Grow your own
Many people are now making a conscious effort to adopt a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, all too aware of the impact our actions can have on the environment. So why not do your bit by creating a vegetable patch or taking on an allotment - it can be highly rewarding!
Here at Alice Palace, we are really excited about growing our own veg and we want to inspire and excite you about doing the same thing. This year I’ve grown courgettes and tomatoes and potatoes - and Lizzy has really gone for it with a full on veg patch and has produced courgettes, tomatoes, potatoes (copy cat!), lettuce (mostly for the guins!), carrots (they were incredibly small) and cabbages (which the caterpillars ate!).
Here’s some of Liz’s show off veg and fruit!
And here’s some of mine!
Home grown food is yummy. Most of all, you can be rest assured your veg will grow no matter how much or how little experience you’ve had growing plants. It’s very easy to drive to the supermarket and buy pre packaged food flown in from other countries, but veg from your garden will be the freshest produce you have tasted, and will be more nutritious. There will be no food miles, and no packaging, so you’ve already taken one step to being better to the environment! It’s probably easier than you think and there’s nothing nicer than harvesting and cooking your own home grown produce, especially with that special quality mark of ‘I grew it myself!’.
How can you make your home grown vegetables last longer?
Storing vegetables in-ground
Keep your homegrown root vegetables fresh for longer - after growing garden vegetables, leave root crops in the ground until you want to use them.
Cover them with a layer of straw in winter - to trap air and keep water out.
Dig up the roots before the soil freezes to avoid damage.
Leave parsnips in the ground until spring as they withstand freezing.
Don’t wash homegrown vegetables before storing
Simply brush off excess soil before storing vegetables.
Separate good from bad
Separate the rotten vegetables from the good.
Compost any immature, damaged or diseased items - otherwise the rot will spread and ruin the rest of your crop.
Regularly check the stored produce for developing rot. Remove those that are bad.
Optimum environment for storing vegetables
Temperature and humidity are key things to consider when storing your home grown vegetables.
The three combinations for long-term storage are cool and dry (50-60˚F / 10-15˚C, 60% relative humidity), cold and dry (32-40˚F / 0-4˚C, 65% relative humidity), and cold and moist (32-40˚F / 0-4˚C, 95% relative humidity).
Some homegrown vegetables, such as cucumbers and peppers, require cool and moist conditions. These are hard to maintain so be prepared for a shorter shelf-life.
Where to store home grown vegetables
Cool and dry - Basements are ideal for keeping homegrown vegetables cool and dry. However, be sure to provide good ventilation.
Cold and dry - Fridges provide a cold and dry environment - ideal for storing vegetables such as garlic and onions.
Cold and moist - Add moisture to the fridge’s cold environment by storing vegetables in perforated plastic bags.
‘Root cellars’ also provide cold and moist conditions. They are simple to make:
A wooden box or crate layered with newspaper is the base for your root cellar.
Add moist sand.
Place your root vegetables on top.
Cover the home grown vegetables in sand.
Keep them cool.
Storing vegetables - leafy crops
Leafy crops, such as celery and cabbage, give off ethylene gas which causes other vegetables to age early. To prevent damage to other crops, store these homegrown vegetables separately.
It really is as easy as watering your plants and watching them grow.
Go on; go for it- Dig in!! And see our ‘Grow Your Own’ range which supports this very rewarding hobby!
This is one of Lizzy’s guinea pigs called Doug - he’s trying out some home grown lettuce and looks pretty pleased with it.
It’s also very nice to grow flowers - which i really LOVE to do…
This is lovely by Rob Ryan….
p.s it’s donut thursday!
