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This episode of The Sporkful is brought to you by Bonnie Plants.

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This is The Sporkful. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. Today we have a special bonus

episode for you, sponsored by our friends at Bonnie Plants. I hope we've had a chance to

check out the Bonnie segments have been running at the end of some of our recent episodes. If you're into vegetable gardening or want to get into it, there are tons of great tips from a pro in there. Now, later in this episode, we'll have more tips to help you grow your garden to new heights, including one that involves a very surprising use of forks. That segment will also feature a cameo for my wife, Janie. But before that, I wanted to talk about

the other reasons to get into gardening, in addition to trying to figure out how to get the best

tomatoes. Gardening can be relaxing, even meditative. For some people, spending time weeding

and pruning is therapeutic. And no matter how small your crop is, when you start bringing those

fruits and vegetables and herbs into your kitchen and cooking with them, there's a special kind of satisfaction. Today, I'm talking with one

person who knows all of this very well. Kiatimsi, founder and executive director of a

Sip of Paradise Garden. Sip of Paradise Garden is a thriving community garden in East Atlanta Village,

the Kiatta created in 2020 after

years as a bartender. It's built for and by hospitality workers. Gardening has always been

something special to me. It was something I did with my American grandmother. She lived in LaGrange, Georgia,

and I also have a Liberian grandmother. I used to garden with her as well. Her name was

Julia T. Cooper, but we all called her Aunt Titi. When Keata was a baby, her father moved the family

back to Liberia. That was when she really got to spend time with Aunt T.T. So one thing I love

...