On the Scent of the Overlooked Quince + Root Veg Recipes

We talk about growing quince with Joseph Postman; and talk about cooking root vegetables with Jennifer MacKenzie, who shares recipes from her book The Complete Root Cellar Book.

Show Notes

Growing Quince

Quince expert Joseph Postman joins us to talk about quince. This fragrant fruit is unknown to many in North America, and often relegated to use as a rootstock for pear trees.

Postman is a retired plant pathologist and curator of the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon, where he helped develop a pear collection with cultivars and species from around the world.

We talk about:

• What is quince
• How to use quince fruit
• The use of quince trees as rootstock for pear trees
• Quince varieties
• Quince cold hardiness
• Quince diseases

Delectable Root Vegetable Recipes

Cookbook author and professional home economist Jennifer MacKenzie joins us to talk about cooking root vegetables and shares recipes from her book The Complete Root Cellar Book. 

We talk about:

• Shopping for root veg
• What to look for if you're planning to store root veg
• Spiced roasted turnip and beet batons
• Beet and carrot slaw
• Root cellar medley soup
• Parsnip and pear soup

What is Food Garden Life: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping?

Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden.

We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.

There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation.

Since they collaborated to write their 2011 book No Guff Vegetable Gardening, hosts Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs have put a practical and fun spin on food gardening and edible landscaping. Donna is a horticulturist, educator, former CBC Radio host, and award-winning TV host. Her passion is growing and cooking food. Steven was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. Show co-founder Emma Biggs (Steven’s Gen Z, tomato-crazy daughter) drops in for an occasional show.

Join us every Thursday. On the first Thursday of the month we bring in an innovator or expert. Other weeks we dig into a specific crop or another edible-gardening topic.

Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.