Goodbye Garden

Some of you who follow my Instagram or other social feeds might already know we have moved. Part of this move means saying goodbye to my garden of 4 years, and starting a new life as a balcony gardener. This post is going to be on the photo heavy side, because I don’t really have a lot to say about our change. I’ll continue to garden in this new way, and keep writing about it here although the topics will be even more focused on small space and container gardening. Nothing else about the blog will change other than the “Grow” topic, since I am more than able to continue with the “Find, Eat, and Make” categories that I normally write about.

We’ll miss our time here - especially the incredible views - but we’re looking forward to settling in to our new place, and tackling the challenges that come with growing plants on a balcony.

I’ll be updating more about our new place soon, and there is also new stuff coming down the pipe for the A Forager’s Home Shop (specifically winter/Christmas related things) so stay tuned here for updates! It’s been a little while since I last updated this blog, but moving has really commanded all my attention! I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of things again now that we are almost settled in.

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July Harvest Totals

Asterisk denotes foraged items.

• Beets (mixed): 970g
• Calendula: 7g
• Carrots (rainbow): 339g
• Chamomile: 28g
• Garlic Scapes: 12g
• Hyssop: 39g
• Kale (Red Russian): 54g
• Pansies: 10g
• Peas (Amish Snap): 131g
• Peas (Green Arrow): 118g
• Raspberries: 587g
• Rhubarb: 128g
• Strawberries: 19g
• Tomato (Italian Golden Love Apple): 11g
• Tomato (Uptown Funk): 57g
• Zucchini: 84g

Total: 2.6kg

At first I was disappointed to see my harvest totals were so low for this month, but then when I looked back I found I actually did about the same - if not slightly better - than this month last year. We tend to do a lot of travelling in July, so there isn't a lot of time around the house to garden or forage. It's also been rather smoky out with the wildfire conditions, so we haven't been making a whole lot of trips out to gather anything wild. 

Normally my peas do better than this, but I messed up on trellising the Green Arrow ones that normally do quite well for me, and the Amish Snap I was growing out mainly to replenish my seed for upcoming seasons, so I was leaving the best looking pods on the vines to fully mature. It was a good year for berries (although Little Forager gets to the few strawberry plants I have before I can get most of them to the scale) and I am sure this was the most raspberries I've ever picked. We even missed out on the last few due to the timing of our vacations. It was also a sad year for the rhubarb. I'm not sure why but if it does this poorly next year I'm going to try it in a new location and see what happens.

June Harvest Totals

Asterisk denotes foraged item.

• Basil (purple): 2 g
• Beets (mixed): 57 g
• Calendula: 14 g
• Carrots (mixed): 91 g
• Chamomile: 50 g
• Dill: 36 g
• Haskap Berries: 160 g
• Hyssop: 39 g
• Kale (Red Russian): 76 g
• Lemon Balm: 7 g
• Mint (Mojito): 5 g
• Mint (Peppermint): 11 g
• Mint (Pineapple): 11 g
• *Orach: 115 g
• Orach: 96 g
• Pansies: 2 g
• Peas (Amish Snap): 84 g
• Raspberries: 15 g
• Rhubarb: 37 g
• Sage: 4 g
• Saskatoon Berries: 3147 g
• Spinach: 43 g
• Strawberries: 21 g
• Tarragon: 14 g
• Thyme: 2 g

Total: 4.2 kg

This June seemed to have less going on in the garden for some reason. Last year I got more peas, more rhubarb, I remembered to pick the wild asparagus, and just overall I got about two kilos more from the garden and the wild. I'm not sure what's going on with my rhubarb - I guess it's having an off year. Last year I harvested nearly a kilogram from it in June, but this year just a a few little stalks! I'm going to give it more fertilizer in the fall this year and see if that helps kickstart it for the spring. It also got pretty choked in with weeds, so maybe I didn't get to those in time.

I suspected the peas would be a smaller harvest this year, because I was very picky about the seed I was saving from the Amish Snap Peas I've been planting and saving for over 5 seasons now. They were starting to look quite a bit different from what I remember receiving from Seed Savers Exchange almost six years ago. I kept only 15 seeds from last year because I only wanted seeds from pods that produced at least three seeds per pod, and looked smooth and round - identical to what I received when I purchased them. I also held off on harvesting some of the most beautiful pods growing from them because I want to make sure that my seed is excellent for the years to come. I can't save seeds from many things because my garden is too small, but legumes, and a few other things are possible so I want to do the best job I can with stewarding those varieties.

Despite the lack of rhubarb, the berries this month have been fantastic. I've never seen saskatoons, or raspberries the size I've been picking this month. Raspberries were just beginning to ripen, but they were all enormous and so heavy the branches on my little bushes were all falling over! The wild saskatoons this here were also gigantic. Our bowl full of them looked more like cranberries or grapes. I have some cultivated saskatoons in my freezer from last year, and these are almost double their size, when it's usually the other way around!

There is also a lot of promise still out there in the garden. My tomato plants are getting big, and many have already set quite a bit of fruit which I wait for with great anticipation! I've got loads of sun chokes, the quinoa is about to flower, and the beans are climbing high! I also have a bed of the healthiest looking brassicas I've ever grown, so those are making me pretty happy each time I step out into the garden. All in all it's been a decent month for harvesting, but I look forward to the major bounty that is to come as summer reaches its fullness.

Growing Up - Trellises and Other Garden Structures

I don't have a whole lot of space to garden, so I try my best to make the most of my vertical space using trellises and other structures. We're also renting our space, so nothing can be too permanent. I've designed my whole garden to be able to be taken apart if we need to move - we'll undo the raised beds, and the grass that is seeded there will be so healthy from my lovely garden soil. I say that as a preface because there are other great options out there, but for us it is most important that they work well, are cheap, and are easy to remove when needed.

We work with bamboo poles and twine, for the most part. This year we wanted to do some low tunnels over our raised beds, so we bought some PVC pipe and rebar stakes. We cut them too big last year, but that worked in our favour because I am enjoying using their length for trellising. In the above photos you can see my twine and PVC archway (left) that I have peas growing up one side, and cucumbers and squash on the other. In the photo on the right is a square trellis for peas that I made by weaving thinner bamboo stakes (6 ft. length) and leaning it against the wall. You can see it more fully in the photo below.

The above photo is a bit cluttered, but it does show what the garden actually looks like on a day to day basis - not just when I take a beautiful photo for Instagram! You can see my potato tower here, which I am still enjoying using. I've actually added another bin to grow potatoes in this way since it worked so well. I've got some chicken wire for things to grow up, and the long line of poles and twine is something I am trying for tomato supports. I've seen a lot of people use farm fencing for this, so I sort of made my own thing using six foot hardwood stakes, bamboo poles, and twine. The stakes are drilled into the raised beds, and the poles are keeping each tomato plant upright. The twine running between them keeps everything together and strong. 

We're also using plants as trellises - I put in a lot of sunchokes this year, and I've got beans planted below to climb them. I've done the same elsewhere with sunflowers. I'm hoping the corn will grow tall enough to help some of my beans out as well, but I've got some other supports ready in case it fails me again this year.

What are some of your favourite ways to use the vertical space in your garden? I'd love to hear all about it in the comment section!

May Harvest Totals

Asterisk Denotes Foraged Item

• Chamomile: 9 g
• *Dandelion Greens: 394 g
• *Dandelion Petals: 120 g
• Douglas Fir Cones: 120 g
• Green Garlic: 12 g
• Lemon Balm: 7 g
• Lettuce (Volunteer): 6 g
• *Lilac Flowers: 482 g
• Mint (Mojito): 8 g
• Mixed Greens: 145 g
• Pansies: 3 g
• Pea Shoots: 10 g
• Rhubarb: 151 g
• Sage: 1 g
• Strawberries: 11 g
• Tarragon: 2 g
• Thyme: 1 g
• *Wild Lettuce: 180 g

Total: 1.662 kg

This month was an interesting one for me, because usually the bulk of what I harvest in May is wild Asparagus, and this time for some reason I never made it out to my spot to gather any.  Initially the smaller harvest total was a bit discouraging, because ideally I'd like my self sufficiency to increase over time.  However, when I looked at last year's harvest total and subtracted what was asparagus, I found that this year I'd quadrupled my non-asparagus harvest!  The other thing that amazed me was that last year my "May" totals were actually April and May combined.  This year we were able to gather enough earlier that I tallied everything up for March and April's harvest so this year is already bringing in a more plentiful and diverse harvest.

One of the most interesting new things added to my spring harvest totals are these Douglas fir cones (pictured below).  I picked these while they were still green, and they have the most beautiful aroma.  I'd seen a few people posting on Instagram that they were using them for flavouring, so I decided to blend them up into a flavoured sugar.  They have the most beautiful aroma and a bright citrus/crabapple taste with forest notes that is really hard to describe.  I'm imagining making Christmas cookies this winter from sugar flavoured with a Christmas tree!  I also think these would make an incredible sorbet flavour too so I'm hoping to get out before they mature too much and gather some more to experiment with.

What are you harvesting these days?  Leave me a note in the comments and I'd love to hear how this spring of gardening and/or foraging is going for you!