BC Farms & Food

Small-scale dry bean growers often lack the large equipment needed to quickly thresh their crop. In this video, Rebecca Jehn of Rebecca’s Garden in Victoria, BC, demonstrates a fast, low-tech method for threshing dried beans.
read more…

Want to eat fresh lettuce and salad greens this winter?  Late summer to early fall is the time to plant your winter garden.

◄ Prev.  

1/11

  Next ►

Spinach grows well throughout the winter when protected in a cold frame or tunnel. Low winter light slows the growth. Young tender spinach leaves have an earthy flavour that pairs well with fruit in fresh salads.

Lettuce thrives well into winter in a cold frame or hoop house. Choose cold-hardy varieties such as Romaine or Cos, Buttercrunch or Bibb, and loose leaf lettuces. Harvest as baby greens for crisp, mild salads. Grows slowly in low winter light.

Mâche (Corn Salad, Lamb’s Lettuce) germinates best when overnight temperatures are below 10ºC / 50ºF. Low-growing, with a small rosette of delicate leaves, mâche has a mild, refreshing flavour. Cut the entire plant and serve intact. Easily bruised.

Claytonia (Miner’s Lettuce, Winter Purslane) is a cold-hardy West Coast native. Its succulent leaves and stems make it a top choice for salads. Cut the stems, leaving at least 5 cm (2 inches), and the leaves will grow back.

Arugula (Rocket) grows quickly with frost protection in the low light of winter. This tender green has a distinctive sharp flavour, which is milder during cold weather. Use arugula to add bite to fresh salads, or as a pizza topping.

Radicchio, such as the Treviso variety (above), thrives in cool weather and tolerates light frost. The bitter leaves of this chicory become mellower in cold temperatures. Radicchio's pungent taste goes well with balsamic vinegar.

Endive (above), frisée, and escarole grow easily during cooler months. Frisée has distinctive narrow, finely pointed leaves. Escarole has broad, rounded leaves. These chicories taste mildly bitter and add accent to salad.

Red Mustard greens, with their striking green and red leaves, grow well in winter. Frost deepens the flavour and colour. Tender when young, the peppery taste of this cold-hardy brassica sharpens as it matures. Eat fresh in salads, or stir fry.

Baby Bok Choi and Tatsoi are small-size relatives of broccoli, collards, and kale, which also grow in winter. These frost tolerant cabbage-like vegetables have thick crunchy ribs and tasty leaves. Bok choi grows upright; tatsoi forms a rosette.

Mizuna, an Asian green with distinctive jagged leaves and a pungent flavour, grows quickly in cool weather. Mizuna has a peppery taste that adds spice to stir-fries and soups. The small pointed leaves of mizuna bring texture to fresh salads.

Baby Beet Greens, the leaves of immature beet roots, like cool temperatures and tolerate light frost. Clip only a couple of leaves from each plant to allow the root to continue to grow. These tender, slightly bitter greens add vibrant colour to salads.

If you like fresh garden salads, you’ll be glad to know you can grow a full range of salad greens throughout the winter in our moderate southern BC maritime climate. Leafy winter salad vegetables come in a variety of flavours, colours and textures—from peppery to earthy, crunchy to delicate.
read more…

RECIPE

To me, this salad is like a taste of summer. There’s something more to it than its simple ingredients might suggest. Cucumber, fresh dill, and garlic, the bite of vinaigrette, and a touch of sugar meld together into a salad that is pleasingly pungent and slightly sweet.

I make this Cucumber Dill Salad recipe over and over again during cucumber season. I think you will too!

read more…

It’s becoming possible to eat ripe local tomatoes year-round in South Coast, BC. Through the use of season extension in the garden, careful choice of tomato varieties, and planned buying and storage, you can access a supply of fresh tomatoes throughout most of the year.

Whether you plant your own or simply buy local, here’s how:
read more…

Unless you build a tall fence, the best way to minimize deer damage in a vegetable garden is to grow plants deer don’t like to eat. This year, try planting from our list of deer-resistant fruit, herb, and vegetable plants below.

read more…

What do you know about the soil in your garden? Knowing your soil type can help you determine what to plant and how to amend your garden to its best advantage. Three simple do-it-yourself tests can help you find out the texture, composition and pH (acidity or alkalinity) of your soil. By doing a 2-minute hand test, by assessing the texture of your soil in a jar, and by looking at the weeds that grow naturally in your garden, you can learn a lot.

Three Kinds of Soil

All soil comes from components of rock: sand, silt and clay. The kind of dirt you have in your garden depends on the proportion of each of these components.
read more…

Making your own pantry staple foods is a way to eat better and lower your food bills at the same time. We’ve put together nine of our favourite basic staple food recipes—from condiments and sauce, to bean pots, soup, bread, crackers, and pastry.

read more…

Ever wondered what is the best way to cook different kinds of potatoes? Russets, fingerlings, white potatoes, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, and blue potatoes. Here’s a guide to potato varieties and how to use them best.

Slideshow: A Guide to Potatoes—How to Cook Each Variety

◄ Prev.  

1/7

  Next ►

Potatoes may be the most economical vegetable you can grow or buy. High in complex carbohydrates, a source of protein and fibre, this long-time comfort food is cholesterol free and has almost no fat of its own.

Red Potatoes – Chieftain, Red Pontiac, Red La Soda - Red potatoes have smooth reddish skin and white flesh, and are generally round and waxy, with a firm texture. They have less starch than russets or whites. Good in soups, potato salads, boiled, steamed, sauteed, roasted, and scalloped/au gratin.

Yellow Potatoes – Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, German Butterball - Yellow potatoes have golden flesh and skin, with a buttery flavour. These versatile potatoes are good boiled, mashed, steamed, baked, roasted or French fried. Not as well-suited for shredded dishes, such as gratins.

Blue Potatoes – All Blue, Russian Blue - Sought after for their unique colour, blue potatoes have a deep purple flesh and skin. With low moisture and high starch (solids) content, blues are often boiled, steamed, baked, mashed or roasted.

White Potatoes – White Rose, Cascade - White potatoes have white flesh and a smooth light skin. Whites have less starch than russets. They are good in soups, boiled, steamed, mashed, roasted, fried, au gratin, scalloped and in potato salads.

Fingerling Potatoes – Russian Banana, French Fingerlings - Fingerlings have a distinctive elongated shape with light yellow flesh and smooth skin. Flavourful, waxy and firm textured, these unique potatoes are delicious roasted with herbs. Fingerlings are also good steamed, boiled, baked or in salads.

Russet Potatoes – Russet Burbank, Century Russet, Russet Norkotah - Perhaps the best known of all potatoes, russets are large with brown, netted skin and white flesh. High in starch, russets are the quintessential baking potato. They are also good mashed, roasted or French fried.

read more…

RECIPE

Homemade biscotti are nothing like the dried-out versions you find in coffee shops. These twice-baked Italian cookies are crisp, nutty, and eminently delectable. Make these biscotti with local hazelnuts or use pecans for even richer flavour.

read more…

Wondering how to grow a healthy garden in the face of weather extremes? Protect your plants using microclimates. Here are 13 easy ways to protect plants from wind, rain, cold, heat, and drought.

Using Microclimates to Shelter Plants from Weather Extremes

Adapting your growing area to protect young plants from wind, rain, cold, heat, and drought is key to a successful garden. You can do this by creating microclimates—specially designed areas in your garden that offer protection from the elements, so that your plants can thrive.

Microclimates are small areas that have different growing conditions from the surrounding region. These spaces can shelter plants and seedlings that are not strong enough to survive weather extremes. For example, a microclimate such as a wind buffer or a sun trap (a space that captures heat and sunlight) can shelter plants from cold. In drought conditions, a cool microclimate, such as the area under a tree canopy or an umbrella, can shade the plants beneath it and retain water to minimize heat stress.

As climate change brings more weather extremes, it is more important than ever to build microclimates into your garden. The predictable weather patterns we knew and counted on are becoming unpredictable. One week the weather may be hot and sunny—perfect for tomato transplants. The next week a cold wind pushes over young plants and chills their roots. When you create microclimate shelter areas in your garden, you help plants not only survive, but flourish during unpredictable weather.

read more…

Gardeners who save seed, or grow and harvest grains, know that separating seeds from their pods or husks can be a time-consuming job. While large industrial growers use machines to thresh and winnow seed crops, home seed savers can look to a number of simpler tools to accomplish the task. Once cleaned, seeds stored in moisture-proof containers can last for several years.

Here are six devices for separating seeds from debris and chaff:

read more…