Red leafed apple baby

Geneva Crab Apple 2010

Gardening is an exercise in optimism: that things will be better, that visions of the delights of a gentle earth can become manifest, that tomorrow will happen. Like many a person has said, you plant a tree not only for yourself but for the a future you may never see: for the creatures, for shade, for fruit, for children to dare to climb up to a strong limb and dangle their feet into the thrilling air below.


Seedling tree roots

Nearly three years ago, my daughters and I were walking in the Arboretum at the Experimental Farm when we found a tree with unblemished apples. Picking one from the ground, we opened it to find red flesh. I brought another home and extracted the seeds. Some of these sprouted and now I have one with bright red leaves.


Digging it into its permanent home, I discovered what look to be the remains of an old compost pile with egg shells and squash seeds.

I don't know whether or not it will have the tasty red fleshed cider fruit of its parent Geneva or be what is unfortunately called a spitter but I hope to find out one day. Now it is a small seedling planted at the back of the old greenhouse demo garden. As I was placing its roots into the soil, I imagined it growing gnarled and craggy like crabapples do. I saw it covered in pinkish blossoms in the spring, red leaves in the summer and fruit in the fall. I saw its bare limbs covered in snow. I imagined a future of plenty.


The leaves remained red all summer last year.

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Some other things that are going on:

If you follow me on Facebook, then you'll know we like to hold Tree Thursday. Ephemeral walk coming up soon.

I've been helping out at the Canadian Organic Growers Demonstration Garden at the Experimental Farm. If you are interested, let me know.

Also, Aster Lane Edible's first workshop 'The roots go down (mostly): A veggie garden workshop for the complete beginner' will be held May 16.

Wormy apples are...

... delicious?


A slightly rain split head of San Michele X Red Rock Mammoth F1

At least they can be. Given the organic status of our acreage, all fruit are grown without any sprays. In the case of raspberries (and friends), currants, gooseberries, strawberries, haskaps, grapes, cherries (not that we've had too many yet) and blueberries this means simply harvesting them before something else does and for plums, harvesting slightly underripe to beat the brown rot, but when it comes to apples, creative measures are required.

This year and last, some trees (not the same ones) were ignored by the apple pests and could be stored whole in the cellar. Those that look especially wormy can also be harvested slightly underripe or at least processed right away. The value added activities of peeling, slicing and more are key to getting more apple goodness.

What to do with wormy* apples:

1. If crisp then invest in an apple peeler and corer - they are real time saver - then dehydrate.

Cut away the wormy bits. Some apples that have eaten cores will split in the peeler but for the most part, I find it works though I have less coddling moth here than I did at my last place and more apple maggot. You can see ours at the end of the table in the picture. We call her Suzy. I don't know why but because this implement is named, our kids have developed a real affection for it.

2. Peel (or not if you can get away with it) and cut up to make sauce.

I like to leave lots of red peels to make a lovely pink coloured sauce. After boiling with some sugar and cinnamon, I mash it through a sieve to remove the skins. You can also toss in other fruits. Dehydrating the sieved sauce makes great fruit leather or bake in pastry for tarts.

3. Make and freeze desserts like pie.

4. Make apple butter, chutney or other preserves.

5. or cider - going to get a press soon!

6. Grate with cabbage, add a touch of sugar, salt and mayonnaise to make a yummy coleslaw. Or otherwise use to make dinner

7. Feed to the deer (and then eat deer...)

Last night, we took the above and made number 6 with half the cabbage and a few tart apples - that's the San Michele x Red Rock Mammoth f1 cross heading for the second year in a row(!!)  - and used some other apples to make some turnovers for dessert.

Any other great ideas for apple preserving?

Here's a great link on preserving apples from local kitchen blog


*wormy: Obviously there are wormy apples and then there are wormy apples. Some are just too far gone. Destroy by crushing or some other mechanism wormy apples will lower populations of the pest. I get some apple maggot here or at least something that tunnels under the skin in multiple locations but less coddling moth which I used to get in the city. Maybe next year I'll try traps. Also I don't get scab but I do have some sort of core rot that is more of a problem with the pears (and the apples if I don't process fast). Obviously they might be too wormy to rescue which is why I recommend checking on them to find the right balance or ripeness and unworminess.

Finding Hidden Harvest

I have been searching for these people for a while. Sometimes I would hear rumors about folks interested in better utilizing our fragmented urban orchard but I had not been able to track them down or in any way substantiate their existence until Seedy Saturday 2012. Branches bearing a website enticed people with the simple phrase, “Got fruit, want fruit?” were placed among the vendors. I immediately asked the organizers who they were. An hour or so later, they appeared in front of the Canadian Organic Growers’ booth. At last I had faces and names to attach to the idea.

Meet Katrina Siks, Jason Garlough and friends:

Jason and Katrina are on the left with some friends (who I'm sure will do their share of harvesting) on the right.

What is Hidden Harvest?

Among the parked cars, businesses and homes of Ottawa are a multitude of trees that flower and bear fruit or nuts only to unceremoniously drop to the ground and be raked up for disposal. At the same time, organizations like Just Food are looking for ways to improve the availability of good quality food for everyone in the city including those in need.

Connecting this disconnect, Katrina and Jason are creating a hub where tree owners, volunteer harvesters and community groups like the Ottawa Food Bank can work together to share the bounty.

How was this idea born?

Katrina, a self confessed outdoors type, become inspired to be involved in community forests while listening to Merrickville's Diana Beresford-Kroger talk about the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a non-profit organization that collects and archives native tree genetics from the wild. Diana wishes to conserve the genetic diversity of rare trees and plants including those that give medicine and food.

Jason was born on a farm where trees provided fodder, fuel, protection and food. He was puzzled when he arrived in Ottawa to discover that many urban folk saw trees – especially those that bear fruit – as a nuisance. After all, innovators are coming up with creative ideas to incorporate more food production into the city such as proposals to build multistoried, vertical green houses. They’re modeling the tree, he pointed out, which not only gives you food but is attractive, cleans the air, moderates climate, and requires minimal care.

They met at a Wild Edibles Course run by the knowledgeable Martha Webber. Though they enjoyed the trips out of the city to collect wild foods, it was even more enjoyable to collect grapes at the allotment gardens and to pick mushrooms from alongside the bike path. Gathering apples from old trees to make into cider, including one near the Canada Revenue Agency, got them thinking about all the other underused fruit and nut trees in Ottawa.

The idea of an Ottawa based project like Not Far From the Tree Toronto had been bubbling for some time. It just needed some people with the time and energy to do the organizing. What better time then when the city was facing the loss of up to 25% of its tree cover to the Emerald Ash Borer. Could what replaced these old trees help to feed the city instead of merely shade it? Before embarking on such an investment, a structure needed to be in place to care for the trees.

How does it work?

Through their website, tree owners, organizations, business and other interested parties can post about their needs and wants. “I have an apple tree.” “We’d like to host a harvest event” “Me too!” They will help connect together the right people and provide trailers, pickers, tools and training. The harvest will be weighed and sorted with 25% going to the owner, 25% to the volunteers, 25% to the nearest in-need agency and the remaining 25% making it back to Hidden Harvest for processing to help raise funds for the organization. 

This year, they are looking for lead harvesters to coordinate harvest events along with tree owners(s) and other volunteers in 3-4 neighbourhoods in Ottawa to start off. The locations will largely be selected based on volunteer support. 

Don’t have a tree? No problem as they will be researching tried and true cultivars to sell in the Ottawa area to be available sometimes this summer.

Tell me about the award from Awesome Ottawa.

It’s hard to explain what the Awesome grants are without resorting to the word awesome as the common thread for these one-time 1000 dollar grants. With this extra cash, Katrina and Jason plan on buying some bike trailers to help tote around their tools and harvest.

So when does it start?

The city of Ottawa has expressed their support and provided them with an inventory of 4000 known edible fruit and nut trees growing on city land including various apples, serviceberry, cherries, gingko – yes the smelly ones, Turkish hazel and more. The first harvest event is planned to collect serviceberries in June.

If you want to help, go to the Hidden Harvest Ottawa to register your trees, talents, community organization or interest and stay tuned for more details. You can also like them on Facebook.

Harvest Monday - Putting the worm back in the apple

Really Eve? I can only presume that the garden of Eden had not the pests of modern apples. These fruit don't scream out 'Tempting!' Plums plucked before brown rot took over, and windfall apples.

Organic gardening has improved the health of our water, soil and air. Limiting death-icides and encouraging diversity has allowed the ecosystem to regain its natural balance. It means that you can plunge your fingers into the wormy, gruby, fungal filled soil without concern for toxic residue though perhaps you might grab something squishy. It also means that very probably your apples don't resemble those you see in the grocery store.


Geneva crab apple cut in half - a good deal more tempting looking.

Apples are beloved fruit by not only ourselves but by a host of other organisms - get it, host! Anyhow, many a wormy, mishapen apple falls from my two completely unsprayed trees. One is a traditional Macintosh that I bought before I knew about disease resistant varieties and the other is a Liberty. Both get coddling moth. I don't worry overly about this because I have other things on my mind but when harvest comes around I pick half from the ground and the other half tenaciously clinging still to the tree. All have cores bored brown by a light pink grub. Isn't it cute?


The rosebud pink larva of a coddling moth coaxed out of its apple core home.

The explosion in the earwig population this year meant that many of my windfalls no longer contained their wormy resident but did have several spike tailed substitutes. Had the coddling moths already crawled off or were they consumed?

"Windfall: A sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune or personal gain"

When given wormy apples, there is only one thing to do: make sauce (or fruit leather or cider). The plums which made it past June drop (courtesy of plum curculio) and not yet hit by brown rot (new this year!), were added with the bits of apple that were unblemished.


"What do you think sis? Is it edible?" Plum-apple pops and yes, they were yummy!

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Disease resistant apple varities
Organic Control of Coddling Moth by Green Harvest
Info on Coddling Moth by City Fruit

Harvest Monday - 'Blue' Berries & Flower Power

I could post AGAIN about greens but you may either be sick of eating them (impossible) or have moved onto fruits like zuchinni or the cherished tomato.

So, instead I thought I'd treat you to a selection of edible flowers among the greens.

Thyme, mustard, sage, Enligh daisy (bellis perennis), violas, dianthus and roses with garlic chives, mustard, anise hyssop leaves, green sweet cicely leaves, magenta spreen, ginger mint, honeyberry and one alpine strawberry. I only got that one because the children weren't outside yet today.

Sprinkled liberally in the middle are berries, mostly haskaps, a 'blue' berry for spring.

Also known as honeyberry or edible blue-berried honeysuckle.

I had read such mixed reviews of Lonicera caerulea edulis so it took me several years to plant it. This is year two in the garden and the harvest was pretty excellent. The berries have a complex flavour but were a bit more sour than I would have liked. They may not have been quite ripe yet. Sprinkled with something sweet, they'd make an excellent dessert. Maybe a haskap/rhubarb/sweet cicely pie?

Honeyberries on the bush.

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Positive press on Honeyberry / Haskap from DNA gardens
The Haskap Canada Association: Haskap.ca

Note on edible flowers:

It is difficult to find a comprehensive list of edible flowers for many reasons including there the fact that there are so many flowers! Make sure you triple check references to edible flowers and are absolutely sure about their identification. It is a good idea to remove any pollen producing part as it may induce allergy unless you are sure about your reaction to it and the preparation of the pollen - cattail pollen is used a flour adulterant for example. When trying new foods, it's always best to go slow. Nibble a bit then spit out to see if you have any swelling or strange reaction. Next time, eat a bit and see how you react. Finally, eat a small meal. Of course, your level of comfort with a new food will depend on how familiar with it you are so you may skip some steps. Also, never eat a new food unless you are sure it is edible and you are positive about its identification (I know I already said that). These are not tips to trying a mystery plant. Certain plants are quite safe in small quantities but can cause upset in larger doses and this may vary from person to person and plant to plant. Okay now that you are too scared to eat anything other than carrots, relax.

Culinary Herbs of Canada by Small is a great resource.

List of Edible Flowers by Glen Brook Farm

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Don't Miss This Reminders

June 1 - Hida Manns to give a talk on Organic Agriculture as a Buffer to Climate Change. June 1st at 7pm in the Grey Room at the Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Avenue. Come out and say hi (I'll be introducing her)

June 5 - Native Plant Sale at the Wildlife Fletcher Garden

Organic Orchard - The Interview

One member of Homegrown Goodness, a plant breeder and enthusiast forum, always stuns me with the pictures of his orchard so I asked if he would be kind enough to agree to an interview. He agreed and here is more insight into what he grows.

Where is your orchard?

My orchard is situated in Burgundy where the climate is half continental - zone 7. We have our last frost around the middle of May and our first frost in the middle of October. In the winter, the temperature rarely gets below - 10°C (but we had -18°C this winter ! ). Unprotected aerial parts of fig trees were almost all "burned." Fortunately, I grow some of them under a tunnel.

How many trees / fruiting bushes / types of fruit do you have on your property and where did you get them from?

I grow approximately 130 to 150 trees. There are maybe 100 different varieties, mainly apple trees (60-70%), pear trees (10%), along with plums, cherries, peaches, figs, apricot, but I don't count on them because of the climate. 2009 was an exceptionnal year and we had big harvests. I also have 40-50 fruiting bushes. They came from catalogs, tree nurseries which grow their trees organically. I can't name all of these, but here is some of my favorites:

Pépinière Burri
Christophe Delay Pépiniériste
Pepinieres Chataignon Vial
I obtained many cuttings from "Les croqueurs de pommes" - information at bottom

Would you describe a season of harvest from what becomes ripe first to what is the last fruit to ripen?

We eat the first strawberries in May from inside the tunnel. I had selected very perfumed varieties that produce from May to October to avoid frost. Next come the raspberries, blackberries, and then the first pears "précoce de trévoux" in July, apples "transparente blanche", "vista bella" in July-August, etc ... and finally the Physalis peruviana. We can store apples until May- June such as "sainte-germaine, "Jolibois," "querina," and "belle fille de Salins."

What varieties are the work horses (most reliable and productive) of your orchard? Which are the rarest or most interesting?

If I had to plant another time, I would choose 80% of varieties that produce every year (or nearly) and are resistant to diseases, such as "querina," "jolibois," "reine des reinettes," "belle fille de Salins," "reinette d'Amboulne" for the apple trees. For the pear trees, my selection could be "conférence," "sucrée de Montluçon," "précoce de Trévoux" and a pear to be cooked like "Saint-Remy." As for grapes, I would choose "perdin," "aladin," "pinot noir." For the remaining 20%, I would select for taste, sometimes exceptional in my opinion, such as "tiuffat," "pomme cloche," "rayotte de Nommay," "patte de loup," "reinette ananas" (apples), "Joséphine de Malines" (pear), cerise "belle magnifique" (cherry), "des Béjonnières" (plum) "ronde de Bordeaux," "pastilière," "dalmatie" (figs), and "velvet" (peach).

How do you grow your fruit? Any tips or tricks that you would like to pass on?

The most natural ways possible : I use compost and I almost never spray. Sometimes I use plant infusions: mainly comfrey, nettle, equisetum. I also sometimes apply powder of basalt. The idea is to make the trees stronger and to accept that all is not perfect. For example, we can't avoid completely the troubles caused by the carpocapse - coddling moth. These fruits are used for making juice.

Do you do any other gardening / growing?

We produce all the vegetables we need as many gardeners do : potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onions, corn, parsnip, garlic... very classic ! ...but I tried unusual plants in a classical garden (without a total success) to grow amaranth for grains and quinoa. Producing the nearly perfect protein is a dream for the moment.

Are you involved in any organizations?

Kokopelli: I think it's not necessary to introduce this well known association. I save some seeds (just for sharing ) for the organization.

Concerning fruit trees, I was involved in the "croqueurs de pommes" a funny name meaning "Apple biters" for a french organization saving heirloom varieties, mainly fruit trees.

A local association (no link, sorry, where everybody shares what they know : botanic, recognizing and using wild plants, grafting (my field), etc...

I would like to add some links of magazines / associations which were very important and help me on the way :-

http://www.terrevivante.org/ - I discovered them in 1982.
http://www.natureetprogres.org/
http://www.greffer.net/


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Thank you Gérard for your work in creating this inspiring orchard.