Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vegetable

At least the question isn't "should I eat it?".

soleiluna — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:52:14 -0800

Name that veg: what is this green, vine-y vegetable/lettuce/herb thing that showed up in my CSA box this week? I live in San Francisco and get deliveries from Farm Fresh to You, but this week there was a mix-up and I got our neighbor's box, not mine. Said neighbor has "exceptions" in her box (disliked fruit/veg that is replaced by other veg) so this unidentified item replaced bok choy. But the folks at Farm Fresh to You couldn't identify it. Please help?

I'm sure the pictures above are more useful, but here's some other info:
-It's possibly seasonal (December) to Northern CA, but the only CUESA-listed item that seemed close was "cress". The company occasionally includes produce from neighboring states.
-I tasted it, it tastes nondescript.
-My cat sniffed and nibbled on it a few times. She doesn't care about vegetables normally, just herbs (and grass.)
-The Farm Fresh employee on the phone thinks it is broccoli raab, but there's no florets, it doesn't taste bitter like normal broccoli raab, and the stems are hollow. And there are those weird vines that almost look like grape vines.
-Nothing on the Farm Fresh list of "exceptions" shipped this week matched this description.
-The vines are the predominant feature, and there's some tiny yellow flowers in there too.

Thank you!

juicer suggestions?

anya32 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:56:25 -0800

looking for some suggestions for a juicer. i really want to buy a fruit/vegetable juicer. something that can handle carrots, beets, oranges, etc. i know from friends that some machines break down really quickly but i am having trouble navigating online reviews. any suggestions would be super appreciated!

Hayfield to vegetable garden - how?

unSane — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:39:45 -0800

How to turn an abandoned field into a productive vegetable garden? We built a house in an old hayfield. Last year I tried planting a vegetable garden (about 100' x 20'). I used a rototiller to break up the soil and planted lots of good stuff but the produce was drowned by the grass which grew up around it -- far too much to weed out by hand.

How do I kill the weeds and grasses before planting next time? It's not just the plants -- the ground is absolutely full of seed. I would rather not use a herbicide if possible.

I've considered laying down tarp but it is a pretty big area. I could get a neighbor to plough it over but I'm concerned that's not gonna solve the seed problem.

Things I have -- 40 Hp tractor, rototiller. I can rent most any implement.

The weeds are mostly hay grasses, alfalfa, clover, vetch, ragweed and canada thistle.

After the juice

londongeezer — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:06:05 -0800

The juice comes out of the juice-extractor, and left behind in the machine is dryish fruit and/or vegetable pulp. Does anyone cook with this pulp? Does anyone have any ideas for cooking with it? It just seems to me it is a shame to chuck it away. I guess it retains some nutritional value. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Identify the Mystery Purple Vegetable!

hatta — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:08:54 -0800

MysteryVeggieFilter: can any of you vegetable experts identify this bad boy? It tasted somewhat like a tomato, although tarter, and we have no clues as to its identity as a friend dropped it off along with a bunch of other vegetables from a community garden. Thoughts?

If supermarkets did not exist, I would have starved myself by now.

backseatpilot — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:13:24 -0800

I am a failure as a gardener and a human being. What the hell did I do wrong with the vegetable patch? This was our first season trying a "real" garden (in fact, the first season I've had a back yard to do anything with). We built a raised bed, 4'x8', filled it with top soil from Home Depot, started some seeds indoors, and planted them about April-ish. And then again mid-May after everything died.

Whatever hasn't been killed off is so puny as to be worthless. All of our neighbors have nice big tomatoes growing; nothing of ours has produced any fruit whatsoever. A rundown of our attempts:

-Lettuce. None of them grew larger than half an inch off the ground, and then they all died.
-Basil. Same thing. Only a couple pairs of leaves, followed by death.
-Roma tomatoes. Grew about three or four pairs of leaves, then all the leaves fell off.
-Hot and bell peppers. Leaves all fell off. One specimen was left indoors for very long, got big and bushy, put it outside and then all the leaves fell off.
-Beefsteak-style tomatoes. These were starters, they've grown to be about 5 feet tall, but no fruit.
-Zucchini. I thought these were supposed to be vines; each of them is only about six inches long. One flowered, then all the flowers fell off and it died. Two others withered and died. The other ones are not growing.
-Cucumbers. Very, very small. Maybe three pairs of leaves, and an inch high. These have all flowered, but no fruit. They're not growing any larger.
-Mint. Didn't even bother sprouting.
-Parsley. They still only have two or three leaves, with very thin and flimsy stems.

So, we have literally zero yield for our efforts so far and it looks like we won't get a thing for the rest of the season. With the exception of the beefsteak tomatoes, everything was started from seed according to the instructions on the packages.

It's fairly shady in the back yard, and we just bought bags of generic top soil to fill the bed (it was pretty clumpy and had a bunch of sticks). I didn't do anything to the soil - just dumped it in, raked a little bit, and planted seedlings when I thought they were big enough. Also, being in New England, we had about a six week stretch of rain and low temperatures.

Obviously, I need some help. I could really use some very basic "For Dummies"-style advice as far as a) fixing the garden for the rest of the season, or b) prepping it for next season so it's not such a failure. I could also use some trouble-shooting to identify what went wrong this year. Some thoughts I had:
-Transplanted seedlings to early/too young
-Not enough light
-Not enough nutrients in the soil
-Too much/too little water

We also managed to kill a jade and an ivy plant that were in pots indoors (seriously, how is it possible to kill ivy?!), so we're really not doing too well with this.

And if anyone in the Boston area wants to come over and show me what I'm doing wrong, drop me a line.

Rejuvenate used container soil

boby — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:15:48 -0800

Every year on my porch in Boston, Ma. I grow a few different vegetables in large planters. This year one is pumpkins. After several years of growing crops in the same soil, how can I rejuvenate the soil to make it better for the next crop?

canieatitfilter: the poop edition!

Wavelet — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:04:47 -0800

Can I Eat It Filter: a cat pooped in my lettuce bed... Novice gardener here - a neighborhood cat pooped in my freshly planted lettuce bed (the lettuce are only seedlings at this point). I removed as much of the actual excrement as I could find without disturbing the seedlings, but some traces might be left.

If this were a vegetable that I were going to cook, I wouldn't worry about it, but since lettuce is consumed raw, I'm concerned. Is it dangerous to eat lettuce which has been grown in proximity to minute traces of cat poop? Should I be warding off children and pregnant women from the salad bowl?

the bunny will be reassigned to an undisclosed location

genmonster — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:37:27 -0800

how do I utilize my have-a-heart trap to get the bunnies out of my garden? Despite applications of rodent spray and hot sauce, the bunny in my yard is chowing down on my lettuce and peas. I have a trap, but so far when I've set it out the little stinker has totally ignored it. I tried celery leaves and carrot tops for bait. Has anyone successfully trapped one of these guys? any advice on trap placement and bait? I promise I won't hurt him/her, I'm just going to implement a Maoist-style relocation program.

What are a few strange or exotic vegetables/herbs/fruit that I can plant in my new garden?

ShootTheMoon — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:50:51 -0800

Just shoveled out a new garden 2 weeks ago. Put some tomatoes and peppers seedlings in, and already have some baby pepper and tomato plant is flowering well. Looking for strange or exotic veggies or herbs I can put into the remaining space. This east facing plot probably gets 4-6 hours of direct sun (more once we get further into summer). I live coastal in San Diego, so it would be zone 10. It also never get's hotter than 90F, and never below 32F. Very dry, so low water plants are a plus, but I dont mind watering a small area often. I have no preference starting from seed or seedling, so either one works.

A Bananna Spinich Smoothie?

doorsfan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:07:53 -0800

Looking for more than just a fruity smoothie... So this week I jumped onto the breakfast smoothie bandwagon thanks to a healthy living blog where I found this recipe:

# The juice from 1 lemon
# 1/2 cup parsley
# 1 stalk of celery
# 2 big handfuls of Spinach or collard greens
# 1 inch of peeled ginger
# 1 medium cucumber
# 1 apple, peel on, no seeds or stems
# 1 banana (peel off of course)
# Add water as needed for a good consistency.
*I added 1 1/2 cups of ice and just a little bit of water

I got to tell you I was really apprehensive about the concoction but it's great and I'd love to find other healthy smoothies like it.

It's not hard to find smoothie recipe's online but I am having difficulty finding a similar fruit vegetable combination (apparently this is half a day's supply of each) that I don't have to go to a specialty grocery store to get the ingredients.

The other piece to this puzzle is that it would be nice to know the health benefits associated with the finished piece and or the individual ingredients.

Can anyone recommend fruit and vegetable healthy smoothie recipes or point me to a free online resource?

Looking for leather in NYC

bshort — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:27:42 -0800

I'd like to buy some leather that's suitable for tooling in NYC. I'm looking for vegetable tanned leather at least 3 or 4 mm in thickness and at least 2 square feet in area. I'd also like to look at it before buying it, so internet-based retailers aren't what I'm looking for. I'm looking for personal recommendations, and I'm capable of looking in a phone book, so "call around" isn't the answer I'm looking for.

Planning victory for my victory garden

thecaddy — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:06:02 -0800

I am completely overwhelmed with all the information online about starting a vegetable garden. Looking for personal anecdotes about what works and what doesn't; bonus points if you started on extremely clay-based soil. I'm in Charlottesville, Va., which is somewhere on the border of zones 6 and 7 and has some soil with very high clay content (red bricks come from here!). I'm planning on building raised beds in a sunny spot in our backyard, probably four 4'x8'x18" beds.

Our backyard is on a slope, so I'm prepared to dig the beds level, as well as mixing in some compost into what I dig up before adding the soil and compost mix. After building the beds, I plan on adding another foot and a half or so of chicken wire to keep out the pests (we've got a decent number of deer here, though usually not so close to the city center as I am; but I'm more worried about squirrels).

Now the catch is that I'm completely inexperienced, born and raised in the city, and don't really know the first thing about gardening. Do these plans make sense? If I get started on this in the next two weeks, will I be ready to grow by spring?

Bonus points if anyone can point to me to a good "start a garden guide," especially if it's focused on the SE / Midatlantic.

(If it's impotant: I'm planning on growing several herbs, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini and/or summer squash, garlic, onions, bell peppers, and at least one kind of spicy pepper so I can make my own chili powder)

oh autumn, how do i eat thee?

Jason and Laszlo — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:08:21 -0800

I'm seeing some neat Fall vegetables at farmer's market: rutabaga, squashes of all type, huge Japanese daikon radishes, parsnips, sweet potatoes, lima beans. Let's hear your great (vegetarian) recipes for these weirdo vegetables.

Have any weird food facts/jokes for a Canadian farmers market?

KathyK — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:27:43 -0800

Do you have any weird food facts/jokes for a Canadian farmers market? I'm going to be a vendor at a local farmers market that is kicking off its first year this upcoming weekend in eastern Ontario. I'll be selling excess produce from my gardens as well as some baked goods and plants. I want to have a small sign that says, "Did you know..." with some weird food/garden facts and jokes of the local produce we'd be selling.

Examples of local vegetables are asparagus, beets, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, onion, beans, corn, etc.
Examples of local fruits are apples, rhubarb, blueberries, watermelon, raspberries, strawberries and more.

So, facts for bananas, pineapples and mangoes wouldn't really fit as we can't grow it in our USDA Zone 4 climate.

A couple that I really like are:
- Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep cool and changed it every two innings.
- In the 1600s English women wore carrot leaves in their hats instead of flowers or feathers.

Thanks!

Asparagus...it's awesome because it makes your pee smell funny.

sararah — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:38:09 -0800

Share your favorite asparagus recipes! I love it grilled and roasted, but I eat it like this all the time. What are some new ways to prepare one of my favorite veggies? I love asparagus and eat it at least 1-2x per week, especially when it is in season. Since it was a late spring here in the Midwest, I scored some gorgeous purple (and some green) asparagus at the farmer's market this morning. I'd like to branch out from my grilling/roasting rut and try some new preparations -- I'm especially interested in ways to use the woody ends in soups/stews/whatever.

Easy way to find out what's fresh where?

Planet F — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:27:40 -0800

Is there an easy way that I can find out what fruits and veggies are in-season in a country before I even arrive there? Specifically, I'd like to know if there's a web site or book where I can input (or look up) the country I'm in (or will be visiting) and it'll spit out what's in season when.

I scanned through this thread, which helps with Australia, but I was hoping for something a bit more international.

It seems very British in a way...

TheNewWazoo — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:11:33 -0800

What should I do with a pot-full of drained, boiled vegetables used to make veggie stock? We're talking about potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Eating them with salt is nice, but a little boring...

Call of the Cauliflower

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:11:55 -0800

I love Cauliflower! It's healthy and delicious! Help me find good ways to eat it! Right now, I've got one white and one golden head just waiting for adventure! Recipe suggestions?

I want to download all tomatoes. Can you show me where?

cdmwebs — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:30:26 -0800

Does there exist a database for plants grown in the US similar to the USDA's nutrition database? If yes, can I download it? I found this, but it seems to be related to flowering plants and weeds, etc. I'm looking for more vegetable or garden type plants. I'd like it to include as much data as possible (zones, seasons, time to produce, etc) for a project I'm working on.

Thanks!!

Suggestions for veggies I can grow on a deck or inside?

Rosie M. Banks — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:02:53 -0800

I'd love to grow some vegetables this year. However, I don't have much in the way of outdoor space OR sunlight. What are my best bets? I live in a condo. I have a deck, but it doesn't get much sun. I do have some space inside, but not much, and nothing with oodles of sun - it's not dark at all, but I don't get tons of direct sunlight; most of my windows face east or north.

So what are my best bets for growing my own vegetables? I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area (East Bay); frost/snow is not an issue but summer heat can be. I need something that will happily grow in a container and in at least partial shade. Or, alternatively, one of those "Aero-Garden" indoor planters; my mom is growing cherry tomatoes in one of those now, but they've yet to ripen. Anyone grow vegetables or herbs indoors? I'd at least like to get a pot or two of basil going for homemade pesto!

Name that root! (or tuber, I suppose)

uncleozzy — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:34:13 -0800

Can you identify this vegetable? A friend, who gets a weekly drop of produce from a CSA farm, got a vegetable she can't identify in yesterday's harvest. My first thought was rutabaga, but she says the greens aren't right, and the stratification at the bottom is odd. Moreover, she claims that the dark coating is not all dirt. Any ideas? And what does she do with it? Thanks.

(And yes, unfortunately, this is the only photo I have.)

Fusarium wilt: destroy immediately?

bread-eater — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:53:24 -0800

So my tomato plants look a bit sick (yellow -> brown leaves on the bottom). If it has fusarium wilt, must I destroy it? I'm not sure if it's fusarium wilt, and I'm not asking for a diagnosis here because I think it's hard to get a firm answer on that anyway. All that I've read online about FW says to destroy the plant if it has this disease. My question: why? If I let it die naturally (while still producing some food for me), is it so bad? Is the "destroy immediately" response to prevent further spread of the bacteria? Are the fruits still edible?

Thanks, Mefite gardeners!

Cookbook suggestions for cooking with in season fruits and veggies

GlowWyrm — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:24:01 -0800

What is a good cookbook for fresh cooking? I'm looking for a cookbook that takes in-season fruits and veggies and prepares them in a way where their natural flavors come through. I don't want anything heavy like fried foods or so drenched in sugar it will make my teeth hurt. Any ideas? I was looking at How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons but wanted to see if there is anything else better out there before I purchased it. Thanks :)

What's up with my avocado?

sublivious — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:10:41 -0800

I bought a sandwich that had an avocado with these brown root-like tentacles in the flesh but was otherwise normal looking and tasting. Any idea what that's about? I'd be interested to know if this is a common occurance and the cause. I've never seen anything like it before and I've enjoyed zillions of avocados in my life. There's a photo and a bit more info inside.
I tried to pull one of them out of the flesh but it was really in there! It wouldn't budge before it broke where my fingers gripped it. They look and feel like roots. Unfortunately the avocado wasn't cut by me so I don't know what the rest of it looked like.