I hope that your garden is still providing lots of wonderful food for your table. It is so very satisfying to produce healthy food that we can share with family and friends. Nothing tastes as good as what you harvest from your garden.
I do not grow everything in my garden, as much of my outdoor space is not conducive to producing a lot of produce. However, I do love growing fruit, so cherries, apples, and even some plums and pears are always on my list of what to grow. Out of all of these fruits, it is the cherries which seem to be the leader. Some years, there are lots, but if we get a year where the spring is too cool or too windy, our harvest is less. I generally pit as many as possible and freeze them whole. The rest always go into juice, which is wonderful just as it is or made into a delectable wine that is ready for consumption about five years later.
My asparagus crop provides us with fresh asparagus for about six weeks. This is one vegetable that I truly love for its versatility, but perhaps when my girls were younger, we had a bit more asparagus than they would have preferred. Today, they love it grilled, spiced and seasoned, but for me and my youngest – a traditional steamed asparagus is still a lovely treat. The ends of the shoots are literally chopped and tossed into the freezer to make cream of asparagus soup at a later date.
The peas are unfortunately finished, as are the beans. The peas are a welcome snack in the garden, as now, I do not grow the amount I used to in spite of them being the best steamed vegetable in the winter. I no longer have our big sheller and I do not have the room to grow this veggie in large amounts. Beans as well have fallen by the wayside and although I always grow some, it is not enough to fill the freezer for winter. Sadly, this is also true of corn. These three crops seem to have fallen off the list of “must grows” as the sheer number of people to feed in the household decreases. Corn and beans would be simply blanched and frozen, but we never had a freezer big enough to justify freezing corn on the cob. Thus, we would freeze the niblets only. As time passed, I stopped blanching the entire cob and simply cut the niblets off raw and into a large saucepan with some butter and a tiny bit of water. Simply bringing it to a boil was enough to stop the changing of sugars to starch and the corn would come out of the freezer tasting just as good as the corn that was freshly harvested. I always look forward to purchasing local corn and enjoying it steamed, roasted, smoked and even done in the microwave right on the cob.
As for the squashes and pumpkins, they too have hit the only grow a bit list. Some of the patty pan squash are still a favourite as they can be somewhat contained. While the buttercup and other squashes of the past are not generally a preferred crop. Occasionally a small pumpkin or two might be grown, but these are all available for reasonable prices by those that still have the room to grow them.
Zucchini is one summer squash that I cannot do without. The traditional green zucchini is always grown, as now that includes a yellow one as well. However, my favourite zucchini to grow is now the round ones, as they seem to stay smaller and more edible if you miss picking for a day or two. There are many cultivars and varieties to choose from. For us, the favourite way to enjoy zucchini is sliced and done under the broiler and sprinkled with asiago, parmesan or other hard grated cheese.
Watch next week for more news from my vegetable garden.
Hanbidge is the Lead Horticulturist with Orchid Horticulture. Find us at www.orchidhort.com; by email at growyourfuture@gmail.com, on Facebook @orchidhort and on Instagram at #orchidhort.
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