PAR Davies: Experimental Wonderland

As soon as you enter PAR Davies, you realize that this garden is just a little different.

Perhaps it’s the big red bench made out of an old bed,

  or the old gutters that have been repurposed to grow vegetables and herbs,

     or the red ladders that are being used as trellises.

Maybe it's some of the unusual plants, including an “Ayurvedic” garden recently started in a corner of the garden. 

Ayurveda is a 5000 year old Indian system of medicine which believes that diet is largely responsible for good health.

The plant below is Withania somnifera, also commonly known as ashwagandha, Indian ginseng, or winter cherry.  It is a member of the Solanaceae or nightshade family.  According to Ayurveda, ashwagandha is considered to be a rasayana herb, a term that means "rejuvenation.” Those who practice Ayurveda believe the roots of the plant have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-stress, antioxidant, mind-boosting, immune-enhancing, and rejuvenating properties.  Whew!

(Here’s our disclaimer…this blog is NOT intended to give medical advice!)

Although some of the experiments are fun and educational, most of the experiments are to determine how Memphis Area Master Gardeners can best provide fresh, wholesome produce for the food pantries we help supply.

This year, volunteers are growing various types of tomatoes and tracking which varieties produce earliest and best.  Results will be provided to the University of Tennessee Extension service and will be used to improve choices of what to grow year after year.

Which tomato variety do you think will produce best?

• ·       Beefsteak
• ·       Better Boy
• ·       BHN 602
• ·       Florida 91
• ·       Jet Star
•      Rutgers
•      Mountain Glory
• ·       Sanibel