Tomato Promises And Heritage Grains

Over the years I have tried to grow a large variety of crops in our gardens. Sometimes I'm seduced by the pictures and descriptions in the seed catalogues and overreach (and overspend). Sometimes I don't listen to experience and think 'maybe this year' - but not every garden is ideal to grow eggplants, melons and peppers (until some future greenhouse dreams are realized!). Not everything does well in our climate or our soil (we have a wireworm 'problem' that makes growing carrots and parsnips a heartache).

A large portion of our crops are old favourites that have proven over several seasons that they will do well and provide for the table. These plants form the base of the garden, and I happily plant them each year. I still manage to plant too much of one thing, and not enough of another - nothing like that enthusiastic response to green beans for the fifth dinner in a row, or the sad expression when there are no more peas is there?  I try new varieties each year, and sometimes they will be added to our 'repeat' list. At the same time, I am trying to grow mostly open-pollinated, heritage varieties that I can save seed from for future use. I support small seed companies that do not sell GMO modified products.

Left up to Adrian, my experiments are fine - as long as there are tomatoes. Unless you've grown tomatoes and eaten them fresh-picked, you don't know what you're missing by eating grocery store offerings. Luckily for those without a garden, we do have the advantage of a fairly healthy network of Farmers' Markets in the Lower Mainland, and a hothouse industry that manages to provide some passable tomatoes in the dead of winter, when all I have left is dehydrated and canned offerings.

Yesterday I sat down and started my tomato seeds for this season. Two flats of seed-starting mix and tomato seeds are now sitting under my grow lights. Garden season has begun.

From Baker Creek:
Bloody Butcher
Flamingo
Japanese Black Trifele

From West Coast Seeds:
Gold Nugget
Principe Borghese
Siletz
Sungold (our one hybrid tomato, which we fell in love with at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Five dollars for fifteen seeds!)

From saved seed (formerly WCS):
Black Cherry
Sasha's Pride
Sweetie Cherry

I started another flat - this time of parsley and cilantro, which I have also direct-seeded outside. I will continue to plant more of those seed outside, tucked amongst the herbs, vegetables and flowers, in weekly intervals for continued availability.

Once the rain let up, and the sun began to shine, I cleared two of our 4x8 raised beds, and planted wheat and barley into each. The seed for these grains is from Salt Spring Seeds, a small seed company that offers unique selections for our coastal region. I hope to save this year's harvest and use it to grow more of these heritage varieties in the future. Some of our grain harvest will be used for human consumption, and some for our livestock. The wheat varieties are Blue Tinge Ethiopian, Kamut, and Red Fife. Our barley varieties are Faust, Lompoc and Sheba. I look forward to seeing how they perform, and how easily they are harvested - that will be the real test.