Feature
June
09
Local Gardeners Plan Vegetable Field Day
by Terry Trahan, Jr.
The La-Terre Master Gardeners and LSU AgCenter have partnered with the USDA Sugarcane Research Laboratory to host the 11th-annual Vegetable Field Day on June 11. The event invites local gardeners to learn about vegetable varieties, plant diseases and the latest gardening research developments.
When gardeners visit a nursery to select plants, they don’t always know what they are looking at or what they are getting, said Joel Helmer, president of the La-Terre Master Gardeners.
That’s where the vegetable field day comes in.
Horticulture specialists and master gardeners will be on site to answer questions and to demonstrate how to develop a greener thumb. Some gardeners attend with plant clippings to get a specialist’s opinion on their plant’s health.
At the event, over 13 varieties of tomatoes and four varieties of peppers and eggplants, among other vegetables, will be featured. Field-day attendees will be able to taste the tomato varieties and learn about the differences among the plants.
In addition to taste testing, gardeners can bring in their own tomatoes to be judged in the heaviest tomato contest, which features youth and adult divisions.
“They’re all proud to show their biggest tomatoes,” Helmer said. “They can put a feather in their hat to say they won it.”
The field day also offers demonstrations on canning tomatoes and using tomatoes for food preparation, such as how to make spaghetti sauce.
Debbie Melvin, a nutritionist with the LSU AgCenter, plans to focus on a different vegetable—the cucumber.
Her cucumber dip will feature lighter ingredients and a “bouquet” of bell pepper strips topped with cherry tomatoes.
“It was so hot last year, so I decided to go with something cooler,” said Melvin, who spent much of her time grilling vegetables at the previous field day. “It’s a way to use vegetables in the dip as well.”
While tomatoes are essential to many recipes, gardeners focus on cultivation before bringing the red, juicy ingredient into the kitchen.
Helmer noted the benefits of square-foot gardening. The concept requires gardeners to build a bed divided into square-foot sections above the ground. Each section contains a plant and makes the gardening task easier for those who prefer a simple garden.
“It’s for anybody who wants a small, maintainable garden,” Helmer said. “It’s more cost-efficient. You don’t have to water a huge plot of land.”
The master gardeners have grown square-foot gardens for herbs, flowers and vegetables that will be featured in a garden tour during the field day.
In keeping with the event’s educational mission, specialists will also present the latest findings on research conducted on container-grown tomatoes.
