Super foods
Go from super to superb by growing your own
Among the most interesting things I read is a newsletter by a guy who calls himself a sustainable good foods consultant — David Cohlmeyer.
He recently talked about the micro biome in our guts, where billions of bacteria live (i.e. probiotics). Their job, he tells us, is to “digest food, provide us with energy, produce crucial vitamins, regulate appetite, protect our immune system and fend off any harmful bacteria.” Sounds like a big job, right?
But a big job usually needs helpers, and Cohlmeyer points out the Top 10 gut-friendly foods that were recently featured on CBC’s The Nature of Things. Happily, the Top 5 can grow in your garden; the Bottom 5, not so much — for instance nuts, yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, red wine and dark chocolate.
Now is the time to decide what you’ll plant in your garden this year. I start sowing many of my veggie seeds this weekend.
Here are the Top 5 superfoods and how to grow them: 1. Jerusalem artichoke: If you can grow twitch grass, you can grow Jerusalem artichokes. All they really need is soil of most any description (though loose and crumbly works best) and sunshine. Mother Nature will take care of the rest. Plant in a sunny position, as they are members of the sunflower family. Dig your first harvest next year and eat the root. Cohlmeyer warns that they are difficult to digest and that the antidote is to eat more of them (!). The tuberous roots are available at your garden retailer in the bulb section. Plant as soon as the soil is dry enough to work. 2. Leeks: Leeks really like me. I grow a lot of them. Start the seeds now and plant the stringy seedlings in late April or early May. Light frost will not hurt them if you harden them off before planting. Line them out in a shallow trench 8 cm apart, firm quality soil around the bottom centimetre of the plant to stabilize it in the soil. Full sun. Dress the root zone with compost or triple mix 5 cm up the stem, a bit at a time over eight to 12 weeks to create the white blanching effect for mild, tasty leeks. Harvest late in the season, after a few frosts, which intensifies their flavour. 3. Garlic: While autumn is the best time to plant garlic, you can plant it in the spring. The earlier the better. Line the cloves of seed garlic (vs. grocery store garlic) about 15 cm apart in rows about 25 cm apart. Garlic loves the sun and cool temperatures. Come July, when they bolt “pig tails,” cut these “scapes” off and use them. Mid-August, dig up the garlic plants, let them dry in the sun for three days and then cure the bulbs under cover, but in a wellventilated space. 4. Lentils: This is the “year of pulses,” and lentils belong in this family of leguminous plants. If this sounds mysterious, keep an eye out as I will write about them soon. It is possible for you to grow this superfood, but I don’t know why you would. You can buy good, organic, Canadian-grown lentils very cheaply. If you would like to grow lentils for fun, go for it. All you need is sunshine and open/ friable soil. Sow seeds after the threat of frost or start them indoors two weeks before the last frost and plant young transplants. Harvest when the pods have plumped up. 5. Apples: Cohlmeyer says, “An apple a day DOES keep the doctor away.” There are many dwarf and semidwarf varieties available at garden retailers in the spring.
Many are well-suited to city life, if you have enough sunshine (minimum six hours per day).
Forget trying to grow Granny Smith, as our season is not long enough (unless you live in zone 7, like St. Catharines), and the great cooking apple Northern Spy can take up to 14 years to produce its first crop. Otherwise, buy the variety that you like the best.
Note that pollination in an urban environment is never a problem as pollinating bees travel far enough to mix it up with crabapples.
I love an apple in the car: I munch and drive.
When I get home, I’ll mix some nuts with a scoop of yogurt, enjoy a glass of red wine and finish it off with a snack of quality dark chocolate. That’s five out 10 super foods.
This healthy lifestyle is not so hard to take. Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.