The (sorta) secret veggie garden at Secret Garden Growers

Earlier in the month I visited the always fabulous Secret Garden Growers in Canby, OR.

This time I even got to (finally) peek inside the yurt AND ride in one of the gators, I know... I live an exciting life!

But wait... I also toured the veggie garden. Yes, there are edible crops being grown at SGG (behind that super stylish gate)...

This area had been laying lying fallow for awhile, but Pat (owner of SGG) decided it needed to be brought to life this year, and Ann jumped at the opportunity to design a proper and productive vegetable garden drawing on the gardens of her Italian heritage and Pat's wish list. Her fellow SGG employees Evan and Susan joined in the fun making crop choices and planting. They all (plus Cody) have volunteered their time weeding, watering and harvesting. It is a large space, measuring 75’ x 50’.

Most of the plants here were grown from seed. I asked Ann for some of her favorite sources and she named Franchi, Seed Savers, Uprising Seeds, Territorial, and Adaptive Seeds. 

Their purple basil looks so much better then mine!

Cynara 'Violetta Precoce'

Solanum 'Listada de Gandia'

And the dramatic star of the garden, Amaranthus 'Hot Biscuits'... which may have been inspired by Mr. Hot Biscuits himself, Karl (I tease, because Ann told me to).

These teddy bear sunflowers had me thinking of my grandma. She planted them all along the back border of her garden and they were so sweet there.

Why haven't I grown them? Even just a small patch in one of my driveway stock tanks. Next year!

Cicer arietinum ‘Sicilian Black’ or black chickpeas, ceci in Italian. One of Ann's favorite words, and foods.

Physalis pruinosa 'Aunt Molly's, a ground cherry Evan selected. I sampled one and they were very very good.

I'm sure this is a special squash variety but I forgot to ask it's name.

Hot biscuits again... isn't that color fabulous? Toasted hot biscuits.

Love the texture of the kale.

Ocimum basilicum 'Boxwood' aka boxwood basil, such a perfect formal garden edging... and tasty.

Across the path another basil, this one forming a nice curved border, with nasturtium running thru it.

Another eggplant, this one a sexy nearly black.

A red butter lettuce (I assume, I don't think I asked)

And that blue/green cabbage color just can't be beat.

I laughed out loud when Ann pointed out this parsley. The stuff I buy at the grocery store never looks this good.

Farmer Ann showing off Helianthus ‘Italian White’, sunflower (read her thoughts on the garden over on her blog, here).

She also pointed out Susan's luffa happily growing on the fence. It's another one of those vegetables (or sponges, loofah) that I've always thought it would be fun to grow, but never actually grown.

It really doesn't get any more beautiful than red chard.

Oh! A passionflower growing up one the side fences, naturally it's bloom was too high to get a great photo of.

A final shot of the veggie garden...

And then a few from inside one of the greenhouses. Coniogramme japonica var gracilis. Which is currently sold out on the website, but here's proof they're growing more. You can ask to be notified when it's available (here). I've had one of these for years and it's happy vigorous grower in my garden.

Here's a mash up of a couple different pyrrosia, SGG has a great selection.

Pyrrosia polydactyla, not currently available but again you can ask to be notified.

I think this is Iris x 'Nada'.

And I don't even know where to begin with their aspidistra collection, other than to say they have lots of sexy variations.

So good!

A few nice begonia too, although I think these particular plants aren't yet for sale. Check out the offerings you can buy from here.

So what did I buy? A couple pyrrosia of course (don't judge!)... Pyrrosia lingua ‘Hiryu’

And a nicely variegated Pyrrosia lingua ‘Ogon Nishiki‘

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