Weird Edibles

November 28, 2012

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Jerusalem Artichoke Season is Back

Last weekend we dug up a boatload of Jerusalem artichokes aka sunchokes from the garden, right on schedule.

Believe it or not, many of the tubers are even bigger this year than last. And there are more of them! God help us.

When we began digging, I told Davin that we would only be excavating a few. But it’s like once you start you just can’t stop. And when you do think to stop you tell yourself, “Well, I have GOT to get the tubers that have grown into the neighbour’s yard. They’re compromising the fence!” The next thing you know, you’ve got a basket so big you can barely even lift it.

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October 23, 2012

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Herbaria (September 28, 2012)

From Left to Right:

Top Row: 1. Morning Glory These morning glories are one of the few plants that came with the yard when we moved in. I must have pulled up thousands of seedlings by now but they just keep coming. It does not help that I always give in and allow a few to flower. I’m sure that a few seeds have escaped in the process. 2. Calendula officinalis ‘Zeolights’ At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. I didn’t make tags when I planted the seeds in the spring.3. Gurensey Lily (Nerine bowdenii) The story behind this is that I bought the bulb for half price late in the season last year, planted it in the ground at the back of the garden and forgot about it until a flower stalk appeared late this summer. It is not meant to be hardy here but must have overwintered due to my garden’s sandy (well draining) and an exceptionally mild winter last year.

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July 20, 2012

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Herbaria (July 20, 2012)

The theme for this week is fruit. Fruit as a plant part as opposed to fruits such as strawberries and bananas, although you’ll notice some of those, too. It seems that fruit — some edible and some not — is forming in every corner of the garden. Flower diversity is still high, it’s just that many of the flowers are there in the service of forming fruit and are not there to be pretty in their own right.

The Scorched Earth. This is also the first week that marked significant loss and suffering as a result of the intense heat and drought we are experiencing. There are going to be some significant holes in the garden by the time the summer is out. I don’t think I am going to have extra ‘Hahms Gelbe Topftomate’ seeds as a result. I inexplicably gave all of my seedlings away but one and that one was in a pot that was cooked during this week’s heat emergency. Drat. The plant went from green and lush to yellow within the span of a single day. It is holding on and could recover if things stay as cooled off as they are now. It’s amazing what one bad day can bring. It’s a good lesson and reminder in how much we should respect our farmers who are at the mercy of whatever insanity the season brings. Amazingly, all of my other tomatoes are perfectly fine.

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April 18, 2012

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Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue… and White, and Red, and All Sorts Come to Think of It

The violets are blooming and as always I am taken in by their sweet fragrance and colourful little faces. I met a gardener yesterday afternoon, a woman decades my senior, and as we spoke of the violets in her garden and our mutual affection for their graceful charm, I was surprised to learn that she did not know that they are edible!

Labrador Violet (Viola labradorica) growing in the garden of the gardener I met yesterday afternoon. She said that, “…they like it underneath the tree.”

I love the combination here of Labrador Violet (Viola labradorica) with chartreuse Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’)

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March 1, 2012

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Pretend It’s Spring

I just wrote and deleted a lengthy paragraph dedicated to complaining about the snow that came and went and came again and the lack of snow that has been the nattering gossip of the 2011/2012 winter season, but then I deleted it because COME ON…

I wonder, does obsessing about the weather come with being a gardener or does it simply provide me with an excuse to voice it? I’ve been a gardener for so long now that I no longer recall what I complained or obsessed about in the years BC (Before Cultivation).

All I know is that I woke up this morning, looked out the window and decided that a springtime picture was the order of the day.

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