Hello everybody, and welcome back to the fresh focus podcast. This is Sieger, one of your VA dietitians. We are very excited for series on summer eats because we have changed things up a little bit. We will be including some interviews, throughout the series, with none other than some of our close family members. Some of us are very lucky to have people close to us that are knowledgeable on these topics and have first-hand experience that they're willing to share. So sit back, and enjoy all the wisdom that we were able to include within these episodes.

We will begin this series with what may turn out to be a great idea, or maybe not so great of an idea, for me at least, as I interview my lovely wife, Jami. As we kick off the series about summer food and cooking, what’s the first thing you think of when the weather gets warmer?

Grilling, gardening, and swimming.

That’s a pretty good combination! So with our new house we’re lucky enough to have space for a garden, and you just recently went through that whole process. So let me ask you this, what made you want to start a garden, and why is it important to you?
Gardening is very peaceful to me. I love the finished product. I love fresh produce, so having my own garden is something that I’ve always wanted to do. Now that we have our own house, and we have the room, it was the perfect time.
Before you got started, did you have an idea of what size garden you wanted to start with?
Bigger than what you let me have.
Yeah, that’s what I figured.
That’s why I ended up with two!
And we have a toddler running around, so it's nice to have her get used to that.
Yeah, absolutely. There's something to say about kids who grew up on a farm or grow up with garden. They have to see that you have to put work into it, but it is very rewarding. I want her to do grew up with the garden and help us pick the vegetables, and see that she can eat the produce that we grow.
I agree. As dietitians, we’re always talking about how people need to get reconnected with where their food comes from, and I think it will be great for her to be able to go out there with us and pick the vegetables, and even just spend time outside. The more we can get outside the better. She's already an outside kid, and it’s great. And as soon as she learns how to drive that little tractor, she can haul stuff for us.
So can you explain a little bit about how you got started, what steps you took, and then what recommendations you have for people that want to get started with a garden?
The first thing I would do, is I recommend research! Start off with a small garden (I did not do that), maybe start off with one instead of two, but either way I would do some research trying to see what vegetables are easy to grow. There several of them that flourish. Tomatoes are one of them. Also, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, carrots. A lot of vegetables grow pretty easily. Research your soil, and what kind of zone you're in to see what vegetables would thrive there. Definitely just start smaller. You can always grow your garden every year, so if you start off with three tomato plants this year and your tomato plants get all your focus, and they do wonderful, the next year maybe add in tomatoes AND bell peppers, or maybe three different vegetables instead of just the tomatoes. Definitely start small and you can grow your garden every year until you have the biggest garden in Southern Illinois.
And you started everything from seed, which took a little bit more time, but ended up saving us a lot. How much money do you think we saved by doing that, and was your thought process in terms of starting from seed and not wanting to start from plants?
I think it’s more rewarding when you start from seed rather than just going to the store and buying a plant. Seeds are cheaper. Plants run $3 to $5 a piece, so for instance I have 14 tomato plants out there so we definitely saved a lot of money buying a $2 to $3 packet of seeds rather than buying 14 plants for $5 apiece. That right there saves you, but you have to also think about buying all the tools that it takes to garden. All the pots that you have to buy, and all your soil, and it will add up, but it'll still be cheaper in the end. You can reuse those things from year to year. We had to buy a greenhouse this year which was a chunk of money up front, but will be able to use that greenhouse for years to come, therefore saving us money in the end.
And the greenhouse really wasn't too bad. We found that pop up one that was pretty basic, and we added some shelving in the back.
Yeah, there are always ways that you can make something work.
Now, the transition from the greenhouse to the garden. Do you want to elaborate on that a little bit for someone that might be planning to go from seed to the soil? What are some things we should expect with using the greenhouse and how to transition that?
Again, do your research. They call it hardening off your plants. When you have your plans inside a greenhouse, they are protected. They're getting a lot of sun and you're watering them, but they're not exposed to like the wind and the different changes in temperature. We turned a heater on in our greenhouse, so our temperature was consistent. When they’re small that's great, but they also need to get acclimated to the weather outside, so on nice days we would open up our greenhouse and let the wind blow in. It strengthens your stems of your vegetables. We would even set the plants outside and let them get direct exposure to the sunlight and exposed to the wind. That way when I did decide to transfer them to the garden, they were already strong and we knew they would thrive. They say you should increase your time every day. One day you start off with your vegetables outside for an hour, and then the next day you increase it to two hours, etc. And we weren't that strict. We went from two, to six, and then to eight hours, and our plants did wonderful. So definitely do your research on transitioning from the greenhouse to your garden. And it would take more maintenance to take care of your plants inside your garden rather than inside the greenhouse because now you have to worry about there being more to water, more than weed, and there's just more maintenance to it.
And with as many plans you had in the greenhouse, I was very worried and dreading the hardening process for those, and trying to pull all those plants out. Luckily it wasn’t a big deal.
They make carriers, which is what I got. Again, it is more money, but we will be able to use them for years in the future. I think it held 15 plants in one carrier, so then I was able to put my plants in the carrier, and then we just had, you know, 12 carriers to sit outside instead of individual plants. I also gave a bunch of plants away. I didn't intend to grow as many as I did, so I gave some to my grandparents and to some of my coworkers who wanted to grow some herbs.
So now that everything is in the soil, what are some things that you've learned, or wish you knew, before going through the whole process?
We started our seeds inside. We have a nice big bay window, and we were able to put our seeds in little greenhouse planter kits. We were able to start those and just leave them in the sun. Well, when I transitioned those plants to the greenhouse I didn't think about drastic change in temperature, which it’s very difficult for plants to thrive when you have dramatic changes in climate, so they went from a consistent temperature inside the house to outside in the greenhouse. The first few plants I put out there died, so that's when we decided to put out heater to try to maintain a consistent temperature out there, all the time. That’s something that I had to learn the hard way, and you're going to have that .You're going to have some fails, but you learn from those fails just like you do in life. It that is something I wish I would have remembered.
It was fun running 200 feet of extension cord out to greenhouse for that. And to be fair, we burnt out the first heater because during the day you get moisture and condensation buildup, and it burnt out the heater so we had to use another one.
Yeah, buy cheap heaters!
Yeah, just be mindful of that.
Do you have any other tips as far as things that you’d recommend, equipment, tools, or anything else that would make the process easier at any stage of the process?
Yeah, a tiller. We got very lucky that when we bought this house, a tiller with left. It made it a lot easier I when I transitioned my plants from the greenhouse to the garden. I made sure my rows were wide enough apart that we could still get the tiller down to help with weed maintenance. I couldn’t imagine having to go out there and weed that whole garden without a tiller, so that has been a huge help. The greenhouse was a huge help. There's all kinds of little tools out there, and like I said, keep doing your research because there's all kinds of information out there, and all kinds of blogs that people have done to say what helps them the most.
Yes, and making the rows wide enough to get the tiller down was a great idea because the main garden is roughly 30’ by 30’, so it's pretty good size space. Having that space to get the tiller in there to weed really helps, because it does grow up.
It grows up very quickly. Quicker than I thought it would. Also, one thing I didn't think about snakes. We had a six foot black snake in our garden a couple weeks ago, and I was weeding right by it and did not see it. And I ran away screaming.
It is the garden mascot. We haven’t named him yet.
I don't want to name it because we’re not keeping it.
Last question. What is it like to be married to a dietitian?
Torture. Absolute torture, and it is very painful. No, it is wonderful. You have helped educate me on several things, even my mom says her eating habits have changed since you came into our lives. There’s just certain educations that I think we didn't know. I wasn't raised eating healthy fruits and vegetables. People always say they're expensive, but there's ways around that. They're not as expensive as people like to say, and that doesn't mean you need to go out and buy top-of-the-line organic. You can still incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, every day.
See we're not all bad!
You’re not all bad. And I like a corn dog from the State Fair every now and then, you know. It’s absolutely balance, and that's another thing that we do well. I think we balance our diets very well and that's something that I had to learn.
Yeah. A lot of it is context, consistency, and just moderation and knowing how to balance things. Enjoy life, and enjoy those splurges, but being able to try to keep a decent foundation of quality food. That way you're well-nourished, and you feel better, and you can do things you want to do.

Interview with our 21 month-old daughter.
What do you think about mommy's garden?
(unintelligible)
Does mommy have a lot of plants?
No.
No? Don't tell her that.

Up next we have an interview I did with Jami’s grandfather, otherwise known as Papa Dave. He gives some good tips on getting started, and how to protect your garden. We start the conversation by discussing how important it is to be able to grow your own food.

That's definitely important. I think a lot of people don’t have the first clue. It's definitely important because I think we're going to get to the point where food is going to be pretty expensive. And some things are now. If you're going to garden it's best to think about it a year before. Just get a list of stuff, and don't just buy a bunch of seeds and say “well, I'm going to do this.” Prepare your garden and soil. And get any amendments in the soil, such as a little bit of fertilizer. Just not a lot because you can burn them up putting fertilizer too close to the plant and using too much. Some plants need to be started in the greenhouse, and some don't do well when you transfer. Read up on the different vegetables that you want to grow.
In this section, I had asked him about keep animals out of your garden.
For raccoons, an electric fence. That would be about the only way I know how to keep them out. With deer, they get used to about anything after a period of time. After three or four weeks, they’ll get used to it. Irish spring soap is a strong smell and they don't like that, but they get used to it. Human hair is another one they get used to that after a few weeks. Rabbits, small animals, and game animals like that, you almost have to put a small fence around it. It's hard to keep them out. Squirrels. It’s hard to keep them out. Wait for the season and go squirrel hunting is about the only thing I know! You can also trap most of those animals. An electric fence about a foot off the ground will keep raccoon out for the most part. Stuff I've tried is mixing up your own remedies. Something that you wouldn't really like. Something really hot and spicy like habanero peppers (the juice). Squeeze those and make you a real hot juice, or the hottest thing you can think of, and spray it on your corn plants. I've never noticed it bothering the corn. You’ll also have bugs that you can use a lot of home remedies that work pretty good. You just have to be careful as some of them will damage your plants also. Sandy likes to use a lot of vinegar, and that works pretty good for a lot of bugs. And she uses cinnamon on ants. There are a lot of home remedies if you want to look it up. They don't work well as the chemicals but is not as hard on you. You hear more information about the chemicals, and it's not only what it can do to you, but what it can do to your kids. You know you pass it on. It’s not a good thing. Just think about what you're going to do, and what you want to plant. Do a little research. And it's fun just try things. You might have better luck than the next guy. Your soil may be better than my soil. I don't know how many different types of soil there are, but I have about three or four types on my farm. Some of it is sandy/silty, and that's in the low bottom areas. This up here, I try to improve it every year by putting in mulch, straw, woodchips, and different things to make it more loose. And most likely you won't have a good garden the first year. It just takes time, and it's fun growing it. I enjoy it. You just have to get your hands wet and go for it!

Up next we have some interviews that one of our other dietitians, Loran, did with her grandma Carol, grandpa Roger, and grandma Janice. Enjoy!

(Interviews)
What got you interested in gardening in the first place?
The prices in the grocery store.
And can you tell us about your first experiencing gardening?
Ok, about 20 years ago I started gardening the one thing I found out that every year you are going to make your garden bigger. Its not big enough and you want to make it bigger and try new things.
Do you recommend container gardening or gardening in the ground?
If you have room for in the ground and don’t mind purchasing a tiller then do it in the ground but if you don’t have a lot of space and don’t want to tear up your yard there is nothing wrong with containers they do very well you can even plant in plastic bags just make sure you have holes in corners and underneath for drainage in case you over water.
If you don’t want to start with seeds then go to local store or gardening shop and buy your plants already grown it will cost more if you do seeds it will just cost you the price of seeds you can start those in march, you can start with egg cartons or use anything with dirt in them, and gets your starts that way, just depends how much money you want to spend or save.
What equipment do you need when you start your first gardening experience?
Shovel or hand fork whatever you have on hand, if you are using containers you can just use your hands. If you are in the ground probably a tiller, hoe, and a rake.
Any tips to make gardening less expensive?
Use containers, when you can and that throw your seeds and peels and everything throw it back into your gardening space because those seeds and new plants will come back next year and you don’t have to buy anything. Let your herbs go to seed and save your seeds then you got them, keep them in the refrigerator.
Any final thoughts on growing your own food?
In todays economy its very important to grow your own food and its time for folks to get back to basics and canning again, you cannot depend on anything these days.
One thing to remember whether you are starting a garden in container or in the ground if you know other people that have gardens you may want to share plants and also you can go to library and get seeds and next year you can take your seeds for other people to share by replacing seeds you took.
Say more about how to save your seeds?
Say you have a squash you take all your seeds out or watermelon take seeds out clean off fibrous material and fruit part out lay them on paper plates to dry them completely out, once dry, I use envelopes like coin enveolopes you can put jewerly in write on them keep in refrigerator and just make sure they are good and dry.
Every gardener used to grow a lot potatoes and foods like that, the early days the grocery stores didn’t carry a lot of that sort of thing so people depended on neighbors or who people who grew a lot of carrots, potatoes or sweet corn to carry you through the winter, green beans you’d can them even corn cut off cobb and can it and preserve it to have through winter to use as needed to have vegetables in off season, because wasn’t as easy to transport all the vegetables, like they do today in todays market you can buy anything, 70 years ago the vegetables were very sparse in the grocery store, it was in a can or else it wasn’t available. So those are important things you have to remember of how far we’ve come with all vegetables being transported across the united states and around the world.
How young were you when you started gardening?
I grew up with it so probably I’d go out there when I was 8 or 9 with my mom or dad after they did the evening chores we’d go out and spend 30-40minutes out there and then go out to the yard under shade trees and wonder what tomorrow would bring
His mom would can everything for the entire winter the only thing his mom remembers that she bought in the store through the winter were pork and beans and hot dogs that was it cause they had their own meat own chickens own eggs made their own bread they had all the vegetables they canned and fruits they even canned meats and it was good beef especially
Is gardening expensive?
Here to buy plants its not expensive its really your time and effort is the biggest expense. You have to put the time but its so rewarding when you see what you’ve grown and when you eat your lettuce you grew along with tomatoes cucumbers cucumbers very easy to grow, grandfather chimed in that’s my least favorite plant and still is, he’s never liked cucumbers, still doesn’t. I hate cucumbers.
Thank you for tuning into our first episode of our summer eats series. Stay tuned for more interviews and bites of information that you can use this season.
Thank you tuning in to the first episode of our summer eats series. Stay tuned for more interviews and bytes of information that you can use this season.