Harvest from the Toddler Organic Vegetable Garden

Have you been ‘conditioned’ into believing organic vegetables can never look as good as regular ones in shops? Well if you have, then take a closer look at this picture. There’s a bit too much reflection coming off the packaging, but there’s no denying the cos and dark frilly oak-leafed lettuce is as good looking as any, anywhere! The only reason organic vegetables look so unappetizing is because they are not fresh. And the reason other vegetables keep their ‘fresh’ look is because of the harmful chemicals placed inside the plastic wrappers which give them a longer shelf live.

These vegetables were harvested from Squirrel’s Landing Organic Garden last Wednesday, and sold to a few lucky shoppers on Thursday. They were still crisp and beautiful and caused many ooh’s and aah’s from admirers. If you’ve been watching Cabbages and Cream since its inception, you’ll remember it all started at the beginning of March, and this is what has come out of the garden two and a half months later. You can track progress of the lettuce by clicking Organic Vegetable Garden Progress on April 22^nd.

Our beetroot doesn’t show up in this picture, but you can be sure it is utterly delicious, with strong, healthy leaves – nothing like the limp stuff in the supermarkets and big vegetable stores.

Read more on the topic: We want real food

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In the Toddler Organic Vegetable Garden

In a month of glorious weather the vegetables at Squirrel’s Landing have had to be almost tied down, to stop them growing so fast! These beets have only been in the ground for two months and are now ready for a full harvest, so if you visit Creeds towards the end of the week, you may just be lucky enough to nab a bunch.

The leaves are simply beautiful and are almost pretty enough for a flower arrangement, but we’ve been enjoying them in salads and as a lightly steamed green vegetable for weeks. Full of good nutrition and bursting with flavour they are truly a wonder food, stacked with beta-carotene, iron and calcium.

Beetroot have higher sugar content than most vegetables but are also rich in vitamin C (we all need more), fibre, potassium, folic acid, magnesium and manganese. Enjoy them roasted or grated raw, and if you’re brave, find a recipe for borscht! In fact, why not ask us for one?

We’ve also been having fun with the rest of the garden and have at last laid down our plans for an Edible Garden. I’m very excited about this, as I can now indulge in a passion for a flower garden as well as passion #1 - organic vegetables. Of course the flower garden will also be organic, which is just as well, because I’m inclined to put marigolds, borage, nasturtiums and more into salads. But not foxgloves! Sometimes I forget which are vegetables and which are flowers – so many plants are worth experimenting with in the kitchen

The idea for the Edible Garden came from a book I picked up whilst book browsing the other day – and what a find it’s turned out to be! By Rosalind Creasy, it’s called The Edible French Garden. Of course! She has wonderful ideas and the photographs are outstanding. Why not find a copy and sit back in a cozy chair by the fire with a cup of something hot, and indulge!

If you like the idea of starting a similar garden, look on page 19 for a sneak preview of how The Edible French Garden at Squirrel’s Landing is going to look... and keep up with the Real Food section of Cabbages And Cream for updates.

More articles on Squirrel's Landing Organic Vegetable Garden:

Organic Vegetable Garden Progress

Birth of an Organic Vegetable Garden

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Organic Vegetable Garden progress

April in the new garden at Squirrel’s Landing has been busy. We found a source for organic leaf salad seedlings (hooray!) and most of them have taken.

We had a very hot spell two days after transplanting, and had to find some quick protection so they didn’t frizzle up. We lost three in the process, but the rest are now close to harvest as you can see, which is something of a record – it will be four weeks from planting by the time we pick them next week!

A friend and colleague has opened up a brilliant new health store in the Redham Centre, called Creeds Super Natural Nutrition and customers have shown a huge interest in our organic garden, so we’re planning to take produce once a fortnight – as soon as they’re available. It would be wonderful if we could supply the whole demand, so we have our eye on renting an empty plot nearby to swell our supply.

Our beetroot have also grown very fast as the conditions have been good in the past month. Another row of seeds has gone in and as soon as the little bulbs form on the first row we’ll be thinning them and enjoying a delicious meal of infant beetroot and their leaves. Quite delicious with a splash of extra virgin and some Wineland Brie™ from Dalewood Fromage.

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