Follow along as a newbie gardener goes from an apartment in Montreal to a house on an acre in Chelsea where he attempts to recreate his childhood experience of a backyard full of fruit and finally to a 16 acre Covid project farm in the Northern Outaouais.
Located North of Ottawa, Ontario in growing zone 4a/b Canada (USDA 3a/b) I need to battle winter temperatures of -38C (-36F), heavy clay soil, poor drainage, deer, bears, squirrels, and numerous ravenous insects.
Planting started in 2012 and has progressed to where I now have over 110 apple varieties, 30 pears, 30 plums and number small fruits like black currants, haskasps, gooseberries and grapes among others.
My goal is to show my mistakes, describe what works and does not work in my area and share my passion for cold climate fruit growing! And as my production increases share fruit processing and fermentation.
***Please note this is REALLY a rough work in progress, copy and pasted from online forums and roughed out quickly, there are many dead links and missing info but it will slowly be improved with better photos, video and layout as well. Perfection is the enemy of good so I toss stuff up while I can. Most detailed posts are here but shorter versions are on Facebook and Reddit too.
And yes, I have photo, video and rough drafts of 2018 onwards but life (and Covid) hit and in 2026 I am only slowly starting to catch up. You should SEE where I am now!***
Below is a 2022 teaser photo of the farm orchard.
