Where I start retirement with a garden and begin foraging in Lower Queensbury, New Brunswick.
- Garden Production
The garden has been ‘wild’ this year. With most of my time focused on home-building, there has been minimal thinning, weeding and pest removal, only nightly watering.
The nasturtium and marigold flowers have been quite successful. Many bees.
Three tomato and one pepper plant sprouted randomly from last year’s garden. They were relocated and are starting to bear fruit.
I’ve been harvesting basil, chives, rosemary, garlic and Brussels sprouts & nasturtium leaves for the last couple months. Now peas, turnip, tomatoes, corn, carrots, and peppers (hot & sweet) are starting to be added to meals.
- Japanese Beetles
Shenanigans in the garden… An invasive species in these parts.
- Garden 2.0
This year’s garden is a little larger, better protected from deer and has a proper gate.
In the ground and now growing: golden beets, turnips, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, peas, beans, Brussels sprouts, peppers, corn, pumpkin, marigolds, nasturtiums, strawberry, chard, basil and rosemary.
- Tonight’s Side Dish
- Pear Trees
We planted two pear trees last spring. I can report that they survived the winter.
- Chocolate Mint
A few chocolate mint plants were acquired from Hayes Farm last spring. Healthy new growth is now spreading out in the planting area.
For tips on how to grow and care for this herbaceous perennial, check out The Spruce.
- Sprouting
Garlic cloves planted in late fall are poking up.
- Coffee Anyone?
- Wild Grapes
Before leaving New Brunswick 24 years ago, I don’t recall seeing wild grapes. While clearing trees and scrub on CA’s property over the past summer, I found many large vines growing. I considered them a nuisance, as they were strangling the trees and difficult to pull out. When the clusters of fruit started appearing, I realized what they were.
In early September, we spent an evening harvesting wild grapes from an accessible patch.
After the grapes were cleaned and sorted , CA made a small batch of delicious jelly.
She also started the fermentation process for vinegar (left) and wine (right).
The wine did not turn out well. (We may try again next year.)
However, we were rewarded with a 750 ml jar of a very nice vinegar.
Check out the Forager | Chef‘s instructions for making vinegar from fruit scraps.
Looking forward, we will do some research on how we might to ‘train’ the vines to produce a more accessible harvest.
- Pumpkin
On a whim, CA picked up a pack of pumpkin seedlings of the Jack Sprat variety in the spring. These are touted as ‘pie’ pumpkins. Into the garden they went, and eventually took over that quadrant of the garden.
First Pumpkin The harvest was ten small gourds. These were used for pumpkin salsa and a well praised thanksgiving pumpkin pie.
The seeds were roasted for snacking and pumpkin seed brittle.
