So I’ve decided to list and describe the vegetables we’ve been able to harvest and, most importantly, eat so far. The one thing I’ve noticed they all have in common is none are like anything I’ve bought in a grocery store. Now, that’s both good and bad.
Even though you go into most grocery stores and think ugh this produce looks awful, how can they even put it on display for sale, the truth of the matter is food does not have to look good to taste good. Now I’m all behind the saying “presentation is key,” but I’ve had to lower my standards a bit when it comes to plucking veggies from our gardens. It does, however, look good in its final presented form on the table.
There’s also a taste difference: The red cabbage is spicier; the melons although larger, not quite as sweet; the herbs definitely more fragrant; the tomatoes thicker skinned, but flavorful.
I guess the biggest difference is knowing they’re all as fresh and natural, and hopefully healthy, as originally intended. My mom commented that it’s possible I’m eating the same tomato (well, not exactly the same one, but of the same family) that my grandmother ate when she was a child and grew as an adult. How’s that for a cool connection?
Red Cabbage: small heads, not as tight inside (larger layers?), definite spiciness, good cooked and raw, doesn’t last as long as store bought. We ended up with about 8-10 cabbage heads, but ate on 4. The rest got some sort of cabbage rot disease that destroyed the plants. I think we were watering too much. We cut back on sprinkling time.
Red Beets: sweet, juicy, intensely red, makes your urine red when eaten raw. I usually bought canned beets which are watery and lack much flavor. These are flavor-packed. The ink is vivid and stains your fingers for days. Excellent shredded raw in salads or roasted whole with lemon. These grew well here.
Honeydew: BIG, thick skinned, faint sweetness, bit watery (I think we watered our melons too much as they got bigger). We got about 4 good melons. Then the weeds took over. Then we started getting some sort of mildew that ate through the skins. I think it was from the pine straw mulch which really retains water.
Watermelon: small, round, compact brown seeds, again thick skinned, sweet, not mushy or grainy. We only got about 4 watermelons. We had several small ones (about baseball size) that just stopped growing. I think they were losing water to the weeds. Note to self and others: Do not go on vacation for 2 weeks then forgo weeding once you get back because it’s too overwhelming. The plants cannot win against the weeds.
Roma Tomato: odd shaped, thick skinned at top, not many seeds, yummy garden tomato flavor, more orange-pink than red. These are growing like crazy. We lost some to bugs, but I think the marigolds are helping. Marigolds look just like tomatoes (color and shape) from far away and perhaps from a bug’s eye.
Jalapeno: HOT, abundant (how many peppers did peter piper pick? cuz we’ve picked alot), deep green. I’ve started hanging them from a string to dry. They turn a beautiful red.
Yellow Squash: small, sweet with a hint of spice. These did well, but for a very short time.
Zucchini: long, tastes and looks just like zucchini! Did well for a short time.
Carrot: Thick, hard white core (does that mean they want to stay in the ground longer?), sweet yet hint of spice, bizarre shapes (I think I planted some of these way too close together) and clumps, some have white warts, taste good shredded but I have yet to find one I could just munch on whole and raw (very hard). Since first writing this, we’ve found some good ones. I still have 12-18 in the ground.
Spinach: delicious, big leaves, excellent producer (clip off 20 leaves, 25 grow back), good raw (ask Jett) and cooked. We got ONE spinach plant. It must have been the seeds.
Broccoli: not a large head variety, more of a traditional italian with small clumps, tender, good raw and cooked. We ended up with about 4 plants, but ended up scrapping the plants since they were growing too slowly (not enough sun in the salad garden) and taking up a lot of room. These suckers are huge considering you only eat the tiny heads. We’ll be planting again for fall in the pasture garden.
Basil: sooooo fragrant, abundant, pretty good size leaves. Still going strong.
Parsley: yummy, minty, flat head variety, abundant, actually enjoy eating it raw. Still going strong.
Sage: divine smell, big leaves. Still spreading rapidly…woohoo!
Greek Oregano: tiny leaves, delicious. Starting to spread.
Thyme: teeny leaves, kind of growing on top of itself so not producing as much as I’d like (maybe I need to cut it back more, but there doesn’t seem to be much to cut back).
Variety gourds: Out of many, many plants, only got 6 gourds. But they are super cool. One is green and orange striped. One is shaped like a pear. One is a yellow sphere. One is green and peeling. The other two look like eggs.
Sunflowers: Planted several different types. None of which flowered like I anticipated. Easy to grow, but needs more water than expected. Have several stems drying for seeds. The rest I’ll let go to seed and see what pops up next year. I plant on planting TONS of sunflowers next year.
We also planted 2 types of corn which are still growing. I’ve started seeing little ears forming. The pumpkins look like a bust. Too many male flowers; not enough females. Even tried pollinating by hand with a little paint brush. Have not seen any fruit. I am very disappointed with that. I hoped to have our own homegrown pumpkins for fall.
On a positive note, we did pretty well for our very first ever planting. We actually got stuff to grow and we actually got to eat what we grew. Cool. Stay tuned for news on the fall plantings.