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By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Published on Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008
Master gardener Pat Kennedy, who through her business, the Culinary Gardener, plans gardens for customers throughout the world, said her best advice to gardeners is to try new things.
''What I would really encourage people is to absolutely step out of the box,'' she said. ''If you've only ever had a red tomato, grow a yellow one, grow an orange one.''
Kennedy, of Bath Township, specializes in heirloom varieties of vegetables — ones that have been open-pollinated over time, not hybrids developed in laboratories for specific characteristics such as resistance to disease.
She said gardening is the way people can eat well and experience foods beyond the limited mass-produced varieties.
In most grocery stores, shoppers will find just two kinds of broccoli out of dozens of varieties. ''So we don't even know what the other broccolis taste like,'' Kennedy said.
She said there's nothing wrong with planting the traditional garden staples — tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. But she encourages gardeners to plant heirloom varieties of those standards.
''I don't know where heirlooms got the reputations that they are fussy. They aren't fussy. They've existed on their own all this time. And there are colors, shapes and textures that you can't imagine. But most of all, you'll get incredible taste,'' she said.
When deciding what to plant, think about the cuisines you enjoy cooking and eating. If Italian food is your favorite, choose tomatoes, zucchini or eggplants. For Latin American or Spanish flavors on the table, experiment with lots of peppers.
Consider an abundance of herbs and baby lettuces for French cuisine. For Asian cooking, try bok choy and other cabbages.
For Tamara Mitchell, owner of Dine-in-Diva, an Akron personal chef service, experimenting with vegetables from a particular part of the world is great way to explore a cuisine. She said seed catalogs often will devote entire sections to varieties of vegetables.
Lemongrass, an herb commonly used in Asian cooking, doesn't grow well in Northeast Ohio in the ground, but Mitchell said she has had great success growing it in containers.
Kennedy said a trend among heirloom gardeners is to plant varieties from their own heritages to enjoy the foods of their ancestors, for example Polish peppers or Russian garlic. There are even strictly Ohio heirlooms to try as well.
John Schulze, executive chef at the Galaxy restaurant in Wadsworth, said that for the best culinary garden, cultivate herbs. Good fresh herbs will improve all foods, he said.
Schulze said he likes to grow rosemary and several kinds of basil. He also grows pineapple sage, lemon thyme, and nasturtiums — not only for their leaves, but for their edible flowers, which are a great addition to salads and other dishes.
For his own garden, Schulze said, he likes to grow a variety of peppers from small, mild cherry peppers to fiery hot red ones that he uses to make his own hot sauce. A New Orleans native, Schulze said the hot sauce is an integral part of his cuisine.
Because his space is limited, Schulze grows a lot of his peppers in containers.
Mitchell said container gardening is an easy way to start a kitchen garden for those who don't have the time or space to cultivate a larger plot.
Lettuce blends are perfect for containers because they grow easily in shallow dishes and can be raised on a front porch or apartment balcony if space is an issue. ''I get the cut-and-come-back varieties. You cut off what you want and it keeps coming back,'' she said.
Herbs, especially different basils, also grow well in containers, she said.
Kennedy said that herbs are foolproof for the most novice gardener. Because they are essentially weeds, herbs grow well in poor soil, can survive with very little attention, and provide big flavor boosts to all foods.
''No matter what kind of tomatoes you are growing, some fresh chopped basil will make them sing,'' she said.
Tim Knorr, the farm manager at Crown Point Farm & Educational Center in Bath Township, said small changes, from one variety of vegetable to another, can mean a harvest of big tastes.
He suggested planting red pimento peppers instead of traditional bell peppers. Pimentos are smaller and have a thicker flesh than traditional bells, are far sweeter and one of the best choices for eating, he said. ''They're not just for stuffing olives.''
He also praised an Italian heirloom squash, Costata Romanesco, for its firm flesh that doesn't get watery when cooked the way most zucchini do. The pale green, ribbed squash is more flavorful than traditional zucchini, he said.
Knorr has been planting seeds since January to get ready for Crown Point's organic plant sale in May, when more than 200 varieties of vegetables and flowers will be available.
However, there will be non-heirloom plants at the sale as well. Sun Gold, a cherry tomato hybrid, is one of the most flavorful varieties available. ''They're super sweet, but with a nice tomato tang,'' he said, joking that the fruits are as addictive as drugs.
Kennedy said many gardeners already are planting heirloom vegetables and may not even know it — Blue Lake green beans and Black Seeded Simpson lettuce are two garden favorites that are heirlooms.
She said most garden centers and even some large retailers offer heirloom varieties among their packs, and numerous Internet sites sell heirloom plants or seeds.
''Look around,'' she said. ''It's kind of like at the grocery store. The brands we use all the time are right there in front of us. But sometimes, you have to bend down or look up to find the others. They are there.''
Two area garden events
Make a note of these two upcoming gardening events:
On Saturday, the Akron-Summit County Public Library, 60 S. High St., will be hosting "A Garden Affair: Fun For All" with a day of events from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Culinary gardener Pat Kennedy will speak about heirloom vegetable plants from 9:15 to 10 a.m. in meeting room 2.
For a complete schedule and more information, visit http://www.akronlibrary.com or call 330-643-9075.
May 17-18 - The annual Organic Plant Sale at Crown Point Farm & Educational Center, 3220 Ira Road, Bath Township; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. For more information, including the list of more than 200 plant varieties for sale, visit http://www.crownpt.org.
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
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