Gourmand Gardens

Home
Canada
Victoria, BC
Gourmand Gardens

Edible landscaping company dedicated to empowering folks to grow their own food, fruit and medicine through sustainable practices.

We design, install and maintain beautiful and functional gardens as well as restoring native ecosystems. Gourmand Gardens is an edible landscaping company dedicated to empowering folks to grow their own food, fruit, and medicine through sustainable practices.

01/01/2025

✨ Bonne Année 2025 ✨

Spoiler alert: yes you can grow some hardy citrus varieties in Victoria such as this South facing espaliered Meyer Lemon tree that keeps its fruits throughout the winter thanks to an easy heating system that consists of a thermostat switch and incandescent string lights. Covering them with some temporary row cover fabric helps as well as a good layer of organic mulch 🍋‍🟩

04/08/2024

🌱 Urtica dioica (Stinging nettles) are up and ready for harvest. Most well known for their sting, they want you to stay away! But don’t get scared, put some gloves on and find a patch to harvest from, usually at the edge of a forest. Nettles have many benefits and could be used in soup, pesto, tea or as fertilizer.
As a food source, Urtica dioica is full of vitamins (C,A) and minerals (iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) that act as antioxidants.
In herbal medicine, they are used for alleviating hay fever symptoms, reducing inflammation (arthritis) or controlling blood sugar (diabetes).
In the garden, they make an amazing (and free!) fermented liquid fertilizer that boosts plant health with nitrogen and iron as well as protecting your crops from pests.
Overall, an amazing plant to have around the garden if you have enough space to grow your own (as the rhizomes tend to spread). Otherwise, foraging at this time of the year is easy, giving that it is often found in large patches.🌱

01/10/2024

🫒 Olives & New Year ✨
Olea europaea is an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean basin where they have been cultivated for thousands of years. Its genus gave the name to the plant family they belong to, Oleaceae, the same family as jasmine, lilac, forsythia and ash tree species! Did you know that you could grow them in the Pacific Northwest and actually harvest some fruits? Some cultivars that are suited for our climate would be for example Arbequina or Frantoio (both self pollinating and cold hardy). They need a full sun, well drained location and could benefit from a sheltered spot such as against a south facing wall of your house.
In colder regions, table olives can be harvested in late fall, November-December, from green to rose-brown-purple to dark, as they change colours as they ripen.
Olives are delicious and are known for their health benefits though they unfortunately cannot be eaten raw, fresh off the tree. They contain a bitter compound, oleuropein, that makes them unpalatable; that’s why they need to be prepared before eating (the process we used here was: rinsing/soaking in water for 4 weeks then curing in salt water brine with fresh thyme and bay leaves).
Finally, olives have long been a sacred symbol of peace, prosperity and friendship in the Mediterranean regions. During the New Year festivities, an olive branch would be hung by the front door to bring good fortune and abundance to households.
🌱 Bonne année 2024 à tous 🌱

10/17/2023

Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa)
Kousa Dogwood trees symbolize purity and friendship according to the Japanese language of flowers.
Even though Dogwoods are usually planted for their stunning spring blooms, they also put on a great show in Autumn with their colourful red leaves and berries. Actually, the virus looking berries of the Asian native Kousa Dogwood are not only quite spectacular but also edible (and less sour than other dogwood fruit species). They are ripe when they are bright red and soft to the touch. The bright orange-yellow flesh has a custard-like texture and a sweet, tropical taste. The seeds should be discarded. The fruits should be used immediately for the best quality and flavour as they don’t keep more than 2 days even when stored in the fridge, that’s likely why they aren’t commonly commercially cultivated. They can be transformed into jam, jellies, juice and even wine!
However, if you decide not to eat them, that’s okay, many species of birds will gladly help you clear out the tree! 🐦🍂

08/27/2023

“If one truly loves nature, one will find beauty everywhere” V. Van Gogh
🍃 Leaves 🍂
Primary photosynthetic organs of plants, where sunlight is converted to chemical energy, like magic ✨
Coming in various and fascinating shapes, colours and sizes, all serving the same purpose 💚
Fall is coming 🍁

05/07/2023

Interested in starting a new community garden in your neighbourhood? Community gardening includes:

🍓 Growing food plants, medicinal plants and flowers
🌱 Growing Indigenous, cultural and native plants
🐝 Pollinator gardens and hobby beekeeping
🌳 Permaculture projects
🍎 Fruit and nut trees
👩‍🌾 Demonstration farming

Community gardens contribute to health and well-being, positive social interaction, neighbourhood building, food production, environmental education, habitat development and connection to nature. Review the community garden's policy, select a viable site and read the guidelines to see if your organization is eligible. Expressions of interest are due on June 1.

Learn more: victoria.ca/communitygardens

05/03/2023

Morning score 🤩🍄
What a pleasant surprise today to be greeted in the client’s garden with some beautiful morels scattered in a flower bed! These popped up in some bark mulch which is fairly common. Morels (Morchella spp.) are edible choice springtime mushrooms not to be confused with Gyromitra species. When cut in half, morels will show a hollow interior and stem. The cap is attached to the stem and does not “hang free”.
Unlike Shiitake, Oyster or Wine Caps mushrooms, they can’t be cultivated so the inoculation of your garden with these black beauties is usually pure luck. They are more commonly found in disturbed forests and recently burned areas. They can also pop up randomly in old apple orchards.

01/05/2022

Happy New Year!
Bonne Année!
May 2022 be as sweet as kale on a snowy day 💙🌱💫

12/01/2021

Hello December!
Believe it or not, today is above 10 degrees celsius and meanwhile most of Canada has already put on its white coat, here in Victoria the bees are still active and buzzing around 🐝 💚 We’re so lucky to have food available year round for our native pollinators, including the residents Anna hummingbirds.That is for this very reason that it is key to plant native species (such as the Mahonia spp. aka Oregon grape in the first picture) and have a garden diverse enough that blooms year round.
The second picture is a lavender that has been cut back in September and came back strong several weeks later, despite all the rainfall.
Finally, it’s also good to keep in mind to leave the seed-heads when cleaning up herbaceous perennials in the fall: they are a great natural source of food for the birds during the colder months 🐦

11/04/2021

Chilean guava - Ugni molinae - is one of our favourite fall snack! This self fertile hardy evergreen shrub is a great alternative to boxwood low hedges!
Not only this South American shrub is much more disease and pest resistant than boxwoods, but it also offers year round interest. Its flowers in the spring have an exquisite cotton candy smell and its edible berries taste like a peppery strawberry: the perfect treat on a rainy fall day 🍓🍂☔️💚

04/19/2021

Native beauties! Our island ecosystem is so beautiful and fragile that we highly encourage all our clients to plant native species as much as they can to create habitat and support native pollinators.
These beauties are a reminder that the nature around us is beautiful and we should work with it and let it enter in our gardens 💚 Stay tuned for some lawn to native meadow conversion projects 🌱

03/11/2021

I’m guessing everyone is enjoying this transition period of the year as much as we do here in Victoria. Days are getting warmer and longer, fruit tree pruning and spraying is almost over (as well as snow shoveling 😆), the first seedlings are started in the greenhouse, the garlic and flower bulbs are all poking up and it’s time to turn some lawn into vegetable garden or native meadow (or both!) The sheet mulching/lasagna technique gives you instant results, ready to plant! An early start will assure you have a bountiful harvest of your garden for the whole year 🌻🧄🥦💚 Get in touch and check out our latest updates ➡️ www.gourmand-gardens.com

Address

Victoria, BC

Telephone

+12505169422

Website

http://www.gourmand-gardens.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Gourmand Gardens posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Home Improvement Business in Victoria?