Heartland Harvest Garden … it’s inspirational!

Since I do more complaining about the work involved in keeping up my tiny little urban garden than I do actually working in it, I needed a serious dose of inspiration to see how magnificent a vegetable garden can be. A friend insisted that we take a Sunday afternoon trip to Powell Gardens to meditate among the apple trees, herbs, pole-climbing beans and grape vines in the one-month-old Heartland Harvest Garden. It was a nice cool afternoon, so I was up for an energetic walk around the grounds — especially after indulging in a delicious artery-clogging double-cheeseburger the previous afternoon.

If we had only visited the Harvest Garden — which boasts an outdoor kitchen facility — one day earlier, we might have been able to attend the latest class in the ongoing “Garden Chef Series.” Paula Winchester of Herb Gathering, Inc. conducted two sessions of a class where she prepared a menu that included black tea cheese crisps, caper and pumpkin seed green tea cream cheese and exotic lychee nectar black tea rice.

This week’s special event at the Harvest Garden takes place on Saturday when Powell Gardens celebrates its “Sweet Corn Festival” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There’s an additional admission fee to get into the Heartland Harvest Garden, but it includes the opportunity to sample freshly picked corn, shop for corn, watch a chef’s presentation, listen to live banjo music and learn tips for growing corn in your own back yard.

The Heartland Harvest Garden has its own little dining venue called Fresh: A Garden Cafe, which serves a variety of delectable-sounding dishes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. I’ve not dined there yet, but I want to, particularly after reviewing the menu, which features a gazpacho “with fresh crusty bread,” a “Mean Green Panini” with marinated vegetables and house-made ricotta cheese, a summer lamb wrap and a corn-and-potato pizza.

A Powell Gardens employee assured me — in a whisper — that the food at the Heartland Harvest Gardens was vastly superior to the fare at Cafe Thyme (where I’ve never had a decent meal) that’s the “official” restaurant in the Powell Gardens Visitors Center.