August in the kitchen garden

Lynne Hermiston is passionate about growing her own food. Her backyard food garden in south Winnipeg is an amazing example of the abundance and diversity of food that can be grown in a relatively small space. But it’s also a prime example of how a zest for learning innovative methods can make food gardening more fun.

Hermiston’s backyard is approximately 10 metres wide and 15 metres deep. The growing area consisting of raised beds and a couple of in-ground beds between her deck and back fence is about nine metres deep. There is not a single blade of turf grass in sight. The design for this attractive and productive space was created by Classic Landscaping four years ago. A series of raised wooden beds mulched with straw are neatly arranged on a light grey, slate-like surface. An inviting centre arbor acts as a focal point and supports climbing plants. The square-shaped raised-bed area receives eight to nine hours of sun daily. It is flanked on one side by a long, linear-shaped bed, planted with flowering perennials that attract and support pollinators.

The food plants Hermiston is growing this summer include tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beets, chickpeas, beans, onions, sweet potatoes, horseradish, garlic, peppers, carrots, pumpkin and cauliflower. She is growing Chinese Pink celery, an heirloom variety with bubblegum-pink stems, for the first time, as well as eggplant.

She also grows salad greens and herbs, which have made delicious additions to her summer recipes this year. Only a few harvests remain of the spinach she planted. But, compared to last year’s growing season, some food plants are taking their time, Hermiston says.

“The weather has been a challenge this year,” she says. “The temperatures in June were so cool that everything was delayed getting started. My tomato plants have been very slow to get going. None of the tomatoes are ready but as soon as they ripen, I will process them right away. I’m just getting baby cucumbers now. Normally I would have tons of beans by now, but I should have some in the next week or two. I’ll be ready to can those, too.”

Hermiston intends to pressure can cauliflower and sweet potatoes.

“I will pressure can some of the regular potatoes to use in soups and stews in the winter,” she says.

Hermiston likes the All American pressure canner because of its precision-machined, metal-to-metal sealing system. “It has a really good reputation,” she says.

She uses the water-bath canning method for acidic food recipes, such as the salsa she makes.

A master gardener trained in the best practices for growing healthy plants, Hermiston has an active desire master methods of preserving homegrown food that she will store for use in the cold winter months ahead.

“Processing food plants is always a bit of a learning curve,” she says.

To hone her skills in canning and fermenting, Hermiston has taken courses at The Food Studio, a cooking school at 3200 Roblin Blvd. Hermiston volunteers weekly at the food garden at FortWhyte Farms and has emulated some of their growing techniques in her own garden, such as the Florida weave trellis system she employs to support tomato plants.

She especially enjoys exchanging ideas with other food gardeners.

“I’ve done the traditional thing with my hardneck garlic after pulling it out of the garden — curing and hanging it to dry. But this summer, when my garden was on the Manitoba Master Gardener Association’s garden tour, a couple of gardeners came through and told me what they do. Just chop up the fresh bulbs, place them in small jars with a bit of olive oil on top, then seal the jars. Others said they simply freeze the garlic. I’m going to try that, too, by putting two cloves each into the individual slots in ice cube trays for about 24 hours. Once the cloves are frozen solid, I will add them to a freezer bag.”

Interestingly, Hermiston hasn’t planted garlic in about five or six years.

“I let the scapes go to seed and drop to the ground. Then the garlic reseeds itself every year,” she says.

Hermiston is planting garlic bulbs this year: “After years of harvesting, the bulbs get smaller and smaller.”

When Hermiston makes tomato paste from the San Marzano tomatoes she grows, she also uses ice cube trays.

“I pour the tomato mixture into each little slot, let it freeze into a cube overnight, then pop the cubes into a large freezer bag,” she says.

It goes a long way. Just this month, Hermiston used the last of her tomato paste from last summer.

Hermiston is growing two varieties of San Marzano tomatoes, one of which she started from seed that a friend brought from her hometown in Italy.

“I plan to save the seeds. I will scoop seeds out of a ripe tomato, place them in a jar with a bit of water, cover the jar with cheesecloth, and let it ferment. Anything that floats up to the surface is non-viable,” she says.

Hermiston will then rinse and dry the viable seeds and store them in a cool, dry, dark place until next spring.

I was intrigued by Hermiston’s chickpea plants and their close resemblance to a small caragana shrub. Both are legume plants with small compound leaves, but chickpea plants have fuzzy leaves and a short, bushy habit.

“This the first time I’ve grown chickpeas,” Hermiston says. “There will be two chickpeas in each pod. I’ll let them completely dry out and then shell them.”

Hermiston started the plants from a bag of dried chickpeas in her kitchen cupboard. After soaking them in water, she spread the beans onto a damp paper towel.

“The beans sprouted within two days,” she says.

Hermiston is growing several chickpea plants in front of a row of tomatoes.

“They are so healthy to eat and good for the tomato plants because they fix nitrogen in the soil,” she says.

Next year, Hermiston may try growing pinto beans and black turtle beans.

Instead of dehydrating the many different types of basil she is growing, Hermiston plans to cut the basil in whole chunks, which she will then tie and hang indoors to dry naturally over the winter. Hermiston also grows fresh herbs year-round in her kitchen in a garden window with glass on three sides that looks directly onto her garden.

It all adds up to healthy eating for Hermiston and her family. But they’re not all who would like to indulge in eating her food plants.

Nearby green spaces, Kilkenny Forest and Dalhousie Forest, are home to numerous creatures who try their darnedest to find a way into Hermiston’s bountiful, mostly critter-proof food garden.

“Oh my, there are deer, raccoons, woodchucks, mice, rabbits – name your critter. We probably have foxes and coyotes, too,” Hermiston says.

Raccoons are especially adept at getting inside one of her compost bins: “I’m getting rid of one of my compost bins because raccoons can rip off the lid no matter what I do.”

Hermiston is keeping her fingers crossed for a warm, extended fall which will give more time for her food plants to ripen.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com