5 Power Fruits to Grow in Your Garden

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In my last post I talked about the five power vegetables you can grow in your home vegetable garden that contain the maximum amount of nutrients for a healthier eating lifestyle. Continuing on in this series of health, nutrition and the home vegetable garden, I wanted to turn to fruits today.

Who doesn’t like a good bowl of mixed fruits to start a morning or along side your lunch. Of course, who wouldn’t want that bowl of fruit to come from their own garden. As I noted in my previous post, studies have shown that vegetables grown at home is far more healthier than what you can buy in stores, I believe the same would hold true for fruits as well.

Again I turn to nutrition expert Todd Cambio, BA, BS, CSCS, Sports Nutritionist who is also the author of the book Reducing Pain and Everyday Inflammation: How to Feel Better, Have More Energy, and Increase Flexibility. Todd specializes in sports recovery methods and nutritional counseling. “{fruits} Loaded with Natural Anti-Oxidants & Anti-Inflammatories,” says Todd. “Think colors? Mix them up. Also, fruits help protect our body from free radical damage, they lower your risk for cancer, they aid in regenerating your Vitamin E stores, they improve wound healing, they increase your ability to fight off colds and they help with the absorption if Iron.”

Todd recommends the following five fruits for daily consumption. Blueberries (all berries really), oranges, pineapples, mangoes, and avocados. For those of us who can not grow citrus fruits, Todd recommends replacing oranges with peaches, pineapples with either papaya or watermelon, and mangoes with apples. You can also replace avocados with tomatoes, which botanically is a fruit.

There are a variety of berries you can grow, all of which range in ease of growth and soil types. Blueberries do best in a sandier soil where as I have had some recent success with raspberries in a traditional soil. Berry vines (and in some cases trees) can be purchased at any home or garden center for a couple bucks up through twenty dollars.

Apple and peach trees will grow (for the most part) pretty much anywhere, but take time before you will receive fruit from them, so be patient.

Watermelon, and other melons, can be grown each season, but many varieties do take up a lot of room, so plan accordingly.

For more information on what super fruits you need to add to your eating plan so you know exactly what to grow, be sure to check out Super Fruits by Paul M. Gross.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us and the administrator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Short on Space? Try Growing Up

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I am a very fortunate person when it comes to my vegetable gardening space. I have plenty to grow what I know my family will consume leaving plenty left over for friends, family and donations to our church and local food pantry. However, many people have emailed me with their concerns of limited space.

They would like to grow vining plants such as cantaloupes, cucumbers and pole beans, but lack the space they need to simply let them “fan” out if you will. If you find yourself in this category, you are luck. You can grow these items, and many more like them, vertically.

With vertical home vegetable gardening, the sky really is the limit. All you need to do is create a structure of sorts to give your plants something to hold on to. For heavier items, such as cantaloupes, you will also need to be a bit creative as to have something to hold up the fruit.

In his book Vertical Gardening: Grow up, Not Out, for More Vegetables and Flowers in Much Less Space, Derek Fell, shows you how to creatively use a Trellis, tower of pots and garden netting, for what he says allows you to enjoy the, “benefits of easier maintenance, healthier plants, and higher yields.”

An obvious solution for use of space that many people overlook is the back or front porch steps. Depending on which gets the most sun, porch steps make for a great area to use deep pots to grow many items, taking advantage of space that is otherwise not used.

Along with the plentiful yields of great tasting fruit, veggies and herbs, vertical gardening makes garden maintenance much easier as all of the vines are off the ground, yielding a clear path to those pesky weeds that want to steal your plants valuable soil nutrients.

Vertically gardening, as well as use of space, is only limited by your creative thinking. I have seen many gardeners use their existing fences for supports, pergolas, the roof tops of sheds, fire escapes (although I don’t think the fire department appreciates that one) and so much more. What empty space do you see in your area that could otherwise be used to grow great fruits and veggies?

On a final note, herbs are a great to grow on indoor window sills. Just make sure you pick a window that receives sunlight first thing in the morning.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club: