The Modern Victory Garden

While there are many opinions about what constitutes a healthy diet, there seems to be a general consensus that a diet that includes a high proportion of plants (fruits and vegetables) is generally a good thing to strive for. In fact, Michael Pollan in his book "In Defense of Food" showed a wonderful economy of words with his cryptic observation that we should - "Eat food.   Not too much.   Mostly plants."   The "eat food" is further explained to mean we should eat food that our great grandparents would recognize.   The "not too much" is self-explanatory.   The "mostly plants" part is where we (as food production gardeners) have a real advantage.   Our gardens provide a ready supply of the freshest, most nutritious, and ... (I'll be so bold as to say) ... the best tasting produce we could ask for!   There really is great deal of satisfaction to be had in eating tender young vegetables grown and harvested from our own gardens.          

From my perspective there are a couple of important secrets to really enjoying vegetables and having them become a regular and significant part of the family diet. To begin with, I firmly believe that vegetables should be:   

• Picked Young;
• Harvested Frequently;
• and Cooked With as Little Delay as Possible

Also, while I definitely preserve the summer garden's bounty for later use, I also make sure that there is fresh garden produce available year round to supplement the preserved supply - even during the leanest months of the year. Preserved is good, but fresh is best!                             

Picking your vegetables while they are young and tender has many advantages.

• They have prime flavor (people pay a premium for baby/young veggies!)
• They generally take less time to prep and cook
• They do not have time to form mature seeds - encouraging the plant to keep producing

Harvesting your produce while young and picking often, increases the garden's yield and actually extends the harvest.  Plants such as zucchini that are picked before the seeds have formed are forced to produce more fruit if it is to achieve its sole purpose in life, producing mature fruit with fully developed seeds.   The same principle is true of beans and peas too.   And most greens (such as lettuce pictured below)  will produce many cuttings if you do not allow the plants a chance to get too mature and begin flower development.             

Of course, we all know that this is the ideal.   Too often the garden overwhelms us with too many types of items that mature all at the same time and in too great a quantity to use up with normal meal preparation - but for me, that just represents an opportunity to preserve the extra for future use when the garden is producing less bountifully.        

So enjoy your garden's produce by picking young, picking often, and cooking them with as little delay as possible and above all else - eat your veggies!