Tips to help you make the most of harvest time

It’s harvest time for gardeners, and the most proactive among us are picking up the pickling jar and getting to work. The harvest is coming in fast and furious.

If you are among the many people who did not plant vegetables, consider visiting the farmers’ market or pick-your-own farm for fresh, locally grown produce. These are a wealth of raw material for the health-oriented foodie.

WHY GROW YOUR OWN?

If you are among the many happy readers who invested in the sowing and tilling of a vegetable garden this summer, you are in luck, as your tomatoes are reaching their peak in late summer and fall.

There is a tendency, however, to overlook many of the flowering plants that perform well this time of year and are edible. Here are a few of our favourite “garden variety” plants that can help you beef up your daily quotient of greens, while exploring some new taste sensations.

Pot Marigold. Calendula – a brilliant colour and warm flavour. A few hundred years ago, the petals were used to add colour to cheese. Now it is recognized for its high carotene content, the antioxidant nutrient found in carrots and squash. To add colour and nutrition to rice, add half a cup of finely cut up calendula petals to two cups of rice.
They love sun and tolerate frost, so you don’t have to kiss your crop goodbye as soon as the first frost arrives and they bloom late into the season.

Mints. They are creeping around your perennial garden and possibly at the base of your roses. You may hate them for their aggressive growth habit, but they are a popular herb. The leaves produce a wonderfully tasty addition to many table dishes. Our advice: Get even and cut them back, using the leaves for a variety of culinary purposes.

Sprinkle cut leaves on fresh fruit, ice cream, or add some of the flowers to the frosting on a cake. To avoid the hassle of aggressive, perhaps invasive, plants, try the new hybrids that generally behave and “clump” rather than travel. Mark really likes the new Cat Mint “Cats Pyjamas.”

Nasturtiums. This may be the easiest to grow and the most overlooked edible flowering plant on this list. Every part of the plant is edible, and the flower is now famous as a colourful garnish wherever a peppery flavour is favoured. Salads, salad dressing, vinegar, in cakes with a cream cheese frosting, or add petals to pasta dishes. The seeds also produce a peppery flavour that stores well in a jar with vinegar.

Nasturtiums grow best in an open soil and bright sunshine. We grow them from seed for best results. Water frequently as they don’t like to dry out; leaves turn yellow and eventually the plant will collapse. Sometimes this year’s crop will self-sow for another crop next year.

Roses. It might surprise you that every garden variety rose is a “salad enhancer” in waiting. Add colour and a unique flavour to anything green by adding some rose petals. Be certain that your edible rose petals have not been sprayed with pesticide before use.

Gladiola. They are in bloom in your garden and at farmers’ markets right now. They are inexpensive and they are, you guessed it, edible. Use the flower petals to dress up a steak hot off the barbecue or to enhance the appearance and taste of a salad.

Garlic. Perhaps a bit obvious as an edible, but not so well known is that the best time to plant garlic is in the fall. After the first frost consider planting some in your garden for harvest next august. Another popular edible available fresh for most any farmers’ market this time of year.
There are many ways that you can expand your usual food offerings this time of year. If ever there was a time to experiment and stretch your taste buds, this is it. Harvest season comes but once a year.