Jackie Heilig is a greeter at Wal-Mart, but she spends a good amount of time helping customers find the right seeds. She’s the garden lady to store patrons, but she’s also the garden lady at home.
Last week, Heilig brought in a straight-neck squash that measured 18.5 inches long and 16 inches in diameter. This is the first year the China Grove resident has grown that variety of squash, but it paid off.
Heilig has been a Kannapolis Wal-Mart employee for two years now and got the squash seeds at the store. It’s her home, she says, and you really do get more for your money.
Her squash are proof.
Heilig, 67, uses a combination of 5-5-10 fertilizer and Miracle Gro in her garden. She, like most Garden Game entrants, grows cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, butter beans and green beans, and she does it all by herself. She also grows jalapeno peppers for canning.
Heilig was born and raised on a farm and grew up picking cotton. She’s always loved trying to root things and says she can plant a tea bag and grow a tea tree.
“My husband used to drive an 18-wheeler, and when he would come home at 3 or 4 in the morning, I’d still be in the garden,”Heilig said.
What she grows now, she gives away to family, friends and neighbors.
The monstrous squash she is harvesting this year are too big to cook, so she’ll boil and freeze them. They make great squash casseroles, and that’s her family’s favorite food, Heilig said.
“It’s a lot heavier than a 5-pound bag of sugar,” she said.
Heilig has three kids, five grandsons and one great-granddaughter.
Contact Michael Bostian at 704-797-4280 or mbostian@salisburypost.com
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