Our Garden Grows

Posted: May 20, 2015

It’s no surprise that we love growing things here at Turnbull. As if caring for four estate vineyards and our ranch gardens wasn’t enough, we thought it would be fun to plant a Pairing Garden on our home property. Our vision is now coming to fruition (literally), and with the Summer plantings in, the garden is now in full bloom.

The idea was to integrate the outdoor with the indoor tasting gallery, and create a place to take the gorgeous views we can see from the home ranch. It’s a serious garden, experimental playground, tasting space and gathering place – all in one.

If you time it right, and happen to come by when we’re harvesting, you might even end up taking home a bag of fresh produce. We’re excited to use the space to learn for ourselves what’s possible with edibles, and share that with others.

We spent a sunny afternoon walking through the rows with Danielle, our in-house farmer. She tells us more about the vision behind the garden.

How did you select what to plant?

We first tasted the wines to get a sense of the flavor profiles and characteristics, and then looked for edible flowers and produce that would complement the wine. We looked for plants with peppery, citrusy, earthy notes. Also, since it’s a tradition here to fire up the pizza oven and throw together some pies, we wanted produce that could support our pizza making habit. Yum!

What are the some of the most unique things you’ll find?

We highlight creative edibles that you don’t always see or taste. For example, Mashua, an edible plant known for its tasty tubers. It has leaves and flowers similar to the more common Nasturtium, but has a more subtle and beautiful flavor. There’s also more common plantings such as Chamomile, which you can use the petals to put in a salad, and Rose Hip, which makes great jellies and syrups. Oh, and African Blue Basil too. You can obviously use the leaves but the flowers are gorgeous too. On the fruit and veggie side, we’re excited about the sweet Snow White tomatoes we’ve just planted, as well as Mouse melons, these cucumbers that look like tiny watermelons, and a sequence of peach trees selected to bear fruit at different times throughout the season.

What about all the flowers we see around the garden?

Those are our pollinator boundaries. We actually have a few beehives on the property, and we’re creating a place for the bees to hang out and pollinate the garden and the property.

Thanks Danielle!