I research and try new ideas. Everything I write about, I have tried; some ideas worked, others didn’t.
What we don’t eat, we store. We use a vacuum sealer device for our frozen vegetables and store our root vegetables in peat.
- Harvesting starts in June with the picking, eating, and freezing of Haskap berries. They are similar to blueberries, but more tart. They freeze without blanching.
- By mid July, Saskatoons are ready for picking, eating, and freezing. They too, freeze without blanching.
- Raspberries start to ripen in the latter part of July into mid August. Because I use a vacuum sealer, I freeze the berries on a tray first so the juice doesn’t stop the vacuum process.
- Strawberries start to ripen in July and continue to the first frost. These, we eat.
- Lettuce grows all summer. If you have too much lettuce, try lettuce soup. Not bad.
- Thin beets in July and cook as greens. The leaves of young beets are very tasty. Pull larger beets as needed. Pull the rest in September and store in moist peat for up to two months.
- Swiss chard can be picked as early as July. Cut individual leaves off each plant. They are quickly replaced with new growth.
- Pick peas when the pods are full. They are best eaten fresh, but can be blanched and frozen. If they’re too large, dry them to make pea soup
- Harvest beans in late July or August. Eat or freeze. To freeze, first blanch them in boiling water for two to three minutes, and vacuum freeze.
- Zucchini start to produce in July and from then on you can hardly keep up. Harvest them when they are small. We also shred and freeze some for zucchini cake, muffins, or cookies.
- Pick cucumbers before they yellow. Eat fresh or make into pickles. Dill comes from the garden.
- Pick and boil Nanking Cherries to make juice.
- Pick choke cherries in late August and make into jelly or pancake syrup.
- Pull onions out about 10 days after their tops bend to the ground. Cut the tops off a centimetre from the bulb to prevent rotting of the bulb. Cure them in a warm room for at least two weeks. Store in a cool room.
- Pick rhubarb as soon as the stalks are large. Eat in pies, fruit, or freeze without blanching.
- Pick pumpkin or squash when the outer skin is hard. Then wipe them with disinfectant and cure for a couple of weeks in a warm area. Store in a dry, cool place. You can also mash and freeze the flesh. Keep the seeds, dry, and cook in a frying pan with butter and salt until brown.
- Freeze excess tomatoes on a tray and then vacuum seal. Fry green tomatoes.
- Pull cabbage up by the root and place in a tub of moist soil, root down, in a cool area. They should keep for up to two months. Use excess to make sauerkraut.
- Store vegetables (carrots, turnip, parsnips, beets) in damp peat in single layers. Do not wash, merely brush off any dirt. They will keep at about 10 C until March. Dampen the peat if it dries.
- Parsnips withstand freezing and can be dug up in the spring before they start to grow.
- Dig potatoes as late as possible. Cure in a cool dark place for a couple of weeks and store in the dark at about 10 C. Potatoes stored in the light turn green, a poison. Do not eat.
- Save seeds of your heirloom vegetables.
Charles Schroder is a St. Albert resident and an avid gardener.
