You don't have to look far to find someone talking about how healthy fresh fruits and berries are for us. Casually pass the checkouts of your supermarket and the health and fitness magazine covers are raving about these "Super Foods". Flicking around the TV or while you are surfing the internet we get the same message; fresh fruits and berries are packed with not just juicy flavour but with vitamins, minerals and powerful antioxidants that help us be more healthy, fight disease and lose weight. But come on - we knew this. Mom was always telling us if we were hungry grab an apple. She must be giggling now to see these same "superfoods" dressed up in their superhero capes!

So, isn’t it wonderful how many of the very best ‘superfruits’ we can grow ourselves in our garden or container? There are many benefits to growing your food. Organic never felt as good as when you grow it yourself, and there is no fresher than just picked. Can't get your kids to eat them? Fruits and berries are much more fun to eat when you harvest and pick them yourself. Beyond the nutritious benefits, working in your garden, is good exercise, great alone time, couple time and family time.

Most kids love to ‘be allowed’ to eat blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and apples from the garden. Healthy habits start young, and this is a great family activity. While I was helping a customer, quite a few years ago, one of her cute little twins exclaimed that we were selling ‘Pop Tomatoes’ at the garden centre! A Pop Tomato is apparently their family nickname for cherry tomatoes because they ‘pop’, and the juice all comes out when you eat them. The little girl was so excited and then thrilled when her Mom said they could buy a plant each to grow. I remember my Mom giving me some sage parenting advice by saying, “you have to let them help you before it’s a help to you” if you want them to want to help. Well, that just makes sense. After all, it’s about them doing it just for the fun of it and not actually about helping you with your work (yet).

Growing food doesn't need to be complicated, in fact, if you are new to gardening start small. A couple of blueberry plants just for picking and some strawberry roots are a pretty good place to start.

Some of the best 'Super Fruits' for your garden:-
• Apples
• Black Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Figs
• Grapes
• Goji Berries
• Honeyberries
• Loganberries
• Kiwi
• Pears
• Plums
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Tayberries
• Thornless blackberries

Whatever you decide to grow, make it something you can't wait to eat. 

Shauna Lambeth ©

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