2022 in a Nutshell

Well, here we are. It is September – almost October! Normally at this time we would have an abundance of garden produce. This year, not so much. With cold nights and wet days lasting well into July our garden was a bit of a lost cause. It doesn’t help that Mike and I are busy working full time on top of everything, but we usually can get away with our laissez faire-ness and still come out with a load of lovely veggies. Oh well. Better luck next year. I will say that our lettuce crop did very well, and at the end we have a decent amount of carrots, beets and celery, and some peppers.

jars of pickled produce on a market table

As for other online news things. Mike and I have decided to give facebook a rest. As far as our business goes it is a double edged sword. There were good things about having it as a means to communicate and expand with our customer base, but at the same time it proved to be a problem for us and as such we can live without it. I am uncertain if a Garside Gardens facebook page will make a return in the future. It’s not being ruled out, but it isn’t a priority at present.

At least we had a good syrup season, and surprisingly our BEST market season yet! We want to thank all of our customers for their continued support! We couldn’t do it without you! This summer being more or less ‘normal’ after the last two years maybe had something to do with it. People were eager to get out and do things again. People felt safe and comfortable and we met lots of new people and saw some familiar ones that we haven’t seen in a couple of years which was nice. The market location being moved away from the waterfront actually wasn’t as bad as we had originally thought. Plus, Hilton Beach is considering building a more permanent structure that would house the market in the future which is great news.

I have been doing some research and I am excited to start implementing the no-till method in our market garden. Plus we are planning to expand our orchard and set up our raspberries and blueberries in a more permanent area. All in an effort to increase soil health and the nutrient density of our produce, while minimizing the fight against weeds that we always seem to lose.

All this to say we have a busy bunch of months ahead before syrup and gardening start up again!

We hope everyone has a great fall and winter. We’ll be back with more updates periodically through the coming months.

Until then,
ENJOY!

fresh lettuce on display

Quality over Quantity at Garside Gardens.