New additions: moving fast and furious

What a week…first the nursery update and then a few photos from our week.  Sunday open house for perennial edible plants (or just looking around).  10am – 2pm.  3295 Compton Road, East Highlands, Victoria.  Plant list with prices here:

Three weeks ago we were unsure what the nursery would bring … stress from no activity, or stress from selling out ?  Well it seems that it has been very busy, and have sold out of items, and furiously had to re-stock.  In restocking, it means that Gord has had to research and order in plants… by the truck load.  As with all of our new stock, we are planting out two of everything…yup, kind of ark like.

New additions include Evergreen Huckle berry (only one left), 12 foot tall Jujube (Chinese Date) trees, the best and most useful plums including Stanley, Santa Rosa and Methley, Sweet dwarf self fertile Lapins cherry, Morello cherry, edible crab apples (Red Sentinel and Whitney) to cross pollinate all the triploid apple trees, Aronia ‘Viking’ (Aronia melanocarpa), and more tea.

Link for info on Aronia melanocarpa:    Aronia
Link for info on Jujube ziziphous:  Chinese Date

We also were able to find some Toona Sinensis and Japanese pepper trees (Zanthoxylum piperitum).  The pepper tree is beautiful, it smells great and the leaves can be added into salads!

The dwarf sour cherries (Romeo, Juliet, Cupid and Valentine) arrived as well,   Though called a sour cherry due to the genetics, the first three are sweet and Valentine is a pie cherry.  Growing 6-8 feet and all self fertile, they are a nice tree to fit into an urban food forest.

Some good deals this week.

• We had lots of Red “Captivator” jumbo almost thornless Gooseberries arrive… bare root…with massive roots.  Potted up in 3 gal pots.  Very good price at $26.
• Asparagus (sweet purple).  We planted ours yesterday, but our remaining stock NEEDS TO GET PLANTED ASAP.  Only a few bundles of 10 left selling for $15.

Citrus

Our lemons we started here are doing great!   We’ll have home grown from Eco-Sense lemon trees next season.

Grafting trees

It is that time of year and Gord has been grafting stone fruits, pears, apples and cherries.  Due to the early spring, even T bud grafting is happening, rather than having to wait for May or June, the bark is slipping beautifully.

Closing early

If sales continue the way they have the first three weekends, we may have to close before June.  We have had customers from Courtney, Nanaimo, Gabriola, Duncan and Saltspring make the trek to find the items they have not been able to source elsewhere.

Here are a few photos from our week:

Nettle leaf. Finally finished all the drying. Can now be used for tea or soups.

Ginger beer brewing, home made cheese aging on counter, oats and brown rice fermenting on counter.

Gord made a trip to Vancouver to pick up some plants.

creative stacking of plants in our small pickup. worked very well.

Hardy kiwi looking good with leaves coming out. Shades house from hot western sun. Passive cooling.

Winter veggies right out side the front door.

Flowering red current and shooting stars…love the native plants.

Winter veggies…can you say brassica? Mild winter, so we have lots of brassica shoots.

More brassicas and greenhouse in the background.

Spot the fava beans, nettles, garlic, and my leek starts.

Sea kale coming up. Looking forward to feasting on this perennial vegetable for many years to come.

Burbank plum and daffodils. Bulbs or onions/leeks work well around fruit trees.

Eat the weeds…yup kale everywhere. Dandelions are also a favourite. Can eat the flower buds or the open flowers or the leaves. Roots are also good for tea/coffee. Medicinal plant as well.