I can barely call myself a gardener. For four years now, I’ve had a garden plot in the southwest of Montreal and I’ve learned a little from the Bangladeshi women, Quebecois men and published authors who share my tree-lined oasis right next to a train track. Why there’s a hammock when the VIA and CN trains pass every 20 minutes or so and could wake the dead?
Except it can’t actually wake the dead, because my zucchini plants died from an annoying cucurbitaceae beetle that loves most varieties of zucchini, melons and squash. I had all these gorgeous plants ready to yield tons and tons of zucchini to be sliced into Thai mango salad, roasted on the BBQ and baked into muffins. And then they all just went to mush. It was devastating. It spread through not only my garden plot and not only my community garden. It affected my friend’s garden in Cote-St-Luc, even, kilometres and kilometres away. It’s also hard to get rid of, so I’ll either be growing one of the disease resistant zucchini cultivars net year or none at all. Sadly.
What did do well? My beans were doing great for a while until the vines just started drying up. My tomatoes had a rough start with some cold weather, but the cherry tomatoes were delicious. Not as delicious as my friend’s Sun Gold yellow-orange ones that were little pieces of tomato candy. I dehydrated a bunch of them with olive oil, salt and oregano for 2 days at a low temp and had to stop myself from eating them all while half-dry. Those were real candy.
My swiss chard was very happy, and it still is. It and the kale are thriving in the finally cooler weather. I couldn’t even start my cucumbers and melons. They kept drying up, despite my olla pots and watering every day. My eggplant have just started flowering, so I doubt I’ll get fruit before the weather turns too cold to ripen it. And I got one lone orange pepper that I thought would be spicy but was sweet. My sorrel had a field day, as usual. The sage is taking over the garden, so I culled it back and dried a ton of it. Need some sage?
And my chives, basil, tarragon, oregano, chamomile (the nicest fresh tea) are all doing well. I still feel the disapproving stares of my Bangladeshi neighbour to the west, who always wins the annual garden competition for best garden. She has a very smart crop rotation system and plans cilantro and peppers in just the right places at just the right times, so there’s always something new popping up all summer long. She also doesn’t have the same problems with dryness that I do. I wish she spoke better English. But it’s kind of like any relationship where if you haven’t broached the subject by the 4th yea you’ve been together, it’s awkward to bring something like that up now. Like asking them to suddenly start cleaning more or helping you out with dinner or doing the dishes (your romantic partner, I mean). It’s a hard conversation to start so late. Too late? No. But it takes more guts now. And I don’t have those. I have an appropriately Canadian sense of inferiority.
And I have sage. Really, would you like some?
Here are some of the dishes I’ve made with my garden produce this year and others:
Greek Dolmades with Grape Leaves (Vegetarian, or add beef)
Tomato, arugula and candied pecan salad:
The easiest dish of all: cherry tomatoes, torn basil and salt. No recipe needed:
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