The outside beds contain indeterminate tomato plants: Brandywine, Yellow Pear and Gardener’s Delight. Unseen are several 'Godfather' hybrid sweet peppers that are tucked into the center of the beds. The small yellow blurs between the tomatoes are 'Lemon Gem' signet marigolds. Along with basil, which is also growing here, they are supposed to repel many insects normally attracted to tomatoes.

I can only say that for the two years we have grown tomatoes, we have grown marigolds and basil with them and so far, so good. The marigolds and basil are both intensely and pleasantly scented when the leaves are lightly brushed, so even if they don’t cheer up the tomatoes by their company, I’m always glad to visit them.

The center bed includes alpine strawberries, trellised Blue Lake green beans, summer savory and 'Moonlight' climbing nasturtiums. The nasturtiums were really too vigorous for this setting and though they looked quite nice, will be relegated to a less prime location in future.

The pole beans straggled and struggled and in the end, only three plants matured, despite the fact that summer savory is supposed to be an excellent companion plant for them. Maybe none would have made it without the help - the first year we picked all of two beans from the garden.

We were glad we let this year's three vines mature as we harvested over 16 servings of incredibly tasty, tender beans from them. I’m not much of a cook, so a guest returning for seconds always perks me up. Blue Lake green beans were fought over. Once they got beyond a foot tall, the plants just took off, so we'll certainly try them again.

The alpine strawberries were wonderful, though with two dozen plants there were only enough to nibble on a handful each day as a reward for weeding. Though I had heard they would prefer some shade, those plants that received full sun produced markedly more flavorful berries.

Text and images Copyright 1998 Cyndi Kirkpatrick. All rights reserved