The Vegetable Garden

 
This site is meant to be an introduction to a small, sustainable, back-yard garden. I want to share experiences and propose some of the vegetables I am growing. Everything is grown in an organic way, using compost, weeding by hand, no chemicals…I don’t like the use of any heavy, petrol-consuming machinery, so, no tiller is used, no tractor, … Lots of the edibles I am growing are plants that have been eaten for a long time. They are all open-pollinated (some exceptions are things I want to breed and select myself), I do think open-pollinated vegetables can be as vigorous and even better-tasting than hybrid varieties. And I want to save my own seeds, so the easiest way to go is to grow out these old-timers (in fact, some of them are new and good). The vegetables listed in the site are ranged in an alphabetical order, so it’s easier to use. I also did use the common names (although I prefer Latin names), most people will be happier searching common names. With the exception of a few, all vegetables were grown here in my garden, nearly all pictures are also taken over here (it’s indicated when they came from someone else). Everyone can start a small garden, grow some things and enjoy eating them. Even the more uncommon vegetables listed here are quite easy to grow (I’m thinking of Yacon, oca, Chinese cabbages, tomatillos, and so on), these don’t suffer from all kinds of diseases or insects, because they were lesser grown on a large scale than for instance potatoes or carrots. Do try some of them, it’s really worthwile and our diet becomes more varied ; over the years we have lost lots of food plants, only 30-40 are commonly eaten, and they belong to ten plant families. In ancient times, people ate hundreds of plants, wild sorrel, lettuce, even the roots of couch grass were eaten (and still are by some)… so we really lost part of our diversity. Try to buy good seeds and/or plants, some addresses are listed in the links page, it really helps a lot if you grow out nice-growing and tasty things. Small-scale companies or seed-savers organisations have some very good offers, support these if you can. If you go on supporting the ‘round-the-corner’ multinational, you won’t be supporting diversity of food, to the contrary, the only thing these big companies are looking for are profits ; sadly enough…. A word about the site: I’m planning to do regular updates and give a lot more information, one of the things coming is the role insects and other wildlife play in the vegetable garden. Right now it’s just a basic site, it will grow and grow... 

Vegetables from A to Z

A-Al            Ma-Me

Am-Az        Mi-Mu

B-Be           N

Bl-Bu          O

Ca              Pa-Pe

Ce-Ch        Ph-Po

Ch 2           Po-Ra

Co-Cu        Re-Ry

D-E            Sa-Sh

F-Gh          So-St

Gi-Go        Su-Sw

Gr-H          Ta-To

I-J              Tr-Tz

K-Le           U-Z

Le-Lu

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