2010 Seedy Saturday

written by Karen Anderson

Saturday, March 20, is the 2010 date for Calgary’s “Seedy Saturday” which is an annual seed and plant exchange.

The event is from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Montgomery Community Centre, 5003 – 16 Ave, NW (at the intersection of Hwy#1 and Home Road)

Slow Food Calgary members will be there to host an information booth so come on out and check out all the wonderful plants and seeds for sale and stop by and visit our booth. Gardening and growing your own food is the most “local” food you can get.

If you need a little more inspiration to get gardening here is a great idea for a plant you may not know much about but that a local gardening guru highly recommends.  That guru is Gael Blackhall, the Coordinator of the Community Garden Resource Network which is a project of The Calgary Horticultural Society supported by The Calgary Foundation and Evergreen and here is her fun idea.

Blackhall says, “What’s green, golf-ball sized, low calorie, wrapped like a Chinese lantern, bursting with potassium, vitamins C and A, calcium and folic acid, thrives in Calgary, has been around since 800 BC and makes any sauce, stew, jam, and salsa a hit? Answer: the hydra tomatillo!

Ravishingly beautiful at every stage of growth from cheerful yellow blossom to the clusters of teardrop-shaped husks swaying in the breeze, the mysterious and lovely tomatillo grows and ripens secretly inside the husk.  They tolerate average soil, only need moderate amount of water, and once the plant is established, they are weather and drought resistant.

Harvesting the glorious tomatillo is like unwrapping an edible present.

User instructions are simple.  Remove husk, wash ripe green fruit and enjoy. Eat the whole thing! There’s absolutely no need to peel or remove the seeds.   Its flesh is firmer than a tomato and has a light note of lemon. Tomatillos are a natural understudy for tomatoes in any recipe but without the drama queen fussing tomatoes demand.

Sow seeds indoors 4 weeks before the last frost. Then transplant the seedlings outside 2 feet apart in a very sunny site just after the last springtime frost.

I hope that Calgarians make like Aztec locavores and discover how easy tomatillos are to grow, how tremendously versatile they are in the kitchen, and how successful they are as a food crop in community gardens!”

Thanks Gael for that great idea.  If you want to know more about Community Gardening in Calgary, Blackhall and her team from the Calgary Horticultural Society will also have a booth at “Seedy Saturday”.  See you there!