Summer Crops

To round out your vegetable garden here are some of the staples for the kitchen.

Summer isn't summer until you have had fresh picked Corn on the cob.  Even in a small city garden planting a few Corn together in a container can produce a number of cobs for one summer barbecue feast.  The plants themselves are great as center points because of their vertical height and can be edged with bush beans for ornamental and edible accent.  Remember to plant close (15-20cm apart) for best pollination, a small circular groups works well.  Corn requires regular fertilizing to grow well.  They will be available in 606 (6 plants per pot/insert) in May for harvest late summer. 

Along with Corn, Cucumbers are the other necessity for summer cooking.  Cucumber sandwiches and salads to help cool down those summer evenings.  The varieties we offer are compact vines suitable for containers and small spaces with good production for a long period in the summer.  They prefer a warm, sunny location in the garden, feed regularly with a mild fertilizer.  Do not let them dry out as this will cause the fruit to go bitter. Plants will be available in 9cm pots in May.

Eggplant, most often associated with Indian and Mediterranean cooking, are great ornamental plants too.  Available in May in 9cm pots there are a range of varieties with colours ranging from pure white fruit to blush pink, striped purple or deepest black.  Easy to grow in a sunny, warm location in the garden in soils that are moisture retentive but well drained.  Grown in containers they should be fed regularly with a mild fertilizer. Our favourite way of eating eggplant in the summer is to brush slices of eggplant with an olive oil and garlic mix and barbecue them.

The last group of vegetables associated with summer abundance and autumn harvest are the Squash.  We have specially selected more compact forms where ever we were able to, as many squash require huge growing areas that are not feasible in a city garden.  Very tropical looking they all have large foliage and flowers some with silver markings on the leaves.  All require a relatively fertile soil in a sunny location and once established are quite tough plants.  In containers do not let them dry out as the leaves will scorch and regular mild fertilizing would be recommended.  These plants will be available in May in 9cm pots.  The come in two distinct groups that are treated differently.

Summer Squash are soft shelled fruit that are eaten fresh off the vine, the smaller the better.  These include Zucchini, Pattipan and Scallopini type squash with various uses from salads to deep fried or barbecued.  The flowers are also edible and are often prepared stuffed.  Keep picking for continuous harvest through the summer.

Winter Squash are hard shelled fruit that you leave on the vine until the fall picking before the first frost.  Post harvest ripening and drying of the fruit of 24 hours in full sun is required before storing in a cool, dark place (unheated crawl space or garage attached to home works).  This groups covers a very diverse heritage with North American Pumpkins, French heirloom Butternut Squash, modern sweet fleshed Acorn Squash and many others in different shapes, sizes and colours.  These vegetables are winter menu staples from pumpkin pie to soups and casseroles.