tomatoes
Dear Ciara,
The first flowers of the tomato plants are beginning to open. They are the colour of yellow highlighters, and the carpenter bees are mad for them. They hover around each open flower in small groups, mostly avoiding one another (carpenter bees are solitary, after all), but occasionally meet to share a conversation over some nectar. I cannot remember what variety of tomatoes they are. It is likely there are a few different ones in the mix. Regardless, I ecstatic. Soon I will be overflowing with fruit. Even my landlord (who lives upstairs), is growing some tomato plants on her balcony. All in all, there are probably 20-or-so tomato plants about to fruit on the property.
I’ve just realised that every tomato variety I’ve grown produces yellow flowers. Is there a particular reason why this is the case? Are the pollinators of tomatoes drawn to the colour yellow? I wonder if anybody has bred tomato plants that produce flowers other than yellow? These are questions I could research, but I’d rather send them to you and await an answer. You have a wide knowledge of things that I do not, Ciara. Enlighten me.
The sweet potato vine is prolific, creeping along the floor of the garden bed a few inches every single day. I cut it back a few times a week to eat the leaves, but that only encourages it to shoot our more growth. It seems to have now formed a mutualistic relationship with some of the nearby tomato plants, using their trunks as leverage to haul itself upwards and over the fence. I have a feeling some vines have begun to pop up in the neighbour’s garden too. Unless he digs under the soil, he’ll never know about the treasures beneath the surface.
Well, the sun is high in the sky now. Wild doves and a single curlew are bathing in that glorious, golden light. I haven’t seen a curlew in the garden before. He’s been here for almost an hour now, mostly hiding in the corner near the mulberry seedlings. It’s a cosy place, safe from the eyes of my landlord’s dogs. They only want to play with him, but he doesn’t know that.
The song for today is:
Gave In — Lontalius
Like my sweet potato vine, Lontalius is prolific. I swear he releases a new album every few months. He is a master at writing albums. I was listening to How Can We Lose When We’re So Sincere? while writing this letter. I hope you enjoy it.
Love,
The Gardener