This summer, after a sunny, summer-like spring, July鈥檚 cool, damp weather slowed fruit development and ripening. Then, in the intense heat of August, rapid ripening resumed and had me staggering into the kitchen happily burdened with bowls and boxes of tomatoes to process.
With the first major picking I began to assess the 17 plants and nine varieties I had planted, with a view to deciding which ones to repeat next year.
As always, the Big Beef plants have been standouts with their sturdy growth and hefty clusters of large, smooth, perfectly formed tomatoes with full, old-fashioned flavour. Big Beef is listed in most catalogues.
A new tomato called Hamlet (William Dam Seeds) equalled Big Beef in sturdy health and with large clusters of smaller but equally flavourful fruits. Hamlet was bred for taste and developed for the European organic fresh market. The clusters have ripened uniformly and are picture perfect. The seeds are expensive, but worth the cost.
Red Zebra (Seed Savers Exchange) produced is usual clusters of beautiful red fruits overlaid with carrot-orange stripes. Red Zebra has a slightly tart, fresh flavour.
I鈥檒l be repeating these tomatoes in the 2017 garden, along with a new variety among the 鈥業ndigo鈥� types that began with the tasty, small-fruited, blue-black and red Indigo Rose.
This year I tried Indigo Cherry Drops (Johnny鈥檚 Selected Seeds), described as producing similar fruits to Indigo Rose on stronger plants, and Indigo Apple, a larger-fruited form from W.H. Perron (formerly Dominion Seed House). I鈥檒l be repeating Indigo Apple next year. The plants have been easy-growing and I like the larger size tomatoes. I already have plenty of cherry and cocktail size tomatoes from the smaller patio plants, which began giving me ripe tomatoes on July 1.
Planning for next year. As I鈥檝e assessed the tomatoes I鈥檝e also thought about the placement of their planting next year. They鈥檒l likely fit well into this year鈥檚 plot of two four-metre pea rows. It鈥檚 a nearby location, also beside the back fence in the upper, sunniest and warmest part of the vegetable garden.
This month is an ideal time to begin making a rough sketch of the 2017 vegetable garden. While this year鈥檚 plantings are fresh in mind, this little bit of planning will help to ensure that major plantings like the tomatoes, cabbage family plants, peas and beans, and root vegetables are rotated into different sites from year to year.
Delayed delight. I stubbornly harbour the crazed notion that, one of these years, I鈥檒l get everything done in a timely fashion around the garden. But I鈥檓 not holding my breath.
Though most of the time it鈥檚 not helpful, one instance of delay this year turned out rather well. Early in the spring I toured through a local nursery with my daughter, who had taken on a聽temporary job there. One huge greenhouse held a gorgeous mass of container flowers. Among them were the popular marguerite daisies (Argyranthemum frutescens, formerly Chrysanthemum frutescens).
Marguerite daisies are tender perennials that sometimes resprout from their bases in the spring. The single or semi-double flowers bloom from late spring through the summer, in lovely pastel shades. Cutting the plants back following the first flush of bloom promotes fresh flowering growth. This is something I often don鈥檛 get around to doing.
My daughter and I both were strongly attracted to a single-flowered pink marguerite called Angelic Magenta. The little flowers had a simple but alluring grace. I bought two little plants and placed them on a tray in the greenhouse, where they lingered long, blooming merrily in remarkable perkiness as the rush of spring planting occupied my time.
Later in the spring than I care to admit, I planted the marguerites in an old metal wash tub (with drainage holes) with blue and white Picobella petunias in front. Before planting, I cut both marguerite plants back to remove the current blooms and give them a fresh start in new soil. The reward: A bounty of charming flowers on compact, well branched plants that have not stretched out into ranginess.
GARDEN EVENT
Rose meeting. The Mid Island Rose Society will meet on Monday, September 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the meeting room of the North Nanaimo Library, across from Green Thumb Nursery on Hamond Bay Rd.
