this fast-growing annual herb in the garden throughout the growing season. And, as many home gardeners have observed, 鈥渧olunteer鈥� plants most often are far more strong and productive than their human-sown equivalents.
The tiny plot of ground around and within the wire half-circle has turned out to听be听remarkably lovely and bountiful. Sweet peas and pole beans grow against the wire amidst a cloud of cilantro bloom and with calendula and nasturtium as edging. Inside the half-circle several pink-flowering potato plants promise a tasty harvest of red-skinned, red-fleshed AnaRosa fingerling potatoes (seedpotatoes.ca). The听small area, thanks to space-saving vertical plants, is a fully-packed blend of the ornamental and edible.
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Tomato promise. Meanwhile, back at the tomatoes growing against more wire fencing beside the half-circle ensemble, there is great promise for fine feasting this summer. Most of the plants have robust clusters of formed fruits held close to the ground.
One is Bloody Butcher, an heirloom tomato I found locally. Who could resist that name? The Vancouver Island grower of听the tomato (Outrageous Edibles) describes Bloody Butcher as a 鈥渟ensational early producing tomato鈥� bearing small, deep red fruits that are excellent for fresh slicing and for canning. The fruits, borne five to nine per cluster, have a听鈥渞ich heirloom tomato flavour.鈥�
The first formed Bloody Butcher cluster is situated so close to the ground that it rests atop one of the miniature romaine Little Gem lettuces planted along the outside of the wire support structure.
Another tomato new to the garden is Blue Bayou. Here, too, it was the variety name that attracted me, for the Roy Orbison song of the same name. As well, it was marked with a red-letter 鈥淏est Seller鈥� tag in the Chiltern Seeds catalogue. These plants, too, are loaded with fruit clusters, beginning close to soil level.
Chiltern esteems Blue Bayou as 鈥渁 properly stunning tomato, with richly coloured dark navy-blue to purple fruits.鈥�
The dark fruit clusters add colour variety to the tomato planting. I鈥檓 especially interested, as the season progresses, in comparing Blue Bayou with Indigo Rose, another tomato with near-black fruits.
A common complaint about Indigo Rose is its late ripening, though I听find the delicious flavour well worth waiting for. These dark-fruited tomatoes are ripe when the bottom (blossom) end has turned red.
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GARDEN EVENTS
Peninsula meeting. The Peninsula Garden Club will meet on Monday at听7听p.m. in the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. Solara Goldwynn and Tayler Krawczk from Hatchet & Seed will present Edible Landscaping 101, a talk about a variety of edible landscaping options with tips on growing nourishing fruits, berries and vegetables for attractive and productive edible landscapes. Visitors are welcome for a听$5听drop-in fee. Meetings include master gardener information, garden items for sale, a听juried parlour show and refreshments.
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Floral artists. The Victoria Floral Artists Guild (formerly Victoria Flower Arrangers Guild) will meet on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Garth Home Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. A presentation of听Land Art Designs will cover theory, construction, transportation and safety.
