Is It Just Me?

[Soylent Green]

Since starting this veg growing lark I have found myself eating just about everything that comes out of the garden and I hate to see anything wasted. I'm quite happy just cutting off the rotten bit on a spud, I even don't mind leaf veg with a few holes left by the previous diner. Is this normal? Once upon a time all veg and fruit had to be of a standard size and shape, blemish free and wrapped in supermarket packaging. Now I don't care for that and most of my meals consist of me grazing the raised beds like a demented 'Bush Tucker Man'
Is it just me?

[Soylent Green]

I guess that it is then...lol!

[Mozer242]

You are not alone, I've just been keeping quiet about it....just in case I was the only one....I was even tempted by a grub riddled radish, but thought better of it in the end.......

[Soylent Green]

Yeah I have to think, 'Well maybe that could go to the compost bin'.

Most stuff gets sliced, diced, juiced or chopped within an inch of its life, so what's the problem? Maybe I'm just weird, but most folk eat all sorts of rubbish that is put into their meals without them even knowing or questioning it, is it a case of 'if you don't know what it is, it can't hurt you'?.

I can at least make the most of my home produce and save a few rare pennies in the process. I think we are taught to think a certain way these days, fortunately my grandparents lived through the war and I was taught to make the most of everything put in front of me.

Thanks Mozer242.

[rustylady]

I guess that it is then...lol!

Blimey Soylent Green, have patience. I think most of us have been out gardening this afternoon.

As to your original query no, it's not just you. And have you noticed how much better your own produce tastes?

[veggiechicken]

Sorry to say this Soylent, but, by my reckoning, you're absolutely normal - its the supermarkets that have it wrong! If I've put energy into growing something, then the very least I can do is eat it. I don't like to discard any bit of a veggie, so try to find uses for the bits that are normally thought of as inedible. Turnip and beetroot leaves, the green leaves of onions and garlic, the flowers of rocket and cabbage, radish seed pods etc etc.
Hi Mozer - *waves * from another bit of South Wales

[lottie dolly]

All very normal indeed,even eating some things with just a rub on the tea shirt,for the ultimate in taste from the ground,pick some carrots when they are aprox 1/4 in thick,mmmm,

[Soylent Green]

Thanks Rusty Lady & Veggie Chicken,

I have been out also this afternoon 'shoe horning' Swiss Chard, Spinach and Kale into the raised beds. That's another thing, I'm cramming as many plants and seeds as I can into the garden, I've gone horizontal and now I'm looking at sky scraper style planting.

People say I'm mad but I'm sure that you can taste the gas that the supermarkets put on their veg to preserve it. I'm getting to the stage that if I can't grow it I do without.

[Soylent Green]

All very normal indeed,even eating some things with just a rub on the tea shirt,for the ultimate in taste from the ground,pick some carrots when they are aprox 1/4 in thick,mmmm,

Hi Neighbour Lottie Dolly,
Yeah I get into so much trouble with the wife, she sends me out to pick whatever is ready to crop and I graze the garden before bringing the stuff back to the kitchen. I then complain that I'm too full to eat my dinner.

I'm worried about food miles too, it's twenty metres from the garden to the kitchen

[veggiechicken]

I like the challenge of creating a meal from whatever I can pick - leads to some unorthodox combinations!!
When you eat straight from plant to mouth, the food is practically still living when you eat it. Absolutely fresh - you can't eat better than that
I'm an addict too

[ancee]

I picked some leaves tonight for my salad for work in the morning. They had tiny eggs (cabbage whites grrr) So I rinsed them off and cut any holes out. I was wondering if I was a bit of a weirdo though. My kids would be horrified if they knew! - Glad I'm amongst weirdos

[mothhawk]

I eat all I can too, even big tough outer cabbage leaves go to make stock or soup if they are too tough to eat. It's all full of goodness, and as unpolluted as possible in today's polluted air. I've grown it, I'll darn well eat it....although I fear I may have to draw the line at the girasoles (Jerusalem artichokes) that keep shooting up. I swear I dug them all out last year.....

[lottie dolly]

As VC says,great fun inventing your next meal,also eating along with the season,and using some that has been frozen,we just had a ball and a yellow crookneck,sortayed in the pan,with onion,garlic,black pepper,toped of with cheese under the grill,another time,curry powder,no meal is repeated,the other week it was tiny new host potatoes with first of the beans,carrots,cabbage,the taste for us is like a gormay dinner,am waxing on again,but,you get the idea,

[Florence Fennel]

I can't count how many times I've heard the cry "Eew, aren't you going to wash that Nanny?" My favourite too LD are carrots straight from the ground, bit of a dust and then eat. Nom nom

[Soylent Green]

I'm in very good company I see! I like the very tiny spuds too, I put them into Aloo Gobi curry (cauliflower and potato) they are smashing.


Spinach and Nasturtiums are my favourite to eat as I garden.