Thanksgiving, and the passage through mid to late October, has been a time of intense appreciation for the gifts of beauty and bounty from the garden.
During a holiday weekend visit from my son we celebrated with a meal centred around a small chicken from a local farm. Potatoes, carrots, minted peas, and winter squash made into a richly spiced “pumpkin” pie, all from the garden, completed a meal to be thankful for.
I’ve been more acutely grateful than ever for the freshly dug carrots and the frozen peas this year. They had been truly missed after last year’s intense heat damaged the plantings at their most vulnerable, seedling stage.
The potatoes were a surprise gift from an unexpectedly robust “volunteer” plant that sprang up in a front garden flower bed. The plant was so strong and perky that I could not bring myself to remove it.
Good call. Just before Thanksgiving I dug into the ground under the withered plant and harvested a large bowlful of perfect, oval potatoes. For our holiday meal I baked some of them tender in a covered pot and gently crushed them down with the base of a sturdy mug. From the pressing, a mass of fluffy potato burst from the skins, ready to receive a smooth, savoury covering of gravy.
This potato cooking method is known as “smashed” potatoes.” It’s a simplified version of traditional mashed potatoes.
Autumn garden snacks. Because the fall had been mild and not excessively rainy, ripe berries remained on the Fall Gold raspberries — the sweetest and most intensely flavourful raspberries I’ve ever encountered. A small bowl of the berries fills a room with their delicious aroma. Every visitor to the garden is invited to snack on these exquisite delicacies when they are in season.
In a wet fall, the last berries on the two-crop canes too often become mouldy. This year they remained in beautiful condition into mid-October.
We also feasted on Sun Dipper tomatoes still on their vines. These small, elongated tomatoes are so flavourful that my son — not usually a tomato lover — relishes them.
Late season flowers. And there were flowers at Thanksgiving, from the last few early summer zinnia, cosmos and lavatera transplants I located against a four-metre length of wire in the space previously occupied by shelling peas.
Annual flowers transplanted earlier into a front garden bed had been ruined by rabbit foraging. I needed to find a safe haven for these last transplants in a space already bunny-proofed with short wire fencing to protect the pea plants.
The result has been a fine floral display of healthy, flower-laden plants. My son took photos of a lovely annual lavatera called Pink Blush. The bushy, 80-cm plans produced masses of hibiscus-like pink flowers beautifully veined in deep cerise.
A new (to me) cosmos in the planting is the award-winning double click, which produced 120-cm tall plants with clouds of fine, ferny foliage adorned with double flowers.
Both these annual flowers produced long-lasting Thanksgiving bouquets to enhance the holiday weekend atmosphere in the house.
GARDEN EVENTS
Walk and talks. Russell Nursery, 1370 Wain Rd. in North Saanich, has resumed its popular “Walk & Talks” sessions — informal but informative talks that take place outdoors, around the nursery. Attendance is free and drop-in. Meet under the large willow tree in the parking lot at 10 a.m.
* Behind the Scenes Tour with Laurel. Sunday, Nov. 3. Find out what happens behind “Staff Only” signs at the nursery as Laurel chats about the nursery’s organization and growing practices. A potting demo is included. This Walk and Talk is one hour in length. Participants must be able to walk on uneven ground for that time.
* Felco Secateurs. Sunday, Nov. 10. Wondering why Felco hand pruners are so popular? Learn why, and how to properly care for them. Kathryn will offer guidance on selecting and maintaining Felco secateurs. This session will be the usual 20 to 30 minutes.
Holiday wreath making classes. Registration is open now for wreath making classes at Russell Nursery. These classes fill quickly. There are 21 of them between Nov. 16 and Dec. 10, followed by a Dec. 15 class for children 13 and under: Kid’s Table Arrangement. Proceeds from registration for this class go to the Saanich Lions Food Bank. Find more information and register, with payment by credit card, at russellnursery.com/classes.
