Best garden vegetables

[Ron Mauer Sr]

What are the best vegetables to grow in a small family garden, in preparation for supply line disruptions? Consider nutrition and taste. Simple tasty recipes using those vegetables would be plus to read.

[RunningDeer]

You can’t go wrong with Tahini butter, Bragg’s Amino Acids and/or rice vinegar drizzled on any vegetables: raw, cooked, steamed, pickled, pressed, grilled or fermented.

[Terry777]

It really depends on your local weather. Where I'm at on the west coast it's hot and dry, so a lot of the vegetable bolt, or go to seed really fast, like broccoli, which I love, but can't really grow here without it bolting.

Over the last 20 years I've found that kale, spinach, potatoes, corn, squash, tomatoes, carrots, and peas, grow well with very few problems. For fruits I've found that grapes, and plumbs do pretty good. My apple trees were killed by gophers, because they love the sweetness of the cambium layer.

The crows don't bother my corn, probably because I have a travel trailer next to my garden. They do strip my cherry tree clean in just a few days.

[Anka]

Corn to make corn flour, potatoes (in the cellar), carrots and parsnips (placed in the cellar in sandboxes over the winter or frozen in bags in the freezer), chopped frozen spinach ready to cook, peas, or bean pods frozen green, chopped peppers of various colors ready to eat, chopped parsley, frozen seasonal fruits (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cherries) whole frozen cherry tomatoes go phenomenally put on pizza, frozen mushrooms, or baked eggplant, chopped and put in bags in the freezer.

For canned jars, we can make eggplant stew (contains 20% finely chopped onion, 30% peeled and finely chopped baked red peppers, 30% peeled and chopped ripe eggplant, 20% tomato paste, oil, salt , pepper, bay leaf)
fry in a large saucepan in the order in parentheses, carefully and according to everyone's taste, should come out of the whole recipe, a tasty paste full of vitamins that spreads gracefully on a slice of toast, along with a cup of tea , it works perfectly. The jars at a cool temperature last for two years.
Onions or leeks or garlic last well over the winter.

Tomato broth in bottles together with celery leaves, or larch or rosemary but especially tarragon, which give a special look to tomato broth, I drink this tomato juice a lot in winter, it helps the immune system with a lot of vitamin C.
From the long red peppers we can put them baked on the grill and cleaned, placed in jars like pickles ready to eat in winter,
or we can cut them into strips and dry them in a special household electric dryer or on a tray in the sun, and when they are well dried, they are ground with a grinder, the red pepper powder gives a special taste to certain foods.
We can also make dried vegetables (carrots, parsnips, peppers, onions, celery root, parsley root, dried green parsley, all finely chopped) as an addition to chicken soup or beef soup.
A few hens to lay eggs next to the house, but then more corn must be planted to feed them.

Mint or chamomile planted in the ground, grows more every year and for teas full of vitamin C is worth the effort.
Also fruit trees (pears, apples, plums) help to make fruit compote in a jar, good for immunity.

Fruit jam such as raspberries (the leaves harvested in June are good for tea), strawberry or apricot jam (in which I add extra vitamin C powder because it is better assimilated by the body with fruit).
Peanuts or acorns picked from a nearby forest are good for making nutritious flour and delicious cakes.
Cucumbers, green tomatoes or watermelon or sauerkraut, put in a barrel of salt water and spices (thyme, fennel seeds, dried dill).
Peeled and whole yellow bell peppers are good for eating peppers stuffed with spicy meatballs. The peppers stuffed with meat are placed in a pan with boiled water (a little not to cover them) and a sauce is made in a pan of broth, sugar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, oregano, the sauce is covered with peppers and eaten hot with fresh bread:)
Dried tomatoes and put in airtight jars simply or ... together with cubes of cheese and olive oil and chopped parsley.

Hot peppers put in a jar together with green leaves of thyme or tarragon or rosemary, a little salt, a little sugar and the rest, pour quality vinegar.
Like pickles, peppers stuffed with white and red cabbage with salt and vinegar in a jar, bell peppers stuffed with cauliflower, pickled mushrooms or pickled tomatoes enhance the quality of each meal.

As a gardener for over 10 years, as a chef with experience in European hotels, as a human being I am happy to share any recipe, for the help of any interested person.:heart:

[Lilybee8]

Oh dear! Oh dear! Anka! That yellow pepper recipe sound delicious! :heart: a must on my menu! And the list of the veggies and fruit is perfect, Thank you

[Bo Atkinson]

Kale is the easiest, and tastes great fresh, or frozen, saved up throughout summer, in accumulative bails to economize on freezer space. I use a flat sheet of steel kept in freezer to flash-freeze, and compress fresh picked leaves to continue packing and stacking. I am still using last summers kale, and can spike it with fresh nettle, (beware of it's invasiveness), also with Jerusalem Artichoke tubers which take over compost piles, and give cheery yellow flowers in September. I have a bucket to offer, fist come first served ^__^, (central Maine USA).

Kale is peak nutrition and abundant enough to afford eating enough at one sitting to forgo grains, even as a hungry work man. It took me a few days to fertilize and weed beds and still spare a shovel full of last fall's seedlings (now averaging under 1 cm) to my apprentice, for his garden. These plants can seed themselves if well fertilized and if aphids are kept in check which usually are brought by ants, who can be deterred peacefully by leaving flat rocks for them to attempt colonization and then exposing the new invasion by moving rocks and getting their attention on the matter of territory and removing their aphids... Constant attention is needed and at my age I spend enough time at home, and furthermore am discovering that inner attention development is the whole key to existential evolution.

Here are some old pics-
http://harmoniouspalette.com/RebarGardenFrameGreenHouse/RebarGreenhouseResearch.html

PS- After years of trying all plant based compost for fertilizer, 'humanure' and also trying cow manure again, none of these feel as adequately-easy as strongly supplementing with bought, organically approved, high NPK supplement and minerals, but avoiding the roughage which I can collect here in the back woods. If pushed to total self production, it would take up too much time and I might have to try that breathatarian thing ^__^

[Nenuphar]

I agree with the wonderful suggestions offered here by the other members. I would also suggest, depending on how much space you have, squash. Many varieties grow in a bush habit rather than a vining habit and will store well (e.g., Burgess Buttercup, Golden Nugget, Table King Acorn, etc.) Summer squash (e.g., zucchini, patty-pans, "Yellow Early Prolific" squash, etc.) can be used in place of cucumbers to make relish or sliced for pickling, and is easy to dehydrate and store to add to soups, stews, etc. later in the year.

Garlic is easy to grow and when the chips are down, has valuable medicinal qualities in additional to just being a great ingredient to cook with. It would be a good idea to research which varieties grow best in your area. Where I am (zone 2/3), rocamboles, purple/marbled stripes, and porcelains tend to grow best. Red Russian (a purple stripe variety) is the best storer I have grown. Rocamboles peel easily so are good if you are processing lots to pickle, freeze, or dry.

[RunningDeer]

Lacto-Fermented Vegetables




Health benefits of lacto-fermented foods: Lacto-fermentation may increase the nutrient availability of foods, improve heart and brain health, and have anti-inflammatory, cancer-fighting, immune-boosting, antidiabetic, and anti-obesity benefits.

For those that are short of money, below is a six minute video using mason jars:


How to Make Lacto-Fermented Vegetables
This is link has a great 6 minute vid (http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2012/02/how-to-make-lacto-fermented-vegetables.html), a reference and ideas section. It takes about a week to ferment and then you refrigerate. They keep for months. This was my first batch:


beet, carrot, red pepper, red onion, garlic & herbs and spices.
broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, red pepper, red onion, garlic & herbs and spices


https://i.imgur.com/qnLxkwC.jpg

I sprung for a german-5-liter-fermenting-crock. (http://www.harvestessentials.com/german-5-liter-fermenting-crock-pot.html) (Run a search for the best price.)

I keep the "sauerkraut" recipe simple: red and green organic cabbage, red onion, and garlic. I use a little sea salt to kick off the process.


https://i.imgur.com/0uhAw4T.jpg

Other rearch results: How to make lacto fermented vegetables (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+make+lacto+fermented+vegetables)


https://i.imgur.com/F5VZkI8.gif


What Is Lacto-Fermentation, and Does It Have Health Benefits?

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of food processing. Lacto-fermentation is a specific type of fermentation that uses lactic-acid-producing bacteria to preserve foods.

While fermentation was traditionally used to increase shelf life, recent research has highlighted several health benefits of eating lacto-fermented foods.

What is lacto-fermentation?

Lacto-fermentation is the process by which bacteria break down the sugars in foods and form lactic acid. Lacto-fermented foods include yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles.

How does it work?

During lacto-fermentation, lactic acid bacteria break down carbs into lactic acid and carbon dioxide. This creates an acidic, low-oxygen environment that encourages the growth of good bacteria and prevents the growth of other microorganisms.

Why is it used?

Lacto-fermentation has traditionally been used to preserve food by preventing the growth of harmful microorganisms. This extends the shelf life of foods and reduces food wastage, all while adding flavor, texture, and aroma.

How’s it different than canning?

Canning uses heat to cook food and kill harmful organisms, whereas lacto-fermentation uses good bacteria to prevent the growth of harmful organisms.

Health benefits of lacto-fermented foods

Lacto-fermentation may increase the nutrient availability of foods, improve heart and brain health, and have anti-inflammatory, cancer-fighting, immune-boosting, antidiabetic, and anti-obesity benefits.

[complete article (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lacto-fermentation)]