I remember a time when fruits & veggies (all or most of them) used to taste better somehow compared to what you find today in most grocery stores and there is a simple explanation for this … most fruit & veg are imported (even in late summer & autumn when it’s their season) meaning they are picked before they are ripe and ripen during transport or at home. The most likely way for anyone today to eat ripe fruit & veg is to buy the canned or dried version of them which is ok for cooking but not for those times when you crave for a proper tomato salad or simply want to eat some fresh apricots.
Solution: GROW YOUR OWN OR FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES AND GET THE FRUIT & VEG FROM THEM! 🙂
Since i like to depend mostly on myself i chose to be that person that grows his own fruit and veg – considering the fact that there are not that many farms around that sell them – and started looking into efficient ways to do this.
The fresh fruit problem & solution: A few months ago (late autumn) my wife found some nice ppl that were growing and selling fruit trees and we decided to get some (1 apple tree, 1 pear tree, 1 plum tree and a few cherry trees) which we planted in buckets for now (had to drill some holes in them so that excess water drains) and placed in the back of our garden. Because the trees are quite young we don’t expect them to give much fruit this year but soon they will so patience :). With time they’ll outgrow the buckets and will need to be planted but that’s going to be a project for a later time.
The fresh veg problem & solution: After using the pallets for the garden sofa project we realised we can efficiently use the space where they were stored for growing some greens and realised we could do it in a very efficient way – think vertical. We love tomatoes so initially we got a small greenhouse ideal for growing tomatoes then got another one a bit bigger that has shelves on its sides which makes it ideal for growing the green stuff (parsley, coriander, dill, etc) and a generous amount of space in the middle which means we can grow more tomatoes and possibly other veg like peppers if we want to. You might think … why greenhouse for greens / tomatoes ? … but nowadays you simply cannot grow them in your yard because most surely they will not make it till autumn due to all sorts of factors (polution, pests, etc).
Feeding a family of 4 requires a bit more surface than you’d think and because 2/4 are children some diversity is required as well so next step is planting other veg in the garden (on its sides so that the children can still enjoy the green space while playing). The veg that should be ok to plant outside with no / little protection would be onions, garlic, cabbage, lettuce, peas and beans, carrots, radish and courgettes (i think) so will give them a try and we’ll see how it goes.
You realise that this will not feed my family throughout the course of the year BUT it will provide enough diversity of fresh fruit & veg for us and the children just enough so that we don’t forget how they should taste and look like when ripe AND is also a nice family project because it involves all family members and teaches the children something about the stuff they eat.