Here is our current (May 22, 2021) selection of plants for sale at Big Bend Apiary and Farm – 4992 Byrne Road. Saturdays 10:00 to 1:00. Drop-off options for larger orders.

Wheatgrass ($20) (inc. $5 tray deposit)

We grow wheatgrass to order – need 7-8 day lead time.

Tomatoes ($6)

Black Krim combines bold, smoky flavor and good texture with an unusual appearance. Deep brown/red, 8-16 oz. tomatoes have brown/green shoulders that get darker with more heat and sunlight. High yielding. Indeterminate.

Gold Nugget cherry tomato seeds produce compact determinate plants 61 cm (24″) tall. Gold Nugget’s compact size makes it an ideal choice for containers and small garden spaces. This variety sets easily in cool weather and are usually the first of any tomato variety to ripen. Winner of the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Award of Garden Merit.

Enjoy prolific early yields of lovely golden yellow globes the size of ping pong balls. The majority of Gold Nugget cherry tomatoes are seedless until the end of the season. Fruits have a sweet, flavourful and balanced taste. Determinate (bush)

Stupice Organic tomato seeds are easy to grow and the hardy vines thrive in a variety of adverse climates with short growing season. Sets easily in cold weather, one of the earliest producers on the West Coast. Enjoy prolific yields all summer long! Indeterminate (vine) Matures in 60-65 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Sweetie Organic cherry tomato seeds are highly adaptable to adverse growing conditions and plants are well tolerant of cool, wet conditions. A winner in flavour among the early red cherry varieties, theys have a unique, rich, sweet flavour and can be used for juice and preserves without adding sugar. Sweetie cherry tomatoes average 12-14% sugar content!

Vigorous, indeterminate vines reach1.8 meters (6′) long and require staking. Highly productive, with a long harvest window, the plants bear generous clusters of 15-20 juicy cherry tomatoes 2.5-3.8 cm (1-1.5″)until the first frost. Plants are naturally resistant to Alternaria Stem Canker (ASC).Indeterminate (vine) Matures in 50-80 days (Open-pollinated seeds)

Squash ($5)

Dark Start Zucchini

Cylindrical zukes with dark green skins on productive compact plants with spineless stalks. Prolific producer. Great vigor and produces well with minimal water. Developed in California. 55 days to maturity.

Goldini Zucchini

Triple-purpose zucchini. Bred for organics. Bred for dual use as a cooked summer squash, and for drying for a long-storing staple. Has a delicious raw flavor and a crunchy texture.

Tromboncino squash seeds produce rambling vines with very long, pale green Italian summer squash. Tromboncino fruits can grow to 2m (6′) long, with a tiny seed cavity just at the blossom end. Flavourful and firm, the seedless texture is a treat in the kitchen. This unusual squash has a mild flavour, but it is great when steamed, stir-fried, or even pickled. Trellis Tromboncino to get straight fruits (they will form hanging down), but the unique shapes of fruits that form on the ground are really fun. Harvest while still tender at 20-45cm (8-18″) long. Matures in 80 days. (Open pollinated seeds)

Delicata Squash

Unique appearance with cream skin and dark green longitudinal stripes and flecks. Tastes very sweet and skin is tender enough to eat. Excellent for stuffing and baking, even right at harvest! 

Dye Plants ($3 to $4)

Japanese Indigo

Growing your own blue is intensely satisfying! There is nothing quite like watching your project oxidize from a murky yellowish green to crisp blue before your very eyes! Our Japanese indigo population is a diverse mixture of pink and white flowered genetics. It’s a nice gene pool for individuals interested in making their own selections.

Dyer’s Weld

Weld is an ancient plant giving very good light fast bright yellow dye.  Leaves, stalks, flower heads with seed all produce colour.  Weld seed is tiny.  It should be started on top of the soil as it need light to germinate.  Start indoors about eight weeks before setting outside in late May after all danger of frost in a sunny location.  Weld does not tolerate root damage very easily.  Great care is needed when transplanting the little rosette plants.  It is best to start at least twice as many plants as desired because many plants are lost during transplanting.  Weld is a biennial and the rosettes will overwinter and shoot up a 5 – 7 foot flower spike the following spring.  It can self-seed readily in the right conditions.

Dyer’s Chamomile

Dyer’s Chamomile is an extremely productive perennial dye plant. The yellows obtained from dry or fresh flowers are strong and crisp. EXCELLENT for over-dyeing with cochineal or indigo. It’s also much more light fast than many yellow dyes. The plants themselves are beautiful and low maintenance. Little pops of sunshine with lovely greenish blue dissected leaves. Attracts beneficial insects like soldier beetles and syrphid flies.

Black-Eyed Susan

This beautiful wildflower native to Central and Eastern North America is now naturalized throughout all contiguous US states and all Canadian provinces. The majority of our plants have solid yellow petals, with a few off-types being bi-colored yellow & red. It is a short-lived perennial in our region, and will act as an annual in very cold regions. Native pollinators love the exposed cone.

You can obtain beautiful sage greens on alum mordanted wool by using the hot water method with fresh or dried flowers.