Garden for Food, For Healthy Activity, Emotional Therapy. For Life

Eat Healthy Everyday

Grow Your Own Nutrition: Advice from a former farm girl

At the risk of sounding like your Mother

I will

also advise that you consume

plenty

of fresh

fruits and vegetables in addition

to the

supplements

recommended by your

physician. Homeowners and apartment

dwellers

have the ability and the opportunity

to grow vegetables. You would be

surprised

at the small amount of space that is

required

to grow some

very nutritious foods.

Container gardens produce very well on

balconies.

Very small raised beds

may contain vegetables that

blend in

well with

various

other plants

arigolds

for instance, have a smell that even the

hungriest

aphids really hate.

Aphids are guaranteed to stay away from

your cabbage

if they are companion

planted

in the same raised bed with

marigolds.

season,

I grow enough

vegetables to feed

family and share

with the neighbors.

Many of

my neighbors

have begun to follow

example and are

growing

organic food in

small spaces. Some

varieties

of tomatoes,

cucumbers, zucchini

and other vegetables

have been

hybrid to

grow

lots of food in small

spaces.

July of 1990 I received a call informing me that my Mom had

passed. It was raining,

but I went outside anyway.. It was very

warm and the smell of the warm earth was very

comforting. I

weeded my flower beds and thought about my mother. Several

weeks

earlier, we signed her out of the hospital against her

doctors' wishes. They said she

was dying. She wanted to die at

home. She worried about her cabbage, beans,

tomatoes and

the various other vegetables that she was growing. Her

physicians

thought it was the one thing that was keeping her

spirits up. She was in her massive

garden sitting on her little

cart rolling herself down the row as she picked green beans

almost daily for 3 weeks. She passed quietly late one night

the arms of her

companion. She wrote her will on the back of

an old envelope giving her small farm to

whomever would live in

the house and care for the land.

Working Outside in the open air

is good therapy for anyone wishing to find inner

harmony and

improved health. Digging in the soil is one way to get much needed

physical activity.

you

a person who hates the word "exercise" even when your

doctor demands that you "exercise" in

order to save your own life

Join me in raising

some of the many foods that the same doctor

requires you to consume as part of your

new life now that you are over 50 and a member of

the

10 percent of people who will

have a heart attack because of genetics, eating habits and

other

factors. Improve

your health while raising fresh organic vegetables,

fruits

beautiful flowers and

shrubbery.

Get

up, go

out

side

pull

some wee

ds and

bring

gardening to the city or

suburban

community where you live.

Green & yellow peppers produced
along this fence unharmed by two
frosts. The fence offered limited
protection from frost.

Marigold and cabbage
companion planted along a walk
in front yard. Good, healthy,
organic food and a great
conversation piece.

Kung Pao peppers, sweet bell peppers yellow
peppers, eggplant, sweet million and sweet 100
tomatoes, and cucumbers were grown along this
fence.

Eggplant vine grew to over 4 feet

The Latch Key Kid and

Strawberries in a raised bed

Gardening is also a good way to

bond with children. My

granddaughter and I grew quarts

of strawberries from these four

plants in a raised box. We

shopped for the plants together

and she learned that some

insects are good for the garden.

We also purchased preying

mantis and lady bugs.

She loved caring for the bugs and didn't like the thought of letting

them loose in the garden to be bait for the birds.The secret is a

good mulch and the cutting off of any runners. The soil is very

soft allowing water to be absorbed.

My father advise

to till the soil at least 6 inches deep so

that the

arm could easily be inserted up to the elbow.

Removing

the

runners makes the mother plant concentrate its energies on

the

production of larger strawberries.

Allowing the runners to go amuck causes the

plant to produce tiny strawberries that are not

as sweet. Unruly runners also covers the

ground and mulch very quickly producing lots

of flowers and tiny bland fruit. The four plants

in this picture were purchased the day these

photos were taken. Thursdays were harvest

days because my latchkey granddaughter

spends the day with me and her baby sister.

Each Thursday during harvest season she entered the house,

threw her book bag onto her desk, then rushed out to "check the

strawberries

Therapy in the Garden

Work away your

problems and

reduce

stress while

growing

delicious fruits

and

vegetables.

Beautify your yard and

gain peace.

Grow healthy fruits,

herbs and

vegetables

in very little space.

Benefit from great

physical

activity

while

producing good,

healthy organic

food

for you

and your family.

Bond with family

members

while growing the foods

they

like.

Children love

watching

things grow.

Use the

right tool for

each job

and

garden

your way to

good

health.

Southern Magnolia grown from seed
in my mother's North Carolina
backyard. I Moved it to NJ in a bucket
and planted it in my back yard.

These delicious cherry
tomatoes produced so many
that my neighbor nearly made
himself sick eating them like
grapes.

Fresh organically homegrown peppers
seem sweeter and are much more
palatable eaten raw with dips and salads.

Fountain surrounded by various
types of mint, oregano, thyme and
sage.

Basil

Anise

Lemon Thyme

Herb Gardening in containers and small spaces

Red Horse Chestnut Tree

This tree was given as a gift by
my colleagues when my sister
passed. Her daughter was 14
and the selection and planting
of the tree was very therapeutic
in helping her deal with the
death.

Caring for the tree seems to
ease her feelings of
abandonment.

Mary is the tree's name

Believe it or not the last of the

strawberries were harvested

November 1st. We left this

one for

the birds.

The runners were called suckers by
the southern farmers. They continue
to fight for life long after the mother
plant has ceased to flower

The Great Southern Magnolia is Sometimes called

the Money Tree

That magnificent magnolia sometimes has blossoms

over a foot in diameter. It is the favorite tree of our

Jersey birds that do not migrate South. The bright red

seeds attract them and are a favorite staple for many

winged creatures that winter in my yard. These seeds

are very easy to grow once they have been dried out.

The tree above was planted by seed in my Mom's

yard. I dug it up, transported it to New Jersey and

planted it in

my yard. I have been taking care of it ever

since.

There was lot of controversy when the tree was

planted. My sisters and a few of the neighbors did not

think it would last through the first winter. I called my

father (the farmer). There was a foot of snow on the

ground and the little tree was nearly buried. He asked if

the leaves were green and shiny. They were very

green and shiny. My father loved being right. For many

years after that he asked me how the tree was doing.

He had a special interest in the tree since it was raised

from the seeds of a tree that he and my mother dug up

in the forest and planted in our yard.

Above are the various
stages of seed pod
development. The kids
love the bright red pellets.
The seeds make a
brilliant addition to mixed
art media also.