Growing garlic is very satisfying. Simply to be able to harvest your garlic for cooking is such a great feeling. I've always thought it would make a great appetizer for a dinner party to oven roast a bunch of different varieties and taste test them with a baguette and a glass of wine. Then you could languish over the subtleties of flavours of Mexican Purple, Rocambole or Metechi. You may just find that you don't need to pick one favourite; that having a variety is much more fun. Garlic is very easy to grow so if you haven't tried growing garlic before, make this the year you do.

Fall is the very best time to plant garlic.  I say "very" best because you can still plant in the spring if you missed out on fall planting, but planting in autumn will give your garlic the optimal timing for growing.

For gardeners there is little that is more satisfying than looking at your dinner plate and thinking, we grew these spuds, tomatoes and/or salad greens.  We are literally eating the fruits of our labour and we are enjoying it so much we just don't want the fresh supply to come to an end.  Luckily as we harvest the last of the spinach or broccoli plants we create a spot for some new little transplants of lettuce, broccoli or swiss chard to grow.  The best veggies to re-plant now are kale, broccoli, cauliflower, swiss chard and many types of lettuce.

This week I will harvest our garlic that we planted last fall.  Nigel pulled up a couple of our plants a week or so ago and they were wonderful.  Last fall we planted Russian Red, Elephant and white garlic as well as some new varieties.  If you haven't planted garlic before start eyeing up a sunny, well drained area for your fall planting, it really is so simple to grow.  Our garlic bulbs will be available in early September when the daffodils and tulips arrive.

1. March and/or April - Cool Season Crops

How are you enjoying your summer harvest?  Our peas were fantastic and though our tomatoes seem a little bit late they are coming on great now and in abundance! We processed our second batch of Oven Roasted Tomatoes yesterday.  The first batch only made it to the dinner table (served over pasta) but the second batch made it to the freezer.  

As far as potatoes go the Satina variety is always our favourite, but we need to get out and dig some of the others we grew to compare.  We've planted Satina, Norland, Red Pontiac, Sieglinde and Banana potatoes.  

Even if you don't have much room for veggies just having a great selection of herbs to add to salads, new potatoes and meats is so wonderful.  All these home grown plants are so good for us, body and soul, we don't want it to end and if we plan it right it doesn't have to. 

My co-worker, Janis, got me going on this oven roasted tomato recipe and I just love making this for dinner to serve over pasta or as a side dish. 

Note:- When I make it as a side dish, I like to use cherry or grape tomatoes and I leave them whole.

Last year for Mother's Day Nigel promised to build me my very own eight by twelve foot greenhouse.  I have often lamented the loss of the little potting shed I left behind when we moved up to the Garden Centre, 17 years ago.   It's a funny thing; I have two fairly large greenhouses at the Garden Centre, right? But it's not the same as a wee place of your own, where you can go and poke about.  A personal greenhouse is an amazing place. 

So early this Spring my greenhouse was ready to go.  If there was ever a year when you wanted a greenhouse, this cool (the coldest in 50 years) Spring was the year to get it!  I'm so happy.  I told Nigel that he is good on Mother's Day gifts for many years.   We have already eaten 20 or more salads with greens from my greenhouse and the taste of home-grown greens is incomparable.  It's easy to forget how good home-grown tastes.  Soon it will be time to re-seed for later harvests but that I will do in the veggie patch now that we are into June.