beet greens – That's Just Me

Why Toss Away Those Greens?

I was shopping at Wilson Farm, and this was the second time I got a freebie bag of greens that another customer didn’t want.

The first time, I scored a huge batch of radish greens, and today I gained the tops of chioggia beets.

Funny, during both instances they asked what do I do with them? I eat them!

Raw or cooked. They are great in salads, soups, stir-fries.

In an economy where food prices are soaring, why would you pay $4 for a bundle of beets only to throw away a perfectly edible portion?

It could be the location I was in. Wilson Farm is in Lexington, MA, one of the snootier “higher income” towns in the state. Could be that money isn’t really an issue for most that live there, and they couldn’t be bothered to cook up some lowly greens!

But sadly, I bet that even consumers in my middle class town throw away their root veggie “greens” as well, maybe because they don’t look “perfect”, or maybe because no one knows that you can actually eat them.

Hopefully, my brief conversation sparked something in their minds, and maybe next time they shop, they won’t be so quick to toss the greens. Maybe they’ll actually take them home and try them.

But if not, I’m happy to take the throw-aways! Thank you very much! :)

Gardening Diary: Another Harvest & Pest Update

It’s supposed to rain most of the today, so this AM I went out and gathered a bunch of fresh veggies from the garden. Yum

Cut a bunch of lettuce & basil, just a few tender beet greens, a few pea shoots (I’m growing shoots in a separate container), bunches of pea pods, a few sprigs of oregano, and two very small green Carmen peppers.

This is my fourth harvest. Here is a photo of my last (third) harvest of greens from my garden:

harvested lettuce, basil, beet greens, peas, and shoots

Gardening Notes:

So far, the only pepper plants with fruit are the Carmens and the plants are still so short/small, the fruit is larger and starting to drag. I figured I’d try cutting off two fruits to allow the plant to maybe catch up and grow some more! I had heard that it encourages the plant to grow more fruit if you pick the peppers while they are green, as opposed to waiting until they turn red. This will be an experiment!

Yesterday, I caved and bought a bottle of BT-Thuricide (Bacillus Thuringiensis), which is an organic solution for cabbage worms/larva.

tiny cabbage worm egg larva
close up of tiny cabbage worm egg larva

It was very easy picking off the tiny little yellow worm/eggs from the cabbage outer leaves, see my photos above. But then I noticed there were a bunch of worms snacking on inner leaves and it’s a lot more difficult to get them out!

The organic experts say BT is safe, but I still am reluctant to use it, mainly because it can cause resistance if overused. It’s especially disconcerting that they are “weaving” BT into Genetically-Modified (GMO) cabbage plants, which will eventually make BT useless for caterpillar/worm control!

UPDATE: 2012-06-27 I returned the BT. I decided that I would keep trying to pick off by hand.

Other than that, most of my plants are doing very well, in-ground and in-containers.

The only plants with issues are the bell peppers. I guess it might be more difficult to grow in the North. Most of them are looking “black” and losing their leaves. It could be from overwatering and not enough “heat.” I don’t know if I’ll attempt to plant bell peppers again next season.

Life is good!

Gardening Diary: Garden Expansion Photos

I wanted to share some of the photos I took of my little veggie garden. It started off smaller, then expanded, and expanded.

For now, I’m posting wide angles, but soon, I’ll share more detailed photos to show the growth of each plant.

Last season, we started with a very small patch of garden, as you can see from notes on two photos. Our first expansion was adding a few more feet next to the fence, and another row with a pathway.

Here’s what it looked like on 5/24 (with notations for last season).

We’ve got (1st row near fence) snap & shell peas, a large perennial oregano plant, beet seedlings, more peas, pickling cucumbers, then (2nd row), carrots, lettuce, brussells sprouts, red cabbage, and eggplant. In containers, there’s red cabbage, potatoes, (2) lettuce, and (2) brussels sprouts.

Oh and we also have grape vines in the fence corner, and another vine in the middle area of the fence.
the garden started
The containers were placed on top of long metal fence posts to allow good drainage.

garden diagram from last season

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