Is it me?

[Annpan]

I can only imagine I am doing something very wrong here...

All my home grown veg is... well, bland or just not nice

Courgettes are edible, but nothing special, infact they taste quite sour on their own

Beetroot (I assume I cooked it wrong - I baked it in chunky chips) was tough and chewy, not edible.

Lettuce not nice on its own, fine with mayo or olive oil all over it but not tasty, quite bitter actually.

Peas are fine, but nothing spectacular.

Potatoes (desiree) I cooked as chunky chips and they were chewy and dry.

Carrots were fine, mixed with a stew as were the swede - but not flavoursome enough to stand out.

Onions are nice, well the few that we have had.

None of the food is nicer than you would buy in the shop
Have I done something wrong? We will still eat it all and it is a thrill growing stuff but I was expecting fireworks - do you know what I mean?

[red]

erm.. its you ..

beetroot, I usually steam unpeeled until tender then peel.

lettuce.. depends on variety.. but we are enjoying ours

courgettes.. crisp and tasty - what variety do you have? i usually go for defender - pick them small.

desirree - a good alrounder spud - nothing spectacular, but nice - makes nice mash.
peas i usually pick a little small.. and they are sweet then. and then i cook them by just getting the water to the boil, and thats it.. no more.. so they are still almost raw.

always thought onions were just onions, and as we cant hope to grow enough for our needs (if we want any other veg!) so we buy them

perhaps you need to experiment with other varieties.

[Odsox]

Yes, I agree especially about the beetroot. You should screw the tops off, not cut, and gently scrub the dirt off, then boil or steam in their skins.
The idea is not to damage the skin or the colour and the flavour will leak out into the water.
All the other veggies are probably down to the variety, choose a different variety each time until you find one you like.
Peas I have to say, I prefer mine a bit older so that they have flavour and texture. I can't honestly see the point in the little green balls of sweet water that Mr Birdseye sells, but then that is another one of the benefits of growing your own.

[Jandra]

Don't worry, all is not lost.

I agree with the previous entries on cooking beetroot. If you like quick, try my way of cooking it:
- wash and peel them raw and dice them in 1,5 cm cubes,
- pack them together in a covered microwavable container. Make sure there's very little or no air. I pack them in microwave film if I cant fit it in a suitable container.
- Microwave for a few minutes until done or almost done.

In the mean time, cut up one onion and glaze it in a bit of butter with just a bit of pepper and salt.
Add the microwaved beetroot, mix and cook on low heat until done.

This way you don't have to mess with cokking entire beetroots and either waiting a long time for them to cool or burn you hands peeling/dicing them hot.
Also saves energy, because you don't have to cook them a long time in oven or a large pot of water.(SS'ish bible, p. 44)
And it is quick! And I like the results, but that remains a personal thing.

Lettuce can be bitter if you've left it too long or if it has had a dry spell. Also varieties can have different tastes.

I like to add lettuce to my pasta. Put some roughly cut up lettuce on your plate. Put on pasta & sauce and mix together. After a minute the lettuce will go dark and limp and the bitterness shouldn't be bothersome anymore. And it tastes really nice.

Hope this helps,
Jandra

[pumpy]

sorry, Ann, but it would appear that your taste-buds are shot to pieces. Or is there a problem with the water supply(are you on mains??) If it's any use, we've got a recepie for a lovely casserole,using fresh beetroot.

[Millymollymandy]

No it's not all you Annpan! Lettuce IS bitter - I mean nobody but nobody eats just lettuce do they? They cover it with dressing!

Beetroot tastes just as good from the shops - I much prefered peeled cooked vacuum packed stuff that the horrible stuff I grew (white).

Young carrots taste nicer than winter ones but you can buy them in the shops young and in the winter I prefer shop bought ones cos they aren't full of bloody root fly!

The fun of growing veg is that it is there right on your doorstep so you have the fun of the growing, the picking, the doing things with it and feeling good about it and knowing there aren't any nasty chemicals on it. Plus it saves you loads of money! One of the main reasons for growing certain veg for me is because they are not available in this country!

Though certain things you grow OUGHT to taste better than shop bought e.g. tomatoes, although shop bought cherry toms are great. In France. But ridiculously expensive!

[Marc]

The dark outer leaves of lettuce do tend to be bitter, but more so if grown slowly in poor soil or with too little water. Young quick grown baby leaf, or lettuce hearts (little Gem, and others) should be sweet and delicious. They always get bitter if left too long and start to go to seed.
I have sometimes found courgettes have a slightly bitter taste, not entirely sure why but once again if grown slowly (soil too poor or too dry) or if they are the first ones on the plant and not pollenated properly that seems to be when you notice it.

Keep trying, and it'll get better, I promise

Marc

[Millymollymandy]

I've never tasted sweet lettuce before! I do love my own crunchy home grown and don't eat them when they've gone to seed when they go leathery. I just couldn't eat lettuce without dressing on it though!

[Annpan]

Thanks for everyone's pointers.

This is our first year of really putting in an effort, last year we grew 9 potatoes and a dozen lettuce... This year we have a huge range of stuff, so it is early days and I do have a lot of learning to do.

I will be trying different varieties and make sure I dig in more muck/ compost next year.

[hamster]

I don't think it's just you. I've found some things are way nicer than stuff from the shops (peas, new potatoes, half the strawberries) and some things not that different (lettuce, the other half of the strawberries). I think it might be variety that makes the difference, as all the strawberries were in the same pot and treated the same!

[pumpy]

my stepson has said that his lettuce/spinach,etc tastes bitter. His soil is heavy clay, is this a factor?

[Millymollymandy]

I don't know whether soil has much input into taste. What I think makes a difference is where you shop, maybe produce in France although it is often limp and half rotting on the display, tastes better than in the UK? Variety makes a huge difference - Ratte potatoes whether from shop or garden will always taste better than other varieties of spud!

[Odsox]

I'm not too sure about the soil having a bearing on taste either Milly, but your adopted countrymen make great claims about their soil when it comes to wine, so maybe there is after all.
Regarding your chips Annpan, it's still a bit early for newly dug potatoes to make nice chips or roast.
Rule of thumb is that they don't have enough starch until after September or so.

[Cassiepod]

I'm glad I'm not alone in my disappointment with some things from the garden. I'm pretty sure it's down to variety and your preference, if you know what you like from the shops have a look a the variety in the supermarket and see if you can grow it next year (if it makes sense given your climate of course). If you can manage to get some heritage seeds they may be better/more varied flavours. Above all though revel in the convenience that you can run out to the garden and grab something to go with the meal, I don't think I'm ever going to get over the ultimate in convenience food! It also comes back to the question of whther your growing for self sufficiency or to supplement a shop bought diet. When you're supplementing it's worthfocuing on the items where fresh is an improvement.

[Peggy Sue]

I started the allotment last July so I'm still completing the first year for some veg now. Lots of it tastes very diffferent. Just had swede fort eh first time this weekend and it was...powerful
I saw the same with the broccoli, so I guess that depends on your tsate buds, but we both went...wow... on both occasions. Personally I do eat lettuce all by itself and it is quite bitter, alot of things are stronger, and often therefore more bitter.True of carrots too I think so it's a matter of if you like that? The carrots I grew at the allotment with added horse manure were more like this than ones I grew in a barrel the previous year in growbag-type compost.

Beetroot I love roasted for 2 hours- goes like a baked potato all soft with a cripy shell.

Maybe it's just a matter of not having expectations and just letting your taste buds discover what you grow?

Apparently onions you do ahve control over- the nitrogen there is the stronger they are