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Heritage variety brought to New France in the 17th century by European settlers. It is still eaten today in soups. Very productive, the plants can reach 1 meter in height and require stakes. According to the blog Le Potager d'Antan "an old European tradition dating back to the 15th century mentions that a pea soup would be associated with Saint-Hubert, patron saint of hunters and foresters. In summary, in the 7th century, after having moved away from God and having hunted on a Friday, Saint-Hubert would have encountered a deer carrying a scintillating cross which would have enjoined him to propagate the word of the divine. After many exploits including miracles, he brought the gospel to distant lands and built many places of prayer dedicated to the Lord. He died on May 30, 727 and was consecrated Saint on November 3, 743. This is one of the reasons why he is celebrated on November 3 in Belgium and May 30 in France. Europe would have perpetuated, here in Quebec, the name of this variety used in the famous hunting soup, in honor of Saint-Hubert. For the full story, visit the Potager d'Antan. This variety is considered very rare and in danger of extinction.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Requires net or other support to be able to hang on. Peas do not like lack of water.

Curly mallow is a medicinal plant also called curly mallow or Chinese mallow. It was already cultivated in Asia more than two millennia ago. It has emollient, laxative and depurative properties. Its leaves, with their sweet flavor, are eaten raw or cooked. Still young, they can replace lettuce in salads. The stems of the plant can rise almost 2 meters in height.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Reseeds itself.

Mauve from Mauritania. Beautiful and strong plant with flowers with dark pink corollas, streaked with purple veins. Pollinators appreciate it mainly because of its long flowering period. It reseeds itself, year after year. Can climb up to 1.5 meters in height. Easy to maintain, it will beautify the garden and flowerbeds.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Reseeds itself. Be careful not to damage the root ball too much, mallows don't really like transplanting.

Because we all had a grandmother who made rhubarb jam for us... An easy-to-grow perennial, this plant is perfect for lovers of "Guerilla Gardening". You wait for nightfall, then you discreetly plant a rhubarb seedling in a flower bed in plain view of the city. Small insignificant growth, it will go unnoticed. Then within a year or two, it will keep producing everlasting leaves with delicious stems and will be too healthy (you'll see to that) for the city to eliminate. Then you will then provide your grandmother with a stem that she will then return to you in a Mason jar, in the form of jam. Isn't it beautiful, the eternal cycle of nature?

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Requires little care once implanted. Consider cutting the flower stalk to encourage leaf development. Direct seeding offers a lower germination rate than indoor seeding.

CAUTION Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, consume only the stalk.

Amazing and elegant flower, the zinnia is an annual that comes in multiple colors sunny yellow, bright orange or fuchsia pink. Its nectar will relentlessly attract hummingbirds and pollinators.;Zinnia is found primarily in Mexico. Following the sun, it spread across the dry grasslands, over an area stretching from southwestern North America to South America.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Good dried flower. Cutting faded flowers stimulates flowering.

Climbing tomato with multiple wine-red fruits, each barely smaller than a golf ball. Very balanced at the sweet-acid level, this cherry tomato is one of our favorites when eaten fresh, directly from the garden. Its skin is thin and it is very juicy. We found this treasure one day, at a seed company (Antique Edibles), during a trip to Ontario.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions about 10 days before planting by taking them out during the day. When planting, lay the plants horizontally, slightly arching the plant to bring out the leaves upwards.

In the 1960s, Mr. Q Réginald Lefebvre owned a farm in St-Rémi, Quebec. One day, some Spaniards ask him for a few acres to grow their tomatoes. He accepts and discovers by rubbing shoulders with them the potential of one of their variety of tomatoes. He cultivates it in turn. In 1981, for lack of succession, the farm was sold, but the tomato went down in history!


MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions about 10 days before planting by taking them out during the day. When planting, lay the plants horizontally, slightly arching the plant to bring out the leaves upwards.

Adorable little orange tomato. It is particularly sweet, and offers an early harvest; it therefore allows you to start enjoying the summer as soon as possible! Perfect as a snack or to add a splash of color to your salad.


MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions about 10 days before planting by taking them out during the day. When planting, lay the plants horizontally, slightly arching the plant to bring out the leaves upwards.

The seed company mixed it all up and created an envelope of the different varieties of large tomatoes that grew on our farm. Includes Mémé de Beauce, Téton de Vénus, Plourde, Savignac, Noire de Crimée, Canabec, Black Ruffle, Québec #13, Sang du Québec, Minuit à Montréal, Espagnol Lefebvre. For those who love diversity!

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions about 10 days before planting by taking them out during the day. When planting, lay the plants horizontally, slightly arching the plant to bring out the leaves upwards.

Lamb's-quarters (Chou gras);Chenopodium album;In Quebec, we always ate it in times of scarcity. When the vegetable cellar was empty, when spring was slow to come, we picked the leaves and the young shoots and made a well-vitamined soup that we called "fat chicken soup". Of course, there was no chicken in there! The honor of the cook was safe.;Edible annual plant of the family Amaranthaceae. Its name refers to the shape of its crow's feet leaves. Slowly, it colonizes wasteland, vegetable gardens, fields, continents. We find it everywhere. However, this weed has many virtues. Very rich in calcium, protein, vitamins A, B and C, phosphorus and iron. The leaves and young shoots are eaten. However, like spinach, this plant contains a high level of oxalic acid. We will therefore refrain from putting it on the menu every day. The seeds are edible but always in moderation, because of the saponins they contain.;It freezes well and can be cooked with all sauces. To discover in pesto or in soup.;Also called fat cabbage, this plant is at the origin of the expression "to throw its fat cabbage", which means to waste its wealth. Very stupid the one who throws his fat cabbage.

BOTANICAL INFORMATION
Latin name: Chenopodium album
Common names: Lamb's-quarters, Ansérine blanche, Fatty chicken, Fatty cabbage
English: Lamb's quarters, Melde, Goosefoot, Fat-hen
Family: Amaranthaceae

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Does not require fertilization. Harvest mature flowers regularly as the plant can quickly become invasive. If you wish to harvest the seeds, harvest the stems just before the seeds brown and let them dry on a tray.

Courgette Cocozelle;Cucurbita pepo;50-60 days to maturity.;Appreciated by gardeners, who have been growing it for a long time, this ancient variety comes to us from Naples, hence its name Cocozella di Napoli.;Bushy type, it produces fruit tasty in quantity. To stimulate fruiting, be sure to harvest young zucchini. This will extend the harvest season and you will be feasting on little zucchini.;When ripe, this zucchini is 30cm in length. It is at its best if harvested when it measures between 15 and 20 cm. The dark green fruits are streaked with light green. The flesh is a delicate color between white and green.;Succulent cooked, fried, steamed or stored in the freezer.;Italian heritage variety.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Harvest regularly throughout the season to boost production.

Greater plantain;Plantago major;Plantaginaceae;Medicinal plant. Its virtues have been recognized since Antiquity, in the East as well as in the West. In North America, it spread with European settlers. Native Americans nicknamed this plant "white man's foot", because it grew wherever it trod the ground.;Plantain has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It is used to treat wounds, skin irritations, inflammation of the respiratory tract and mucous membranes, rheumatism, constipation. In general, the great plantain purifies the body.;The fresh leaves of the plantain, washed, can be applied as a poultice to the skin or ingested in the form of an infusion and mother tincture. Very nutritious, they can also be eaten raw in salads, or cooked when they are tougher.

CAUTION, plantain can be invasive.

Rare, resistant and very productive variety, formerly cultivated by the Iroquois. The plant can climb up to 2 meters in height and produces white and purple flowers. Young, the beans can be eaten as small green beans. Its name means skunk in English. Indeed, its magnificent beans are speckled with black and white spots, or sometimes entirely black. Their flat shape is reminiscent of lima beans. When ripe, they are ideal for making soups. Personally, we have tested them in baked beans, and they are delicious mixed with Kahnawake Mohawk. This bean was rediscovered in Chester, Vermont and saved by Gail Flagg of Fort Kent, Maine (USA). Perfect for the three sisters, to grow with Canada Croockneck squash.


MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Avoid handling or removing weeds when the beans are wet to prevent the spread of disease.

Also called "little red tobacco", this annual variety, with pink flowers, grows easily in all types of soil. Rustic, early and small in size, it matures in six weeks and produces a full-bodied tobacco.;Considered a sacred plant, tobacco occupies an important place in the Amerindian pharmacopoeia and is used in various rituals.;This tobacco, also called "petit tabac rouge" or "small red canadian" is mentioned as far back as 1807 by the W.M Ewing & cie in their catalog of 1897. In Quebec, the Petit Canadien has been cultivated for more than a hundred years. From 1884, it was marketed by the J. O. Forest factory in Saint-Roch-de-L'Achigan. Considered rare.

MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
If you are planting tobacco for leaf harvest, remove the flowers. The leaves are picked when yellow or brown. If you want to collect seeds and leave food for pollinators, let the flowers bloom. You can also harvest the leaves, but there will be fewer of them.

American Heritage Climbing Green Bean. It is eaten fresh as a small green bean, or dry in soups and stews. We use it to make our good old maple syrup beans. This bean is part of SlowFood USA's Ark of Taste. The story goes that it comes from the crop of a wild turkey that was hunted by an African-American slave in the 1800s. Little information remains on the turkey in question. Rich taste, melting texture.

Lettuce Grosse Blonde Paresseuse. Mentioned by Vilmorin, a French seed company, in 1904, this old variety produces a beautiful large head of a beautiful blond green. It is hardy, and does not go to seed easily. It's crunchy to the bite, and has given us a great harvest this summer.

BOTANICAL INFORMATION
Latin name: Lactuca sativa
Common names: Big summer blonde, Blonde cuirassier, Nonpareille, St-Omer summer blonde
Family: AsteraceaeI

Very crunchy lettuce, which a friend from France sent me as a gift a few years ago. Very easy to grow, it seems to like the Quebec terroir. On the Internet, here is what we found about it "This lettuce has certainly been born in the Champagne region since the beginning of the 19th century. Then over the decades, like many varieties it lost its real name.However, it survived time thanks to its undeniable qualities and was kept by a woman named Angèle and continued on its merry way and its propagation under this last name.Luckily, Gilbert Vincent, great collector of beans, was able to carry out after many years of research to find the surname of this old variety, a joint culture with another very old variety also from the Champagne region, the Alphange à graine noire, and was able to observe that it it was the same variety. Angèle was thus able to find her surname." There is also a mention of the variety under its English names in an 1870s London publication, The Garden by William Robinson.

Here is a mixture of dwarf beans selected for their flavor, their color and their resistance to climatic hazards. You will therefore find Beurre de Rocquencourt (yellow), Dutch Princess (green), Apache (green), black seed butter (yellow), Velor (purple), Comtesse de Chambord (green) and several others, in order to bring the biodiversity on your plate and help you discover a world of beans! *The varieties are subject to change.