Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening - 2017

We had a bad growing season this year; too much rain and not many hot days. It's late August as I write this and I am wearing a long-sleeve hoodie...

This is what happens when you have heavy, frequent rainfalls and clay soil. If it weren't for the raised beds, my seedlings would have died I think. Some of the other plots were completely submerged. (This photo was taken in early June...)

Red Russian kale. I like this kale much more than the curly-leaf kind. The texture is more tender, the flavour milder. If you hate kale, I'd say give this one a chance. Great in stir-frys and soups. Never tried it in a smoothie, though.

Broad beans. None of the grocers carry them here. Each plant has a few thick, straight pods; with a few beans inside. I've tried just boiling it with a bit of salt and it's pretty tasty. The beans have a smooth texture and a buttery taste. I only experimented with a few plants this year. Will probably increase the number of plants next year.

Soy beans. The plants are very productive. I ate the immature pods as edamame (boiled pods in slightly salty water) and I saved and dried some of them for seed.

Yep, more beans. :-) These are 'Tiger's Eye' and 'Calypso' (a.k.a Ying Yang) beans. They lose their cool colours when cooked, though. Excellent flavor and texture; great in soups or stews.

Some kind of Chinese gourd... They look vaguely like cucumbers, but with a coarser skin.

Chinese bottle gourd. I think you can dry these and use them as water bottles, hence the name.

Despite the lack of hot weather, I still managed a decent harvest of tomatoes. A far cry from last year's harvest, though.

'Sweet Fall' squash. I had a few plants, but each plant only bore one squash. Cool tear-drop shape, nice peachy colour, very sweet flavour. I would describe the flavor as a combination of pumpkin and sweet potato.

I think this is called marrow, but I like to call it white zucchini. Similar to the green zucchini but not as productive.

Chioggia beets. I have no idea how to pronounce it - CHIO-GEE-A? KEE-O-GIA? I'll just call it candy-cane beets. It has a very good, sweet flavour, and doesn't seem to get woody, which regular beets tend to do when they get large.

Garlic! The crop that keeps on giving.