What if I told you the fruits and vegetables that you grow in your own yard are likely more nutritious than what you buy in the store, and it has less to do with how fresh it is and more to do with how you garden?

A 2023 review published in the journal Foods last year lays it out very plainly.

Fruits and vegetables grown today have measurably less protein, calcium, iron, vitamin C, and a whole host of other nutrients than the ones that our grandparents ate.

Some minerals have declined by as much as 80% since the 1950s, and it all boils down to the soil.

So today, on Just Grow Something, we're diving into the surprising science behind the global decline in nutrient quality in our fruits and vegetables, and more importantly, what we can do about it in our own gardens.

Let's dig in.

Hey, I'm Karen, and what started as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong passion for growing food.

Now, as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help you do the same on this podcast.

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And build confidence in your own garden space.

So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.

So I think we all have heard a little bit about this here or there through different studies or different reports, but it doesn't ever seem to be something that is really, really focused on in the media.

So if you don't go looking for a lot of this information, you're not really going to get the full scoop, right?

So what is up with our produce?

Researchers tracked decades of USDA nutrient data, and they found that modern produce just doesn't pack the same punch.

And no, it's not your taste buds imagining it.

A carrot today is simply not the same carrot from 70 years ago.

So what happened?

Well, we started prioritizing size and yield and shelf life over flavor and nutrition.

Industrial agriculture selected crops that were bigger and easier to ship with less damage, but they were also less dense in nutrients.

We've been growing in depleted soils using synthetic fertilizers and of course, rising atmospheric CO2 levels.

Basically, add to that and then you've got vegetables that look great, but they offer a whole lot less nutritionally.

And we've talked about this quite a bit on this show.

Soil health equals plant health and plant health equals human health because we are eating those plants, right?

So this brings us to the root of the issue, pun actually intended, right?

It's not just about what we are growing, it's about the soil that we are growing it in.

Healthy soil is like a little underground city.

It's got microbes and fungi and worms and all kinds of things in a whole underground network, and they all work together to break down that organic matter in the soil and make those nutrients available to the plants.

When the soil has none of that life, either through being overused or the heavy use of synthetic chemicals or excessive tilling, then those microbes are gone and the plants can't access the micronutrients that they need and neither can we.

So I'm going to leave a link in the show notes to an episode that I did way back in Season 1 that breaks down the micronutrients versus the macro nutrients.

But essentially what it boils down to is when you look at synthetic fertilizers and actually when you look at any fertilizer, even if it is something that is derived naturally, you're going to see 3 numbers on there.

Those are indicating the level of the macro nutrients that are in that fertilizer, the N, the P, the K, right?

So nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, those are the three macro nutrients that we are concerned with when we're doing the the growth right.

But there are a lot of micronutrients that are the supporting players and a lot of the macro nutrients can't function totally by themselves.

They need those micronutrients as those supporting players and synthetic fertilizers generally do not include any of those micronutrients.

You do find more organic based products that do contain micronutrients.

They're not going to have everything, which is why it is so important that we focus on feeding the soil and not feeding the plant.

We want the soil and the soil microbes to do the feeding so that we're not just feeding the plant and having it, you know, think that it's got this big boost of growth when in fact, yeah, it grew, but there wasn't a whole lot to that growth.

This situation is quite literally coming down to AU are what you eat situation and what we're eating is not nutritionally complete because our soil is lacking in those microbes and is lacking in those micronutrients on a commercial scale because the nothing is being added back into that soil.

OK.

A German study showed that spinach and lettuce grown with compost had higher vitamin C and lower nitrates than those grown with synthetic fertilizers.

And that is a win win.

That's more nutrition and fewer harmful compounds going into our soil.

OK, so enough doom and gloom.

There is good news, right?

As home gardeners, we have control.

We can grow food that is more nutritious than what we find at the grocery store just by taking care of our soil.

I think I've talked ad nauseam about compost on this show.

Compost truly is magic.

It builds organic matter.

It feeds those soil microbes.

It creates the structure that is better for not just the plants, but also the microbes that are in the soil.

So whether it's kitchen straps or yard waste or fallen leaves, we can turn that stuff into garden gold.

I will link to all of the compost episodes we have ever done to get you started on your composting journey.

I will even include the Verma composting episodes because it really is that important.

The second thing is mulch.

OK, mulch, cover crops and then to a lesser extent maybe some crop rotation.

But I mean, I, we talk about mulch all the time because I have seen the difference that it makes in gardens, not just mine, but also in my garden consulting clients.

When I go to somebody's house or even when I go and mentor other farmers who are new to this and I go and I see bare soil, that is the first thing that I want to address.

Do not leave your soil bare, OK?

If you are growing, actively growing things, then make sure that you are mulching with something that is organic, whether it's a straw or it's wood chips or whatever it is that works for your situation.

If you can't do something that's organic because it's not available to you, you can do things like the black plastic mulch.

Just be aware that that makes it very difficult for the soil microbes to breathe.

So that needs to be pulled up at the end of the season.

So don't leave it in place long term.

That's not doing your soil any any favors.

Right?

So my preference is always, always always an organic type of a mulch.

My preference is straw.

If you don't have anything actively growing in your garden beds, you still don't want that soil to be bare.

It doesn't matter whether or not you're doing in raised planters or if you're doing them in ground.

All of our winds and our rains and everything else are going to remove that top layer of soil in the garden.

That means that good topsoil in your raised beds, that means stuff that you've actually put money into to create.

So we don't want that happening.

Plant some cover crops, plant some lagoons or some grasses in the offseason.

And then if you have the ability to be able to rotate your crops each year depending on the size of your garden, not only does that kind of help confuse the pests and if you have any soil borne diseases, that is actually going to help to keep that at Bay as well.

But it also tends to help keep the micronutrients a little bit more balanced.

If you are growing the same thing over and over again in the same space, you're really going to have to make a concerted effort to make sure that you are amending that soil every year, that you are feeding that soil every season, because you need to be putting those nutrients back into the soil that that plant has taken up.

And if it's the same plant or the same sets of plants in the same space, there's likely stuff that you're going to miss.

And usually it's going to be the micronutrients because again, those are the ones that are less available in some of the, you know, amendments that we use.

So if you can rotate, then that's going to help.

But I understand not everybody has the size of a garden that's going to allow for that to happen.

So just do your best.

In reality, the high priority really is the mulch and the cover crops and the addition of the compost.

OK.

On her six acre flower farm in Southwest Washington, Galena bracampus grows roses that are as resilient as they are beautiful, even with steady rain through the fall and the winter.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Her roses bloom reliably, without the need for sprays or complicated care.

Her approach is simple and organic.

She chooses roses that are fragrant, bloom in fleshes, and resist disease.

In a climate where black spot is common, healthy varieties make all the difference, and that's where heirloom roses comes in.

Roses grown on their own roots rather than grafting, are naturally stronger and more resilient to insect pests and diseases.

Galena's rose care routine is pretty straightforward.

She prunes once in the early spring, she adds compost to enrich the soil, she fertilizes once, maybe twice a season, and then she uses mulch to keep the moisture in and the weeds down.

Does this all sound familiar?

It's not that much effort to keep a beautiful rose thriving if it's the right rose, and I can attest to this method with my own heirloom rose.

She also dead heads regularly to keep those balloons coming, which is something I have only recently learned to do.

Her favorite varieties right now include Polka, Coco Loco and Pari de Yves St.

Laurent.

And if you are one of my French speaking listeners, feel free to call me out on that pronunciation.

Get your own easy to maintain own root roses by going to heirloomroses.com and using code Just Grow at checkout to save 20%.

A gentle, natural approach to rose care can still lead to stunning results if you start with the best roses and the best roses start with their own roots.

heirloomroses.com with code Just Grow to save 20%.

The link is in the show notes.

One thing that we had a hard time getting away from here on the farm, mostly because, you know, we were taught by some old school farmers and it was just something that my husband had kind of stuck in his head for a much longer period of time than I did.

That's the benefit of going and getting a degree in horticulture.

You learn some things, but trying to impart that wisdom of other people doesn't always work.

And that is to reduce the tillage.

Tilling destroys soil structure and it kills the beneficial microbes.

So if you have the ability to try a no till approach, especially in raised beds, there is no reason to be turning completely turning your soil over in a raised planter.

But in in ground beds as well, if you can try to not till, that is going to help to keep the ecosystem thriving.

And oftentimes it actually is going to make it much easier for your soil to be worked.

Now this may take time.

We garden in some very heavy clay and that was the reason why we initially started tilling.

We we thought that we needed to break up that soil in order to be able to give the plants a place to grow.

And we were we were pretty correct in that.

But the problem was they weren't growing like they should.

They weren't growing like they were in my raised planters for sure.

But they also weren't growing like they were in other areas of the farm that weren't as quite heavy clay.

I think we have 7 different soil types on this farm, so there's different places to grow.

But once we stopped tilling that play soil and we started just layering the compost on top every single year, it was amazing what the difference was.

It did take two years to really begin to see that difference, but the difference is amazing.

So I would never go back to tilling the soil up.

Now, if you have to break the crust of the soil a little bit, number one, that means that you don't have enough mulch on your garden bed in the offseason.

So that might be something to address.

But if you have to break it up a little bit, I understand that.

But we're talking about that sort of deep tillage.

That's where you're turning things over and over again.

Reducing that tillage is actually going to help to keep that ecosystem thriving in that soil.

The next thing too is to try to boost that microbial life that is in the soil.

So if you can add compost teas or things like worm castings, there are even mycorrhizal fungi, inoculants that you can put into the soil that is actually going to encourage that nutrient, those nutrient cycling organisms And that is going to help to move the nutrition, all of those micronutrients and macro nutrients into the plants much more easily.

The other thing that we can do to kind of, you know, boost the nutrient density of our plants out in the garden is to actually choose nutrient dense varieties.

A lot of the modern hybrids have been bred for shelf life or for rapid growth or for disease resistance specifically, and not necessarily, you know, their their flavor and in turn their nutrients, right?

Heirlooms, on the other hand, can often retain more nutrients and the flavor than you know, their modern hybrids.

But this isn't a real sticking point because I understand that, you know, a lot of time heirlooms don't produce as well and you're also trying to avoid a lot in terms of like diseases or you need something for pest resistance.

And the only thing that's going to do that for you is a hybrid.

So if you can kind of, you know, lean towards doing those first four things I talked about adding the compost, dealing with mulch and cover crops, reducing your tillage and then kind of boosting that microbial life.

Well then I'll give you a pass on, you know, planting the nutrient dense varieties.

So how do we focus on nutrient density in the garden based on our gardening style or or where it is that we are gardening, right.

If you are an in ground gardener, then you probably want to focus on building that soil kind of year over year.

So like we talked about with the clay soil, just layering that compost on and allowing it to settle in and then rotating your crops if you have that ability.

And then using those cover crops in the offseason, adding that mulch for sure during the growing season, but then also making sure that that soil is covered in terms of cover crops in the offseason.

Not only is that going to hold the soil in place and going to reduce some of that topsoil loss, which by the way, is where most of the nutrients are sitting that are available to your plants, but a lot of the cover crops are also going to add nutrients back into the soil.

So not only is it giving something in terms of organic matter for the soil microbes to feed on, but you're also adding some of those macro nutrients for sure, but also a lot of those micronutrients.

There are a lot of minerals and stuff in these plants that we grow as cover crops.

When the debris ends up breaking down into that soil, it's adding all of that back in there again.

And then if you can reduce the tillage to protect that underground kind of network of life, then that's even better.

So that's a win, win, win all the way.

If you are gardening in raised beds or containers, you know, you want to start with, you know a lot of good raw materials.

So if you can start the bed off with old leaves or twigs and things and then kind of add in some additional things, you know, like good compost and then top it with a good organic mix, that is going to get you off to a really good start.

You know, adding compost, adding leaf mulch, avoiding the synthetic fertilizers, you know, and you still can crop rotate even in small spaces especially.

It's actually a little bit easier sometimes when you're doing it in raised beds.

If you have multiple raised containers you can rotate your crops through, at least at that point you know, the nutrient profile is a little bit different every single season and they're pulling up the different micronutrients.

And like we talked about last episode, when you are gardening in a small space, you do want to be very cognizant of the fact that you are using up the nutrients a bit more quickly than you would if you were out in an in ground bed because you are dealing with a finite amount of soil, a finite volume of soil.

And so naturally there's only going to be a finite amount of nutrients in that volume of soil.

So it's even more important for you to be adding to that, topping those beds off every single year with compost, with leaf mulch, putting in the worm castings and other things that are going to add to it on a natural basis.

And not adding like a synthetic fertilizer.

Because once again, those synthetic fertilizers are not going to feed the soil microbes.

And they're also not adding any of that micronutrient or mineral content into that soil.

Synthetic fertilizers are only going to feed the plants.

So think about that when you're looking at your raised beds.

And then if you are doing smaller containers or if you are like growing indoors, even believe it or not your indoor garden, anything that in that in that soil, you absolutely have microbes in that soil.

So using an organic potting mix that contains some compost, flushing your pots occasionally you can get a salt buildup in there.

So that's a really good idea every once in a while to flush those pots really well or completely change out the soil.

And then just feed with some organic like compost teas or slow release amendments for like your indoor gardens or your small containers on your patio.

I would challenge you to feed your soil like your feed your family because basically you are, you know, the better soil means better plants, better plants means better yield like better fruit or vegetable or the actual plant itself.

And it's a better crop and that means better nutrition for you and for the people you are feeding.

So be sure that you are testing your soil.

So either do an at home kit or send it out to university Extension Service so you can gauge.

Specifically, an amount of organic matter and micronutrients is what we're looking at.

So most of your off the shelf tests are only going to show you the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels and then also your soil pH.

But if we are concerned about the nutrient level and the nutrient density of what is coming out of our gardens, then we want to know a little bit more than that.

So either find a garden consultant local to you who will go ahead and do that test, which I do, do those for my clients, or pull one from the university Extension Service.

And, you know, choose the option that shows you how much organic matter is in your soil and also the level of the micronutrients.

And then you know what you're working with and you know what might be lacking and what you might want to add back in.

Start composting.

I don't care how small of an area you have.

Again, I'm going to link to all of those composting episodes.

There are tons and tons and tons of ways to turn your kitchen waste and your yard debris into nutrient gold in your garden.

And not to mention, it also keeps the food waste out of the landfills, which causes a whole host of problems in and of itself.

But composting is definitely one of the best ways to take all of your food scraps, including what's already come out of your own garden, and turn it right back into something that can be used in the garden.

And then you don't have to go and buy it, right?

You don't have to go buy as many amendments either.

So I would encourage you to figure out a way to do that.

Grow cover crops every winter when you don't have anything growing in the garden.

Plant those peas or the Clover or the oats, even if you're growing in a raised planter.

This builds the fertility and it also helps to lock the soil in place and it keeps those, those microbes fed.

OK, reduce your tilling.

No till beds are going to conserve that soil structure and they're going to conserve the microbes and then add biological amendments if you can.

This is going to help to boost those microbes and boost that little colony that you've got going down in there, that network of of helpers that are in the soil.

So compost tea, mycorrhizal inoculants, these are all going to boost the microbe activity, diversify your plantings, you know, include the heirlooms, include the legumes and do the greens.

This is not only a variety for us obviously because we need that, but it actually is good variety for the soil health.

And so you don't have crops that are all demanding the exact same macro nutrients and micronutrients out of the soil.

They are demanding different things at different times.

And so when we're planning our inter plantings and our intercroppings, which we talked a lot about this season, you know, it's a good idea to consider what that plant needs at what time.

And so you compare it with something that doesn't have the same demand.

Not only does it mean that you can get by with maybe a little bit less fertility if you're a little bit lacking in that part and you're trying to rebuild this, but it also means it's using different nutrients in the soil.

And that way you're not going to get as depleted as quickly And then just observe and taste like notice harvest differences.

Really good nutrition, highly nutritious foods often also give off flavor.

And so, you know, the flavor profiles of fruits and vegetables are often associated with the nutrient value because of the lycopenes or because of, you know, whatever other nutrient or, or or mineral or micronutrient is abundant.

And so you're going to, that's partly why people notice a flavor difference when it comes to homegrown versus what you buy in the store.

But also because the stuff that you know, is grown for the store is also bred specifically to be able to be shipped to the store and how good it looks on the shelf and how long it can sit there versus, you know, actual nutrition and flavor.

So your garden might actually be one of the most powerful health tools that you own and you very well may not have known it.

And so if you can grow things that are more nutrient dense for yourself and your family, then why not?

You know, it doesn't take a ton of effort.

It just takes some shifts in the way that we're thinking about it.

And so when we understand that when we are feeding the soil, then the soil can do the job of feeding the plants, that makes it much easier for those plants to feed us.

Thanks for hanging out with me today.

If you found today's episode enlightening, will you share it with a fellow veggie lover or soil nerd?

I would really appreciate it.

Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.