Vegetable Gardening for Better Health

we are here today ask the experts about
gardening for Better Health and so it’s
kind of going twofold it’s what you
garden with and it’s the fact that you
are gardening um so I’m Diane blazic I
am the executive director for National
Garden Bureau I have with me Gail papst
and you are going to see her posting a
lot of links in the chat which by the
way we will also save the chat and send
that out what I want to do now is do a
quick introduction of our panelist and
after I do the quick introduction I will
toss it back to them and they can do
their own little introduction so we have
Kirsten from Pure Line seeds we have
Chelsea from beo seeds and we have
Shaina from do you do you usually go by
inan or Vitalis or both both okay so we
will let you introduce yourself and your
dual named company
sure yeah so sha bronstein I live in
Oregon and I work for enzza zadin
Vitalis organic seeds we’re a Dutch
breeding company we breed vegetable
seeds and Vitalis is our organic brand
so everything under the Vitalis brand is
100% organically produced seed and those
varieties that we produce organically
are the ones we find are best adapted
for organic agriculture or lowi input
agriculture
and we breed breed and produce seed all
over the world uh mostly herbs and small
vegetables so no beans and no corn but
uh a wide range of everything
else great we we are going to see the
the diversity the international aspect
uh the many different varieties from all
three of our panelists so uh Chelsea
let’s go to
you hi I’m Chelsea lensic I’m with beo
seeds Inc which is a uh us base of beo
Zaden we’re a conventional and organic
vegetable breeding company and we focus
on um cabbage carrots onions red beets
and then a whole Litany of other
vegetables that you can grow in your
garden and um out in the field as well
I’m based in Pennsylvania but I uh
travel around uh doing product
development and as the organic lead for
North
America great thank you okay and
Ken hi I’m Kirsten dong um I am with
Pure Line seeds we’re a family-owned and
operated company based in Warden
Washington and we just celebrated our
75th Anniversary last year so we’re
pretty excited about that um we are also
just like everybody else we breed and we
produce seed that’s our name to the game
so um we mainly focus on peas and beans
but over the last 15 years have expanded
into a lot of other sorts of crops and
it’s been a lot of fun um I’ve been with
the company about nine years working in
product development and managing our
trials excellent okay so I think we have
three vegetable experts on here and you
guys look healthy so you must be
following your own tips it looks like so
um why don’t we talk about that uh we’re
we’re going to get into specifics on
varieties in just a bit um you see that
I do have my presentation up on screen
but uh first how does vegetable
gardening um help help you stay healthy
how does it help your health so does
anybody want to tackle a couple of those
points yes I’m sure we’ll be a very
polite panel so you can poke us if you
want us to start speaking sooner
Nam okay I’ll be the teacher that calls
Nam so
you you spoke up first let’s let’s hear
some of your thoughts yeah I mean for
sure you know being being outside and
getting fresh air is always great in my
opinion um when you can add gardening
into it which is you know a mix of uh
calisthetics and you know movement and
stretching I think there’s a lot of um
physical benefits for your body that you
get just from being out there and and
staying active and staying moving and
then um I’ll answer this a little bit
more fully at the end too but definitely
the me mental health benefits of just
connecting with the soil and watching
something grow uh and and raising
something raising a crop I think is um
you know kind of
Irreplaceable okay I’m gonna poke you
Kiren okay um yeah I definitely agree
with that I think something that I’ve
really realized too within the past
couple of years but you know there’s a
whole thing with like sunlight Accord
you know something like is so good um
but it’s also good for you know like
your seating Rhythm getting out there
you and there’s this whole thing about
like grounding and that sort of thing
but um I find too when I can get out
early in the morning and be out in the
garden early in the morning it it’s what
I’ve learned not that I’m an expert in
necessarily like circadian rhythms but
that sunlight really resets your
circadium Rhythm because I have always
struggled with sleeping you know I’m
kind of just like a wired person and
that really helps me to sleep really
good and I have two little kids and they
come out with me um they’re just you
know right at them early in the morning
too so they come out and um it’s just
really nice because they sleep better
too so it’s just really good for the
whole family you know that sunlight
aspect you know not only just for like
you know just the nutrients we get from
the Sun but also when we’re out there
you know through our eyes and resetting
our clock internal
clock awesome okay Shaya and you yeah
absolutely what everyone else has said
um already I totally agree with also
just when you’re growing your own food
of course you’re eating healthy stuff
right out of the garden and it helps you
really appreciate how much work it takes
to produce that wonderful healthy food
so it really I think Builds an
appreciation for those healthy
nutritious vegetables that we all want
to have more of in our diet so and then
when you go to the farmers market or the
supermarket and you see that beautiful
head of cauliflower you really
appreciate how much work it takes and so
it becomes even more of a treat to enjoy
a fresh vegetable like that so I think
that really helps with that connection
of where your food is coming from and
why you want to be putting those good
nutritious vegetables into your body um
and then of course there’s also like um
Kiren kind of started to talk about was
that social connection whether it’s with
your family your community your friends
um gardening can be a great way to
interact with your community as
well and I think I mean you know there
is a a whole organization called kids
gardening which we are very
wholeheartedly in support of and I know
this is one that I’ve witnessed and and
I’m sure all of you have and read up on
it but kids when you get your children
involved in gardening and they’re able
to pull a carrot out of the ground and
eat it they’re able to pick a berry and
eat it suddenly they’re much more
willing to try a wider variety of
vegetables so to me you know just
getting over that hump of oh it’s ugly
or oh I don’t think I like it you know
and we all know that when you grow
something more more often than not it
tastes better than what you can buy in
the store so yet another Advantage for
kids and nutrition and the diversity of
things that they will eat also so that’s
great um let’s um are there certain
plant well you know I’m probably I I’ll
ruin the presentation if I ask that
question so I’m going to skip that one
the question was which plants are best
for nutrition and so I think those are
the ones you guys picked for your
presentation so why not um oh there is a
very good question and I want you guys
to answer that right now so we have one
of our uh viewers is from Oklahoma City
she is a new Gardener is it too late to
grow or start growing now so this is
what mid to late April in Oklahoma
um let’s let’s help her out and tell her
that it’s never too late to start but
let’s give recommendations on maybe what
she could try in
Oklahoma yeah I mean it isn’t too late
at all for sure I mean it’s you know you
it always comes down to your crop and
you know even varieties and not to be
like overwhelming because it’s not
overwhelming when you think of um
there’s so much room to play even within
certain crops there might be crops that
you’re like oh well that’s a spring crop
and sometimes those crops you can get
away with it with certain varieties so
you can really play around with it um
you know try for things that you know
you could even start beans now like
faster maturing crops squashes summer
squashes especially if you’re new to
gardening and I’m sure everybody else
could test to do stuff that yeah may be
more on the easier scale because it’s
just you get that like success and you
it just like really pumps you you know
you want to do more and I mean I have to
say that for myself too you know like
house plants is a newer thing for me so
then I stick to things that are a little
I know are a little easier then it’s
like ah it’s a win and then you build
from there but that’s some of my initial
recommendations yeah I would say leafy
greens is always a great place to start
because they’re fast you plant
successions so if you um have a mistake
or something doesn’t work that first
time you can go back and plant another
succession um and leafy greens is
something you can play with all year
long you might change the varieties you
grow or the typ to grow but that’s
always a really nice one and pretty
pretty quickly you get the reward of
some fresh vegetables yeah yeah and then
I mean if you are dying to try tomatoes
and peppers you know there’s a ton of
great plants that are available out
right now you know even if it’s a little
too late to start your seedlings inside
box stores have plants right now a lot
of the great gardening we com companies
we work with right now are running plant
sales so it’s a really good time to get
plants um and I would start maybe with
like a determinate tomato which means
it’s going to come on in a shorter
amount of time and you’re going to get
all of your fruit at once it’s going to
be more compact plant you can try
starting in a container um but yeah I
agree definitely still time you have a
lot of options still and if I can add
something to Chelsea just because it
made me think of this when um even when
I first started in the industry you know
feels like a lifetime ago but I remember
um you know there are obviously
recommendations online how to grow and
there’re so so helpful but don’t be
afraid to try things you know just
direct seeding it like Chelsea saying
either you know get some plants or even
if you have some tomato seeds you know
just try throwing them in the garden
they’ll they’ll grow um you just might
get a really late crop but you are in
Oklahoma so um I’m in Wisconsin or up in
the northern part of the country so you
know you get that Frost aspect but in
Oklahoma you have a longer growing
window so you know you could just even
start some of those direct um or get
some plants like Chelsea saying and yeah
just play with it and um you’ll be
probably pretty surprised what will come
from it you know seeds are pretty
vigorous that’s that’s our job as seed
companies you know we try to get some
really good varieties out there so you
have
success great great tips and Linda one
other thing um Oklahoma State University
in Stillwater they put out a wonderful
in um public television show very very
helpful very precise to your location so
I would highly encourage you to to um
find that watch some of their um
episodes especially on vegetable
gardening so great okay love helping a
newbie and I love when you can admit
you’re a newbie because then you’re
going to get all kinds of advice so okay
let’s move over to our presentation and
Chelsea I believe you are up first so we
are going to let you get started here
woohoo all right well we’ll start with
burgundy broccoli this is a purple
sprouting broccoli uh if this is is new
to you it’s because this is a new
development for the market um previously
a lot of purple sprouting broccoli could
only be grown in a certain part of the
country up in the Pacific Northwest
because the other varieties of old
needed a cooling period so like a fall
period to get it to flower and get that
purple color to come on Broccoli um this
burgundy uh you can grow in all over the
US and uh sew it multiple times
throughout the season so we work from
New York Down to Georgia um out to the
Pacific Northwest and even down the
California coast so you can grow it um
all season long spring summer fall you
can succession plant it so you’ll get um
get a harvest every like 60 to 75 days
you can cut it three or four times and
then um what you get from that are a
bunch of kind of button-sized florets on
a long stem so it’s a multic cut you’ll
get a whole bunch of those when you cut
them um and then we recommend using it
for a fresh application or like a very
quick steaming um because you still want
to retain that purple color and the
sweet tender crunch that comes along
with the variety we always get the
question you know if I steam it or if I
cook it longer will you lose the purple
color indeed you will but to me like
that is what your standard headed
broccoli is for if you want a broccoli
that you’re going to steam for 20
minutes go with your standard broccoli
if you want something that you’re going
to you know top a pizza with or top a
salad with or finish a stir fry with
that’s like a flash fry you know five
minutes something like that uh or fresh
use then burgundy is really the best
variety for that and I like here because
what we hear is the more colorful you
vegetables the healthy healthier they
are so I think we’ve got a good purple
broccoli here that’s healthy that’s
right okay so caraflex uh the other name
that we have called This is sweetheart
Lage which is a lettuce by cabbage cross
and what I want you to hear from that is
it’s uh sweet enough to eat like a
lettuce but with the more tender
suppleness of a Cabbage so this is a
really uniform variety it comes out with
these really beautiful little pointed
heads you can grow them as a mini so you
know something in a 6in tall um really
like one pound range or you can let it
grow more fully um to the two two and a
half pound range and what you can do
with this is uh well a bunch of
different things but when you split it
it comes out with these beautiful
heart-shaped boats that you can fill
with things you can steam with things
and again you can even just peel off
those leaves and like use it as a super
uh healthy replacement for something
like an iceberg lettuce but again
versatile um salad slaws and then of
course sometimes you just end up with a
little too much cabbage at the end of
the day so you can still use it for your
regular um you know cooking and soups
and stews of as
well this variety Purple Haze is an as
winner um so you can see a very distinct
coloration here it has the purple
exterior and then a really bright orange
interior this is longer carry it’s seven
to eight inch tapered Roots the good
thing is it means it has some power so
if you have soil it’s a bit studier or
maybe a bit more clay like we have in
the Northeast this is going to have a
little bit more power behind it with a
nice strong top too um which helps you
be able to pull the root
easier very very sweet just absolutely
packed with vitamins and minerals having
both the orange uh and the
purple um uh
colors in there um again if you cook
this a long amount of time you’ll start
or or peel it of course you’ll lose out
on that beautiful purple color so more
for um you know uh carrot quarters or
you know cubing it or something more in
a um raw fashion because you know it you
eat with your eyes first and so the
coloration on this um helps with that
Conan kabi another as winner uh a lot of
people are not familiar with kabi um
they look like little planets sitting on
the soil when they’re growing out there
it’s like a little Jupiter with this
like fun leafy top on it uh they are so
superb um col Robbie by and large is
sweet it’s crisp it’s tender it’s
refreshing it’s dense Super Vitamin
packed as well um it’s a lot of fun to
have with it so because of that kind of
dense structure you can use it uh as a a
canoodle or you know a noodle where you
would uh twist it or Julien it up into
something that you would cover with uh
sauce or butter or whatever you’re going
to use your noodle for but you can also
use it as snack sticks um this this has
some Traction in some of the school um
Garden to school lunch programs they’re
using more col Robie to to um get kids
some nutrient alternatives to chips and
fries and and that sort of thing during
the day um and then don’t miss out on
the tops either you know if if um if you
take it at the right time you can take
those tops and take the stems and just
as easily you know throw them into a
stir fry or soup or a c Verde or or
something like that that um you can use
it basically root to
tip and then I think this is my last one
so this is a flae headed cabbage called
GMA the dimensions on it are pretty wild
so it’s about 8 in deep and 13 inches
wide and what you do with that is you
you harvest this beautiful flat cabbage
you take the sides off so you’re
effectively left with a a square pallet
of uh cabbage leaves then you just start
peeling those leaves off and you use
them you can use them as a wrap you can
use them as a taco alternative um
basically a vessel you know very nice
healthy uh straight from the garden
vessel that is just again packed with
fighter fiber packed with um macro
micronutrients to just Infuse your dish
um with another hit of healthfulness um
very very sweet uh very tender does
beautifully in uh slaws as well and then
has enough density that you can get a
little bit of storage out of it you know
um a few weeks of storage and then also
use it um in krauts and kimch and a
little kimchi and a little bit later
down the line uh if you don’t want to
use all of your Harvest out
ones excellent thank you and it just
dawned on me I’ll have Gail post a link
to um shop our members because your
varieties are carried by a lot of the
major online retailers and seed
companies so we’ll post that because I’m
pretty sure that’s a question that
people have is how do I find these so
that that is what we will do and now
we’re going to move on to yet another as
winner thank you Chelsea and Kon you’re
up with an as winning bean from from
recent years so tell us about SE shells
yes so SE shells is by far one of my
most favorite beans and just varieties
to grow and we grow a lot of varities so
this is a p
Bean um and most people don’t really
typically think to grow pole beans they
are usually used to bush beans but the
nice thing about pole beans they really
are so easy if you have something for
them to grow up you know even construct
a super super simple you know tralis
anything it’ll just climb it by itself
you don’t need to train it um and this
thing you can see this picture this my
cooworker Kelsey she’s picking a whole
handful I mean they’ll have six long
trusses so there’ll be six pods on a
truss that you can pick um the the pods
themselves are pretty long so they’re
about six inches long and they’re tender
as well so they don’t have some beans
are quite fibrous um but these are
tender A lot of people that don’t really
care for green beans um prefer SE shells
because it does have more that sweet
taste to it and it’s just a heavy
producer so you can go in there and just
keep you know harvesting it’s a great
snacking one um or even it’s something
that you don’t want to necessarily can
but you want to have fresh beans
basically all summer long um this is a
great option for that because you’ll
just keep harvesting up that vine and it
does grow pretty tall so it can grow um
seven to nine feet tall depending on
your conditions so if you don’t want it
to get so tall just trim the top and
it’ll allow for more flowers at the
lower part of the vines so then you can
Harvest more lower instead of having to
go up and up and up um but this is a
great and easy one that I highly suggest
to anybody especially if you’re starting
out in
gardening um then this is our rainbow
Candy Crush it’s a edible kale so we get
if anybody’s familiar with ornamentals
it has that ornamental peel of like an
ornamental kale but it’s edible as well
um it’s actually pretty tender and does
have a sweet taste to it for being a
kale and then back to like what Diane
was saying with you know the
antioxidants and the purpling in this
kale it’s called anthy and that’s really
healthy it’s really good to eat um you
know a lot that deep colors so with this
variety it has a really nice mounded
habit um it it almost and you can kind
of see it in these pictures it almost
looks like somebody came and took a
Shear to them and you know sheared them
that way a lot of kale is really upward
growing um sometimes it can get pretty
wild but this one stays this beautiful
Bush habit so it would work great in
your Landscaping too you wouldn’t even
have to put it you know in your garden
um or you could put it in a pot this
works great in a pot as well you could
put it in like an 8 in or even bigger
with a combo of things so super
versatile it’s beautiful so in the
summer it’ll be more of a green color
with a um hot pink Center and then as
the nights get cooler it turns a
beautiful Deep Purple the you know outer
leaves get purple the inner leaves get
more of a magenta color um and then the
beautiful thing with this it can over
winter I have it in my raised beds um
those raised beds are actually in my
house and they’re growing back and
they’re just you know beautiful so this
is definitely one of my favorites um it
does great in heat a lot of times
cabbages or you know KES brasas they
don’t love necessarily the Heat and so
that’s the bolting tolerant so it
doesn’t um bolt in the heat so is bread
to not bolt and so that means you know
you can keep enjoying it even in the
heat um so parsley pee is um honestly
one that we’ve had in our program for a
little while and this picture Almost
Doesn’t Do It full justice but so with
peas they have these beautiful Vines and
typically your standard peas um they
need to be trellised and varieties that
we’ve bred um over the years are called
the filines that means they almost have
velcro Vines to them so they don’t need
a trellis they can grow on each other
like Velcro so they’ll grow to the next
onto the next plant next to them um so
parsley pea is unique because you can
see those tendrils they’re really really
frilly they’re extra frilly and they
make a great garnish um if you pick them
young enough you can just eat them they
like throw them in a salad and you get
that really great tea taste and then an
added bonus you also get the pods too so
you can um it’s an English piece that
means you want to Shell the berries out
and you eat the berries so you don’t eat
the Pod but the berries on this um at
purine peas is one of our top crops so
we you know we look at you know 200 plus
varieties a year but this one is
actually one of my favorites for just
snacking on it’s a very sweet pee um and
yeah once again you have that beautiful
frilly Vine to it so can also eat the
tendrils or the vines as
well and then another pee U this is a a
brand new one from us it’s called peas
and aod Bernard uh this is also a dual
purpose one you can see this is in a pot
um we typically like let’s say you have
a six inch or maybe an 8 inch pot throw
in at least eight to 10 plants I know
that sounds like a lot but peas love to
be really compacted in there so throw a
bunch of seed in there you know maybe
have an inch or two spacing between the
seeds and just let it grow and then this
is an a fil of Vine as well so it’ll
velcro together itself so it doesn’t
need a trellis and then they’ll put
these beautiful little tiny cute petite
pods on them so once again this is an
English pee so you want to Shell it you
can kind of see in the picture too
there’s those little berries so you want
to eat the berries um but just a fun one
for little kids too because it’s a quick
crop so you could start it now basically
pretty much anywhere you are in the
state start it now um and then you’ll be
harvesting before Fourth of July on
these ones
then another container one that we have
that’s brand new from us is Tiny
Temptations Orange um as you can see
it’s a tomato it’s what we’d consider
like a determinant but it’s a we call it
a dwarf so it’s super small in this pot
it’s about a 10 inch container and
there’s actually three plants in there
um and it grows in this beautiful
mounded habit um and just loaded with
fruit it’s a high yielder and it’s our
sweetest variety so
uh it’s upwards of 15 bricks um on such
a small plant so this would be a really
fun one for a patio as well like you
could take maybe a kale um or a pee or
anything like that you know throw it
together in a nice container and it’ll
show really nice um yeah it’s one of my
favorites for
sure and then bendita is another tomato
from us this is one that you’d want to
grow in the field or in the garden um
this is what we call a semi determinate
so it’s not quite the indeterminate
those really tall ones and it’s not like
the dwarf that we just saw so it’s like
right happy medium um so you don’t need
to necessarily trellis this if you
didn’t want to I typically do trellis it
just because it just keeps it cleaner um
but it puts on nice big beef steak type
Tomatoes they’re about 200 gram so
they’re pretty hefty and you can see
even in this picture they’re great for
slicing and put putting on like a
hamburger or putting in a salad and that
color is just abolutely vibrant it’s a
super super orange color which there’s a
lot of health benefits to that orange
color as well the same thing You’ get in
carrots um those orange carrots so um
and also a lot of people really like
this variety because it has low acidity
um so people that might have a lot of
like you know you eat a tomato and you
get you know your acid reflux or just a
lot of like burping and stuff like that
this one people come to we in our trial
to people come and like hey can we pick
the bandita because they know that um
they don’t get the negative side effects
of that high acid content and it’s also
just very beautiful
too and then another tomato is rugby
this is an indeterminate so it is a
taller one and you’d want to uh trellis
this this is a pink tomato and it’s
actually one it’s almost you could use
it like Aroma type so you can see how
much flesh meat is in that tomato when
it’s sliced open so this is actually my
favorite variety for saucing um just
because it has so much flesh content my
grandma does too my mom we all pick
rugby and we like to can this one up um
it’s great for
Salsas you know spaghetti sauce that
sort of thing and it will have a
slightly different color just because it
is a pink tomato but it’s just fun too
because it’s so unique it has that
beautiful heart shape so also it would
be fun one for kids as well um and you
can see the immature color too is fun as
well just a vibrant almost neon green so
this one is a good one and with this one
and that bendido is talking about that
orange one they’re both really nice for
um just you know throwing out in the
open field they’re really low
maintenance uh varieties
so excellent well thank you so much and
now it’s shaya’s turn and there’s
another AAS winner here yeah this is our
AAS winner bow lettuce it’s um it’s a
really really unique variety it’s not um
doesn’t grow quite as large as a
full-sized head of lettuce it gets to be
about what we call Mid or midi size um
but it is an oak leaf so it’s got a
really nice combination of a bit of a
thicker Leaf but also a soft buttery
texture so it’s just got this nice
crunch to it but also very sweet um so
very different than a Roma or an iceberg
or just a loose leaf lettuce that you
might grow it works great for something
like cutand come again or also just for
single head Harvest whichever way you
like to grow your lettuce um and it does
have really great mildew resistance
which I know can be a challenge for a
lot of gardeners around the country so
it is a variety you can grow pretty much
anywhere uh it does have decent heat
tolerance to go go through the summer so
we really love this variety and of
course lettuce is really hydrating for
you
it’s good source of vitamin A which is
good for your vision and your skin um
and of course all the good toppings that
we put on our salads as well uh makes
lettuce just a really nice healthy
vegetable to grow in the garden and also
pretty fast growing um and fairly easy
to grow so this is a variety that I grow
in my own garden and just love so one of
the things Chelsea had mentioned it with
the broccoli um I can’t remember if
Kiren had but you mentioned cut and come
again so that is nice there are certain
vegetables that you can plant and
harvest as a baby stage or as smaller
sometimes with a broccoli if you cut out
the Center St you get the side shoots so
um I’ve just heard that terminology
quite a bit and wanted to make sure that
everybody understood what cut and come
again means so okay yeah yeah and so on
the lettuce or even on something like an
endi what you can do is go and take the
outside leaves leave the inner heart and
then that will regrow that will continue
to grow uh for a couple times and then
eventually the plant will decide it’s
done and it will send up a stock and
start to bolt and that changes the
flavor profile and everything like that
as well but yes uh the next variety that
I’m um wanted to talk about was benine
Endive it’s a fris type which is very
trendy these days we see it in a lot of
restaurants on the menus uh it it is an
end dive so it has a more bitter profile
than a lettuce but that that bitter
profile those bitter compounds um are
actually really helpful for you they aid
in
digestion um I like to eat my FR with
like a nice H honey mustard something a
little bit sweet to complement the
bitterness of the varieties but um this
variety I love again because it’s very
adaptable meaning it can grow in a lot
of different conditions and a lot of
different places in the country um it’s
one of the most resistant varieties I’ve
seen to the Heat so it doesn’t bolt too
fast and it doesn’t get any kind of tip
burn or yellowing of the leaves so this
is a really really nice if you’ve tried
growing F before and not been successful
I would recommend trying it again with
this variety because it is really easy
to grow um and good for warm conditions
in the summer so and also it adds a
really nice Loft to your plate it’s got
that nice frilly Leaf um it’s a fun
vegetable to grow
yeah Mexicana is one of my personal
favorites it’s um what we call a gray
zucchini sometimes referred to as a
Mexican zucchini sometimes um similar
type would be a Lebanese type um but as
you can see it’s got that nice bulbous
shape which makes it really great for
stuffing for grilling I really like to
hollow these out and stuff them with a
little bit of meat and rice some
Tomatoes um it’s a great vehicle for
other vegetables um and it does one
thing I really like about Mexicana
zucchini is that it has a very open
plant and a pretty compact plant so
instead of the vines growing kind of
trailing All Over the Garden they grow
very upright and the leaves stay very
open which makes it easier to get in
there and harvest it makes it easier to
see the fruit on the plant and um yeah
it just helps when you get in there
you’re not scratching your your hands on
the on the spines because the spines are
pretty minimal and they’re well spaced
apart uh and one tip I’d like to give
with zucchini is don’t let that first or
second zucchini sit on your plant
waiting for it to get big go ahead and
pick those zucchini that that will
promote the plant that it says oh I need
to keep producing more fruits and it’ll
keep going I see a lot of people they’ll
have that one Sad Little Giant zucchini
hanging on their plant and that that
says to the plant hey I’m making seed my
job is done done I don’t need to keep
producing fruits so please do pick those
first early zucchini the plant will keep
producing keep them coming and then if
you like larger ones later in the season
you can get some of those off your plant
so that’s my tip for for growing
zucchini uh Pizano tomato another one uh
that I really love it’s a San Marzano
type and if you’ve ever tried to grow
these types they can be challenging the
fruit can be pretty small um and also
it’s pretty notorious for getting that
Bloss some end rot also a lot of the
traditional varieties have a very
pronounced green shoulder on the top
which is fine but um aesthetically Pano
is just really striking because you get
these fully red shiny fruit that are
very resistant to Blossom and rot this
is an indeterminate tomato so definitely
something you’d want a steak or trellis
um but makes great sauces it’s really
that nice traditional Italian type
tomato and of course tomatoes high in
lycopene really good anti oxidant for
fighting all kinds of diseases uh
another another vegetable that has great
antioxidants is melon of course and
cantaloupe is one of those Divergent
melon is one of my favorites because
it’s um Divergent it’s different it’s a
cross between a cantaloupe and a Gallia
melon so it’s got the outside netting is
more like what you would see of a Galia
but the inside is a nice sweet orange
flesh uh really kind of an old-fashioned
cantaloupe flavor we say so it’s got
that musk to it it’s not all just pure
sugar um it’s got a really nice flavor
profile and again this variety is really
early to mature so really great um for
growing in short growing Seasons um
you’re going to get some nice melons
before it
frosts and I think the last one I have
on my list is EV basil which is one of
our uh new dowy mildew resistant
varieties so if you do get that black uh
spores growing on your leaves that’s
likely mildew it’s something that’s
become a problem in the US over the last
five to 10 years and so it’s likely
especially towards the end of the season
that you will see that in your garden
this variety is resistant to it not 100%
resistant but um it can hold its own
against the disease and so that’s why we
really love this variety it’s got a
traditional basil flavor it’s slow to
bolt um yeah and again of course there’s
lots of compounds phytochemicals in
basil that are great for your
health and when you add basil to
something it makes it taste even better
at least at least that’s my
opinion yeah so I’m gonna take the
presentation down and and I don’t know
about everybody else but I’m salivating
and I’m ready for lunch now after seeing
all that which uh that’s part of what we
want to do we want to entice everybody
with the appealing look and flavor of
these vegetables so yeah it worked on me
but maybe I’m just a big fan of
vegetable gardening so um let’s go
through and talk about gardening for
Better Health a little bit more
um one of the questions that we got was
what about people with physical
challenges you know either Mobility or
or flexibility I think somebody was
mentioning uh some of the things about
gardening earlier and boy depending on
what you’re gardening in it it requires
flexibility I’m sure we’ve all come back
in with uh thighs and arms and shoulders
but uh any kind of tips um I’m sure you
each have several tips so if you are
limited in any way physically um what
are some favorite tips on how you can
continue to
Garden well I would highly recommend
raised beds for sure um my husband
actually bought built Bunch for the
company I work for and they’re man I was
asking last night how tall are they but
basically up to your thigh I mean I
recommend not doomed to low that’s one
of the things that I see is a lot of
race beds are too low and it’s almost
like what’s the point at that rate
because then like rabbits can get in
there and then also it is just hard to
um work in it and then also if they’re
too high I’ve seen ones that are also
much too high you know I’m kind of just
an average gal as far as height but you
know up to hip and higher you know then
it’s hard to if you got maybe some
taller crops in there to work with them
so if you get kind of that sweet spot
but something taller you know you can
easily just reach in even to the middle
of the bed um you know plant your items
or even if you start getting something
taller you can still reach it and
harvest from it so that’s probably one
of my biggest is raised beds I love them
I mean I didn’t think I’d love them as
much as I do but um yeah just have
series of raised beds everywhere and you
know life would be so much
better
excellent yeah I would add to that to
bed diameter they you know you don’t
really want something that you have to
reach reach over into so if you’re
custom building that’s excellent you
know think about what your arm reach is
from like a nice upstanding position
which is probably two feet and that’s
the max Center of your bed if you can
work around the whole side of it or if
it’s going up against the fence or
something like that you know you want it
to just be something that you can easily
reach
into um and I guess I would add um
access you know depending on how
able-bodied you are you want something
um you know if that you can get to
easily and so a lot of that is evening
the ground putting a nice base in if you
can um something that’s going to be a
firm uh standing platform for you that
you can feel very comfortable and secure
in um and then you know um being being
cognizant of your body you know it’s
it’s okay I think gardening is wonderful
because it’s a slow hobby or it can be a
slow hobby just do what you can for the
day don’t bite off more than you can
chew and think about what it is that
you’re using if you’re bending are you
able to support you know that bend with
your core or your back muscles or if
you’re picking something up you know you
don’t lift with your back of course you
know you lift with your knees
um uh and and and having the right
ergonomic tools you know we’re a panel
of women here there’s a great assortment
now of tools that are smaller diameter
handles for a woman’s hand and also a
bit on the lighter side you know they’re
made of lighter materials and so getting
and and then you can take that even
further if there’s other um ability or
disability limitations that you’re
working with there’s a variety of tools
out there that are made for various
aspects um I think to work with in um
yeah within uh a way to get you out into
the garden and doing it
comfortably yeah I think that’s that’s
so true Chelsea um the long-handled
tools things that you can can really use
your ergonomically are so important and
I would add to that you know if you’re
limited in Mobility or low energy even
consider taking a chair out to the
garden and working working from the
chair uh working on a stool bringing a a
kneeling pillow or having knee guards if
you’re doing some kneeling to protect
your knees um and really also switching
up the tasks right like don’t do a hard
task for too long take a break do
something that you um can rest your body
like harvesting or um just enjoying the
garden for a little while because um
yeah you don’t want to over fatigue your
body and there’s so much to do in the
garden that you can bring break up those
tasks if you need to um so I think just
like like everyone has said being really
conscious of your body uh even consider
stretching before you go out in the
garden to help you so that you’re not
injuring yourself when you get there
also the other thing I wanted to say is
if you can’t set up your own garden due
to physical limitations there are a lot
of Community Gardens School Gardens
places where you can get involved that
are accessible to a wide range of people
and um I’m sure they would love to have
some help so that’s always an option as
well yeah can I add something to that as
well because you know when you’re
talking um I was thinking too so last
year I was pregnant very pregnant
throughout the summer and so one of the
things I found really helpful for me
because there was some you know Mobility
things there with a large belly and that
sort of thing but uh I’ve have found
even just over the years is having
things on me so um I’ve over the years
bought like pouches that I just snap to
my waist and I I just keep everything in
my pouch so like the hand tools and my
seed um anything it’s all in my pouch so
I don’t have to keep like walking back
and forth and getting stuff or um or
even just bending over it’s all right
there or even if you’re trellising
something up you know putting Clips you
know in your pouch that you can trellis
um and also with that you know there’s a
lot of container varieties out there too
so really consider containers uh they’re
I think they’re they’re they’ve grown in
popularity over the years but I I think
there’s still so much out there that
people don’t even realize like as far as
varieties um and options there so yeah
just have a lot of fun with playing with
different things you know throwing
something in something you would
typically not think should be in there
maybe somewhere you typically put
flowers maybe try putting some of your
vegetables there you know because it’s
closer to your house or um so yeah
hopefully those are helpful very very
helpful and I was going to add into I
mean I know that hanging baskets have
some challenges with how they dry out
but there may be certain vegetables or
fruits that you could grow in hanging
baskets and then you don’t even have to
bend over you can just reach up and and
pluck a few berries or beans or peas or
whatever it might be off of a hanging
basket would be another way um one of
the things that I wanted to bring up um
which is related in a little bit is um
our support of therapeutic Gardens so
we’ve been talking about how Garden is
good for you there are a very large
number of therapeutic Gardens throughout
North America and we actually have a
grant program and we’ve just opened up
applications so if anyone um listening
is involved with a horiculture therapy
Garden you could go to our website Gail
can post a link to that because the
grants will be the deadline is in July
and then we actually award the grants
this fall so we are very much supporters
of how gardening can help you mentally
physically and everything in this grant
is one of the ways we do that so thank
you everybody for your tips um so now
let’s let’s talk about some general
garden growing and Care um is there like
let’s talk about fertilizer first is
there something you should be using
shouldn’t be using does what you feed
your plants affect the how it feeds
you um so what what are your tips along
those
lines yep so I uh I personally am a big
fan of compost so where I’m at I can
usually get some composted manure but I
also love I think it’s okay to say
there’s the Black Cow brand which is
carried at Home Depot which is my local
Box Store um which I think is really
reliable um and then also I make my own
compost and use King Neptune’s fish and
SE kelp fertilizer it’s a bit stinky but
it’s really really um great in um in
organic matter um yeah I mean generally
uh the healthier plant is the more
successful you’re going to be so
something that’s planted at the right
time of year generally in full sun when
we’re talking about
vegetables and that is well fed is going
to better be able to fend off pests and
diseases you know collect that sunlight
for photosynthesis and turn that into
fruit for your Harvest so yeah generally
um a nice uh even um feeding is is good
and then what comes along with that is
timing types of feeding for the
vegetable it’s a it’s more to get into
now but I’m sure Diane and Gail have a
bunch of great resources that can
suggest to you um best times of year to
plant but yeah I would say you know if
you can incorporate feeding into the
cycle you know typically when your
vegetabl start
flowering and then again at Mid Harvest
it’s both the times where they’re using
a lot of energy you know plants put a
lot of energy into flowering going into
that reproductive stage they can use
little boost then and then after you’ve
starting to take some Harvest off and
perhaps they’re fatiguing or maybe
you’ve missed that first zucchini pick
and you know they’re getting closer to
setting seed than you want them to if
you can give them um a little feeding
then you’ll be able to extend your
growing
season yeah and something I’ve found too
is it’s really simple that I didn’t
realize was so simple but doing soil
samples so it depends on how big you’re
trying to go you know how big you’re
Endeavor is how big your garden is but
soil samples um you can do you can order
online soil samples too like you can do
you know Amazon has some stuff or you
can even go through a local lab um so
I’ve gone through in Wisconsin here egg
Source Laboratories and it’s honestly
pretty cheap um as far as I thought you
know it can range from like $8 to $30
depending on what you’re wanting for
your analysis but for me I would just do
like the basic analysis and even so
where I’m growing um when I would get
that soil sample back it told me what my
soil was lacking and actually I thought
my soil was lacking so much you know I
was going to have to pump so much on my
plants and then I found that my soil was
actually kind of hot it was too there’s
too much nutrients in it and so um which
made sense because the year before I was
just you know fertilizing um and then I
saw a lot of like over production like
the it got too leafy or things like that
so that’s a great way to like if you
have no even Baseline especially for
just your you know Garden if you have a
large Garden or something I really
recommend it because then that will last
you quite a while if you’re doing the
same thing or if you’re doing crop
rotations and that sort of thing but it
gives you kind of a a baseline idea and
like I said it’s not too expensive to do
some sort of um soil
test yeah um those are all great tips I
would I would add to that if you’re
using organic fertilizers or natural
fertilizers those tend to break down
more slowly in the soil so considering
adding fertility to your Gard in maybe
in the fall so that it can have time to
uh break down and be available for you
the next season um I really do love the
fish Emulsion fertilizers the liquid
fertilizers like Chelsea said they can
be a little stinky you don’t want to put
them on something you’re just about to
eat but um they’re really fast acting
and you can spray them right on the
leaves uh or right into the soil and it
can make a pretty big um impact in a
short amount of time so if you see
something struggling that’s a great kind
of quick pickme up for
plants yes I’m so glad you brought up
soil testing because that’s that’s one
of probably the first things you should
first you need to decide to Garden um
but then definitely you need to know
what is in your soil and I see um
there’s a lot of comments here about
Cooperative extensions USDA offices will
be doing soil testing some looks like
North Carolina is doing it free and then
then once you get your soil tested I’m
assuming that they will give you the
recommendations on what to do if
anything for your soil we had somebody
say that their soil was low in potassium
do you have any recommendations on how
to add potassium to your
soil yeah so if you’re going to take
something off the shelf for a fertilizer
typically you’ll see three numbers on it
it’s a number Dash number Dash number
and that stands for nitrogen phosphorus
and potassium NP and
which are the three kind of Baseline
nutrients that you want in your soil and
to be available to your plant they make
all the other micro and macronutrients
more readily available to the plant so
if you find that you’re low in potassium
you could look for something that’s like
a005 which means no nitrogen no
phosphorus but it has the potassium
really
um or you could go for something that is
like a straight potassium
additive which um which will be
available you know from a box store
shelf um you can make like a
banana uh uh extract if you soak some
banana peels and some water and so
there’s definitely some like at home
things that you can do that for uh do do
that with also but you know I like
reading a good label I like getting a
good organic fertilizer or compost
because you know it’s going to be well
mixed you know that you’re getting a
pretty straightforward
um uh application and just going with
that so I would pay attention to that
third number on an off-the-shelf um
feed yeah and like I said um organic
fertilizers can be a little bit slower
to act in your soil but things like
seaweed kelp um greens sand those are
all natural sources of pottassium as
well as I think potassium sulfate is
available as well so those are all
things that are high high potassium that
you can add but they may take a little
while to break down in your
soil and there’s another question here
about biochar have you used it I’m I’m
hearing a lot of talk about that in fact
we have um sunro has a new mix called
black black bear I believe and it has
biochair I personally don’t have any
experience have you guys used any
biochar yeah I have uh anybody else so
the the way
um we yeah in my past life we had done a
lot of Trials on on various biochars the
way I more think of it is it’s like an
insurance policy um if you need uh a
boost and some better accessibility to
the nutrients in a a saggier soil I
think that you’re more bound to see the
results from the product if you already
have a beautiful loose well draining
soil that’s even in nitrogen phosphorus
and
potassium I think that you’re not going
to as readily see that um that uptick in
your yield or plant
performance again that’s that’s just
from my point of view of Trials though
and so I know there’s always new
products hitting the Shelf every day and
um you know what I would say is
experiment with it you know that’s
that’s one of the most fun things in the
garden have a container of two of the
exact same things put biochar in one
soil not in the other soil and see what
that does for you your own home
trial excellent just say make sure you
know where your biochar is coming from
make sure it’s it’s something clean that
you want to put into your soil um but
yeah it can help with water retention I
think it can help maybe with the um the
micronutrient um sorry the microbes in
the soil the soil diversity can help
with some of that but um like Chelsea
said it’s going to depend on how your
soil is to start
with yeah excellent okay um wow when we
get down to the three minute Mark here’s
what I like to do to close out our
webinars is I ask each
panelist one of your favorite tips so
today is what is your favorite way to
improve your health those of your
friends and family by vegetable
gardening I mean and the tips can be
very broad ranging but uh who wants to
go first who has their tip
prepared you know Wonderful preparers
[Laughter]
Diane yeah I’ll go first um so I guess
for mine might be a little too fold but
so it might not be just one thing but
overall I will say just have fun with it
like that the more you have fun with it
you’re gonna just enjoy it to it’s I
think that’s what I see a lot in people
they’ll get too stressed out about it or
like oh it’s not growing right like you
know maybe try doing even what Chelsea
is saying like do your own little trial
like throw things out there I mean
that’s how you know we do our work is
we’re testing things and you know in one
sense you can’t really go wrong so just
throw things out there and see how it’s
going to happen even if like they say
well you’re supposed to start it inside
you never know you know um and of course
there could be limitations there with
space or timing um and also with that
just plan on things that you know
especially if you want to like preserve
something or keep it like something you
know you’re G to love eating that you’re
G to like want to go to all the time so
for for our family for instance this
past year um I found a really cool way
to store carrots and and we’ve just been
like eating carrots like crazy and it’s
lasted all winter and it’s this huge
sense of accomplishment too it’s like
wow this so cool like I’ve was able to
store all these carrots so you know
maybe try to pick like one crop that you
can really hone in on and just like kind
of make it your baby type of thing um
that’s probably one of my biggest things
even working in the industry for so many
years there’s still so many like Feats
and hurdles to jump over and things to
learn and um so yeah just yeah have fun
with it for sure awesome I love that tip
okay who’s
next I can go next um it just plays it
plays on Kirsten’s which is yeah don’t
stress about it try to make it uh as fun
as possible for me that means picking
the things that I know are going to grow
well in my garden uh and that we’re
going to really enjoy and the things
that I struggle with I I let go of those
and I um enjoy them from uh a neighbor’s
Garden or from the farmers market uh but
I try not to stress about it too much
and the things we do grow we grow a lot
of herbs we grow a lot of garlic and we
use those in almost every single meal so
it’s very satisfying so we found things
that work and grow very easily in our
garden and those for me are the most
rewarding uh and there there’s no stress
there so that’s you know gardening is
meant to be meditative it’s meant to be
relaxing uh if it’s stressing you out uh
find a different way to do
something I love it yes okay Chelsea
yours yeah I mean right on the back of
um stress relief I would say visit your
garden every day you know whether that’s
first thing in the morning like Kirsten
does I tend to do it after the dinner
rush is over in my house and you know
maybe the kids or husband will come out
with me but I’ll take my wine or a tea
you know and just I walk my garden and I
take it in and it’s a great way to see
what has happened throughout the day
because always something has happened
throughout the day um it’s a good way to
just like pull a couple weeds at dusk
you know so you end your day like with a
wind you know you’ve done something it
takes one less burden off for the next
day and um and just that General
clearing it like lets all the chatter of
the day fade away because you are just
taking in the sights and and sounds of
the garden and if you can do that once a
day lunch break whatever part of the day
like I guarantee you it’s going to be a
win and and something you look forward
to I love that I’ve heard people say I’m
a coffee Gardener I’m a lunch Gardener
I’m a I’m a wine Gardener so it’s like
is the amount of time it takes them to
consume whatever it is they’re carrying
out in the garden that’s that’s their
daily fix and it makes them feel so much
better and and I’m just going to add in
why my little tip um a lot of times I
talk about this is grow something that’s
unique um and I and I’m not dis dispar
disparaging green peppers at all but you
know green peppers they’re pretty cheap
in the grocery store and we buy them
almost by the dozens we eat so many but
I also like growing the unique things
you know like The Bishop’s hat pepper
and and the red and yellow peppers the
small ones and things like that just
because then you’re growing the unique
and it’s even more fun so um okay I
think we whoops we are two minutes over
so sorry about that but I think it was
well worth it and with that I am just
going to profusely thank all three of
you for sharing your knowledge and your
tips and showing us some wonderfully
delicious looking
varieties and with that I think it’s
time for us to wrap things up so we can
go get in our vegetable gardens