Garden Boost

It’s a simple fact that fruits and vegetables, some more than others, hold high nutritional value. Consumer demand has skyrocketed as they seek the healthiest and most nutritional foods for their families. This keen awareness of fresh is best has created the home garden buzz and the rise in local farmers markets. With report factoids such as this one from the Nutrition Business Journal, “Healthy foods is set to increase, growing to 23% of the total food market by 2017”, it certainly turns the heads of growers and retailers.

While we may be busy still collecting our winter thoughts, the home gardener may want to consider testing out Burpee Home Gardens® new line - BOOST Antioxidant Collection. Per a recent Ball Publishing newsletter regarding this 2012 product launch, “the six BOOST high-nutrition vegetables were specially selected for higher antioxidants levels than any other home garden vegetable varieties. The BOOST selection includes three tomatoes, one pepper, one cucumber and one salad mix. According to Burpee Home Gardens, the BOOST selections are bursting with flavor and nutrition. For example, 'Cherry Punch' tomato delivers 30% more vitamin C and 40% more lycopene than the average garden tomato; ‘Gold Standard’ cucumber can produce five times the amount of beta-carotene of other garden cucumbers; and ‘Healing Hands’ salad mix boasts 20% more lutein, 30% more beta-carotene, 30% more total carotenoids and 70% more anthocyanins (those are all good things) than other garden salad blends.”

To wrap up this Friday garden boost as we head into a holiday weekend, even if you only dabble in this wide expansive world of gardening with a few fruits and vegetables in a pot or a raised bed, it’s always best to test, experiment, and reach beyond that comfort zone, especially if you want something that holds a higher value. As Martin H. Fischer profoundly assures us, “Education aims to give you a boost up the ladder of knowledge.  Too often, it just gives you a cramp on one of its rungs.” You can always work out the bugs in the garden. How many more days until spring?

Top image from the Internet

Boost Image and information from ‘Inside Grower’ Ball Publishing Newletter

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