Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden offers great ideas, inspiration

Growing fruits and vegetables can beautify your balcony or garden as well as bring tasty food and vitamins to your family.

At least that’s the message from the Chicago Botanic Garden, which instructs visitors on edible gardening through its Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden on one of the garden’s nine islands.

If your vegetable patch ever looks as good as some of these pictures of the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, we want to see it.

But if you hit a rut with your tomatoes or need ideas for your herb collection, head over to the island. From selecting varieties and starting them in a cold frame, to espaliering apple trees and growing peas and tomatoes on tuteurs — a four-sided trellis — and finally collecting seeds late in the season, Regenstein garden staff and volunteers share all.

And oh, yes, did we mention that chefs will cook up tasty dishes in the garden at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from May 26 through Oct. 7.

“At times we have over 400 edible plants on this island,” said Lisa Hilgenberg, horticulturist for the 3.8-acre island garden.

“Our intention is to inspire home gardeners to grow your own vegetables and fruits organically. And we have all kinds of different growing methods.”

So we picked Hilgenberg’s brain for tips on fruits and vegetables.

Small spaces

She suggests strawberries in hanging baskets, tomatoes in planters, herbs in window boxes and the more complex vertical growing or living walls.

Companion plants

Onions and cabbage look good together, and onions will deter insects that want to nibble on your cabbages.

If you grow spinach or borage (an herb with blue flowers that can work in salads, soups, etc.) near your strawberries, Hilgenberg insists the fruit will grow redder and more succulent and delicious.

She would grow lovage (leaves, roots and seeds are all used) with anything, including corn, beans, cabbage and amaranth (all parts of this herb are edible, and some use it like a grain).

Then there’s marigolds, which not only add some glamour to your vegetable garden but also deter those pesky insects.

Tomatoes

The Regenstein garden boasts 26 varieties of tomatoes, and Hilgenberg thinks people like heirlooms because they come with stories.

For example, Emmy is a small orange-yellow tomato that a woman with that name carried when she escaped from Romania after World War II. On the other hand, Black from Tula frequently wins taste tests, another reason fans love heirloom tomatoes.

Tomatoes that don’t look like traditional red ones draw attention too, she said. Orange Russian is a sweet oxheart, which means it is heart shaped. Black Pear is purplish and pear shaped. Aunt Ginny’s purple is a beefsteak that fans call pink. Hilgenberg likes to imagine Aunt Ginny in the garden tending her tomatoes.

Heirloom Tomato Weekend in the Regenstein is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 25 and Sunday, Aug. 26.

Tomato tips: These garden favorites require full sun, should be planted with space so air can circulate around them and require consistent water. Water after too much dryness causes cracks on tomatoes, said Hilgenberg, who thinks you can learn the right techniques through experience.

Herbs

Not only can you grow herbs in small spaces and containers, but cooks love having them nearby and appreciate growing herbs costs less than purchasing them.

The many herbs planted in the garden include triple-curled parsley, Tuscan Blue rosemary and lime, cinnamon and Dark Opal basil.

Demonstrations of how to grow herbs in containers will be at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. during Herb Garden Weekend, Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29.

Brambles or canes

The Regenstein grows all colors of raspberries, those that produce early, late and all summer.

Anne is yellow, Royalty purple, Fall Gold a yellow everbearing and Jewel a black raspberry.

“I just pruned them all,” Hilgenberg said recently. “Managing cane fruits is the trick. They turn into thickets thorny and difficult to work with.”

Espalier

Apples, such as Greiner 1198 Candy Crisp, are the easiest trees to train to grow up a wall.

Espalier — the practice of training a tree or plant to grow on a flat plane, like a wall or fence — is not for the beginning gardener. Hilgenberg recommends a class such as one offered at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Regenstein also espaliers peaches, plums and pears.

Trellis

Sugar Snap peas, cucumbers and tomatoes need support, like that offered by trellis. Other choices for support for vines include panels of metal fencing like you would see on a farm.

Seed saving

The garden has one plot just for growing seeds and demonstrating how to collect them late in the season. These include tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, beets, quinoa and borage. Beets are tricky because they are biennials, which means they take two years to complete their cycle, said Hilgenberg.

“Seed saving connects people with their heritage maybe,” said Hilgenberg, recommending gardeners start with their favorite vegetables.

Giveaways

The Botanic Garden gives away plants, and advice on growing them, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. In May, the featured plant is Jimmy Nardello Heirloom Pepper; in June, Blondkopfchen Heirloom Tomato; in July, Mrs. Burns’ Lemon Basil; in August, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale; and in September, Grandpa Admire’s Heirloom Lettuce

Visit chicagobotanic.org/chef.

ŸFor more information on the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake-Cook Road, Glencoe, visit chicagobotanic.org. Admission is free and parking is $20 per car, with discounts noted online. Call (847) 835-5440.