Dear Helen: I missed a column from a few months ago about your tomato variety preferences, which someone told me about. I, and probably other readers, would appreciate seeing the names again as we begin planning for our own spring plantings.
D.W.
Here’s a recap of the information in that column, with some extras. Keep in mind that these have been the results in my garden’s conditions, and that each year I try a few new tomato varieties in an ongoing effort to upgrade my variety roster.
Last summer, as usual, Big Beef was the star of my tomato show. I always grow several plants to be sure of having large, flavourful fruits for canning. Big Beef is listed in most catalogues, including William Dam and T&T Seeds.
I was pleased also with Hamlet (William Dam), which produced smaller but equally tasty tomatoes in attractive, hefty clusters that ripened uniformly. Hamlet was bred for the European organic fresh market. The seeds are pricey, but worth the cost.
Home gardeners are becoming familiar with the “Indigo” series of small, purple-black, richly flavoured tomatoes. The best in the series among the varieties I’ve tried so far is Indigo Apple (W.H. Perron, formerly Dominion Seed House). The plants were strong and productive of the largest Indigo type tomatoes I’ve encountered.
I’ll be growing Red Zebra (Seed Savers Exchasnge) again, for its clusters of beautiful red tomatoes overlaid with orange stripes. This tomato has a distinctly fresh, slightly tart flavour.
Among the new (to me) varieties I’ll be growing this year is Arbason, to compare with Big Beef. Arbason (West Coast Seeds, Dam) is described as as reliable Dutch tomato producing large, tasty fruits.
All these are vining (staking) tomatoes. Among the varieties I grow in pots on the patio, my favourite for intense flavour and earliness is Siderno (Dam), which at 45 cm grows taller than my other patio types. It does well inside a tomato cage inserted into a large container. Very compact and productive is Red Robin (T&T, West Coast Seeds). Little Napoli (Perron) is a rare, high-yielding, neatly compact Roma tomato for containers.
Dear Helen: Have you any tips on stopping animals from digging up at night the vegetable scraps that I bury in the soil of my vegetable garden? I’ve done this for the past few years and never had a problem until this winter. I know you dispose of your kitchen vegetable and fruit trimmings this way too. Have you ever experienced a similar problem?
S.L.
Dear S.L.: None of my buried kitchen trimmings had been disturbed until this year — just as you have experienced. As soon as I read your email I went into the garden to check the site of the most recent burial and found it undisturbed — perhaps because I had dug a deeper hole than had been my habit earlier.
In the previous weeks I must admit I’d rushed the task. Mainly because of the miserable weather, I’d not taken the time to dig holes that were deep enough. In American cities where the burial (rather than composting) of kitchen trimmings has been mandaterd, to help control rat populations, a minimum depth of 30 cm is required.
You indicate in your email that the holes you dug for disposing of vegetable trimmings have been deep. If your buried materials were covered with 30 cm of soil, then an explanation for their being disturbed could perhaps be found in the unusual, prolonged cold this winter.
In my garden it’s the raccoons that have uncovered the buried food source during their nightly patrols through the garden. In this frigid winter their food-seeking skills must have to be very finely honed. A shortage of other nourishment could be a factor in their seeking out buried scraps to eat.
Another thought on the issue: Consider securing pieces of chicken wire or some similarly substantial barrier over newly buried kitchen trimmings.
GARDEN EVENT
Native plant group. The Native Plant Study Group will meet on Thursday, January 19, at 7 p.m. in Room D 116 of UVic’s MacLaurin Building. Nathalie Dechaine will present "Native Plant Medicine for the Mind, Body and soul." She will share how she has created native plant habitats on her small urban lot, and describe how native plants can nourish us. Admission is free to non-members and students. Cost of parking at UVic is $2.50. www.NPSG.ca.