This year鈥檚 harvesting period (my 鈥渟quirrelly鈥� time) has been crowded with processing garden foods and storing them for winter meals. The large wok I use for making fruit and vegetable sauces, soups and pie fillings has had barely enough time to cool down before being enlisted for the next project.
I made two batches of apple-plum sauce, sweetened and spiced with slivers of candied ginger. No other sugar added. An immersion blender quickly turns the cooked blend into a smooth pur茅e that I freeze in saved yoghurt and sour cream containers.
The sauce has multiple uses, as a dessert topping over plain yoghurt, a jam, and, when still frozen, as a refreshing sorbet.
I use the wok to make an onion and zucchini pur茅e that becomes a superb winter comfort food with added milk or cream 鈥� a silky-smooth, mild-flavoured soup.
Another favourite 鈥渃omfort鈥� meal in winter is cream of tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich. The summer tomatoes, chopped, go into the wok and are cooked with just a little salt and sugar. A frozen container of the tomatoes is quickly transformed, with the addition of milk or cream and the attentions of an immersion blender, into a delicious soup.
I鈥檝e made more than the usual number of zucchini tarts this summer, some for giving away. Again, the wok is employed to fry an onion and sliced zucchini in butter. Cream and eggs added to the vegetables complete the filling.
The zucchini plants have been remarkably productive. Two big, vigorous plants stayed free of powdery mildew until early September. I have two young ones, seeded in July, starting to form autumn zucchinis on mildew-free plants. Powdery mildew affects mainly older leaves.
Peppers. Two pepper plantings in patio tubs have been a surprise. I鈥檝e grown Little Red and Little Orange (T&T Seeds) before, under different names. The plants had always grown as described 鈥� bushy and compact at 25 to 30 cm high.
This year, both plantings shot up on steel-like stems. The three Little Orange plants are a metre tall. Together, they look like a bushy Christmas tree decorated with a multitude of bright orange, elongated ornaments. Little Orange was the first to produce ripened peppers.
The Little Red planting is about 60 cm, with larger, bright red peppers. By early September these plants, too, were liberally laden with fully coloured peppers.
I鈥檓 slicing and roasting the peppers with chopped Roma tomatoes, onion, garlic and basil, all drizzled with oil. The end product, frozen in small packages, makes a tasty appetizer spooned onto crackers and topped with sliced olives or pieces of hard-boiled egg.
Thanksgiving. After 18 months of uncertainty and stress, there is still much to be thankful for. Our gardens have helped to keep us anchored in the stabilizing pattern of the seasons: growth and ripening, harvesting and storing, seeing our home landscape ease into a winter of quiet repose.
Has anything happened over the 鈥減andemic鈥� gardening months that has sparked gratitude in you? Perhaps a newly discovered plant or a refreshed appreciation for a familiar one? Flowers that lightened your mood? Home-grown food that brought delight?
Should a gratitude-inducing memory come to mind, consider sending me a brief description in an email. I鈥檒l select some to share in the Thanksgiving weekend column, which I鈥檒l be writing at the end of this month.
Plant sale. The Horticulture Centre of the 91原创, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is hosting a Fall Plant Sale on Friday, Sept. 24, and Saturday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. To minimize crowding and facilitate physical distancing, the sale will be open on Thursday, Sept. 23, for HCP members and volunteers only. The sale will be extensive, with plants propagated over the spring and ready to plant out now. All plants will be reduced by 25 per cent, with further discounts in the Bargain Bin. Garden admission is free during the sale. Master gardeners will be available to answer questions.
New hours, membership. The HCP gardens are open for the fall and winter from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free for HCP members. For others: adults (16 and over) $12, seniors (60 and over) and students $9. Memberships are available at the centre or online at hcp.ca. Visitors are welcome to bring a picnic, but glass and alcohol are not allowed.
