Babies! Babies! Babies!

Babies! Babies! Babies!

There are new plants sprouting everywhere at Medieval Manor Gardens! We love this time of year, and watch with anticipation to see if seed we have painstakingly collected, stratified, scarified, soaked or what have you, is starting to germinate. We cross our fingers that these seedlings thrive and grow into healthy young plants that we can share with you. Here is a preview of some more of the plants that we look forward to offering in the near (and in some cases distant Lol!) future:

Hot Peppers – I’ve always grown a small collection of these, but people keep asking about them and there’s always someone that can never seem to get one hot enough. Well, this year we have an array for all degrees of temperature, from the relatively mild Pepperoncini to the “Lucifer would be proud” Trinidad Scorpion and Bhut Jolokia.

Various Basils – There are so many varieties of Basil so we have tried to offer a wide selection. Whether you are

making pesto or another traditional Italian sauce (try Pesto or Genova) or want a basil to be aesthetically pleasing

as well as edible (try the beautiful flowered Cardinal or compact globe shaped Aristotle), we have a variety for you! Even the flavours vary. Lemon spicy clove/anise? Persian combines all those flavours in one basil! There are varieties with a higher resistance to certain diseases like fusarium wilt, ones for field and container growing – there is no limit with basil other than running out of space to plant it!

Goji Berry – These ones won’t be for sale for awhile, but we will have both black and red Goji varieties available when they get big enough.

Woodland Strawberry – They start out quite small but they will take off soon enough and soon there will be many strawberry plants! That’s a good thing because who doesn’t like oodles of flavourful strawberries? These have been grown from seed collected from our own garden plants and those plants in turn came from seed stock native to the Edmonton area.

Wild Raspberry – It will be a few years until these guys go to their new homes but fortunately their big brothers

and sisters are looking forward to leaving home. The fruit may be smaller than commercial varieties but is more flavourful and for those looking at the medicinal properties, the wild ones are said to have higher constituent levels. These raspberries come from stock native to  Parkland County.

Lingonberry – If you’ve ever eaten at one of IKEA’s cafes, you will find Lingonberry on the menu. A more popular food item in Scandinavian culture, this delicious little berry is gaining popularity in North America, especially since it is native and therefore more hardy once established here. The seeds are even tinier than those of strawberries and raspberries so be patient while we wait for these seedlings to grow up. These plants come from seed stock native to the Whitecourt area.

In the next few weeks there are sure to be many more so keep checking back!