Summer brings so many wonderful things and I’ve tried to appreciate them all: the wind in the leaves, the flowers, the sound of the birds, and all my people. With several weeks of summer left, it may be premature to award prizes, but here goes.

(1) The raspberries. 

It’s okay to play favourites, and raspberries are mine. They get an inordinate amount of the attention, water and fertilizer. Although I installed a watering system early in the year, one of the hoses split (boo) so watered by hand the rest of the summer. I made lots of jam, we’ve enjoyed raspberry ice-cream and I have many pounds of frozen raspberries in the freezer for future desserts.

(2) The arborist.

This year we hired a real arborist. He did a fabulous pruning job on several of the overgrown and poorly pruned trees, removed some, treated disease and fertilized others.   We have a bumper crop of apples, and for the first time ever harvested plums and a bumper crop of seven pears (it is a very tiny tree).

(3) The flowers.

This was a spectacular year for flowers. With the rhododendrons, lilacs and everything else in bloom, at one point this spring I was the girl with the most flowers. Cyclists stopped their bikes on the street in front of the house. Neighbours emailed to say how much they loved the display. My favourites were the enormous pink poppies in the front and saved seeds to propagate further.

(4) UBC Farm: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the long table fundraiser.

The UBC Farm CSA charges $680 for 20 weeks of produce, including eggs every second week. My Saturday highlight is to collect my share at the UBC Farm. Although the CSA emails a list of what vegetables to expect, there are usually some substitutions and extra items. I’ve tried a lot of new recipes this summer (see below) and we’ve mostly done a great job of eating everything. Yes, I am joining again next year.

This is what the tart is supposed to look like…

In July we attended the UBC Farm Long table dinner. It was just like it sounds – people seated at long tables in the poplar grove – except much better. The light was magical, the company was awesome and the food was spectacular. I’m on a mission to recreate the fruit and mascarpone tart that was served for dessert. I am not so talented with the pastry and so my friends christened the latest attempt as a “floop”, then ate it anyway.

(5) Quick pickles

We’ve been struggling to eat all those beans, so it was a big relief to learn to make quick pickles. I quick pickled crunchy radishes and beans, flavoured them with garlic and dill from the garden, and they are spectacular. Meh on the small peppers, however.  The recipe from Lucy Waterman: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/article-how-do-i-quick-pickle-vegetables/.

(6) Visitors

One of the best things about having a garden is that it is easy to share, and the best parts of my summer were sharing my garden with friends. Most of the visit involved eating. Having a new kitchen means that I now feel a lot of pressure to serve something special. I tested out different recipes on many of my friends and they brought wine, salads, preserves and baking to share. This part I hope to continue well into fall.

Okay, that’s it for now. Back to the garden….