Barriehie
Veteran
I buy cheapest at the market and wash it seriously. My garden gets bigger every year so I'm buying less at the store. I only grow organic to boot.
Do you buy organic or nonorganic vegetables?
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rascal
Forum GOD!
We dont (my wife) doesn't use chemicals in our garden so ours is organic? But I sometimes shop at the organic shop where the food tastes so much better than supermarket. The carrots are unbelievable sweet. I need to shop there more.
Russ
Russ
Depends on what it is. I’d say maybe 50% of what I buy is organic.
badjak
Guru
I mostly grow my own.
But buy some. I'm quite sure that nothing else here thats for sale has not been sprayed with fungicides and insecticides. No matter if that's a farm store, side of the road or supermarket
But buy some. I'm quite sure that nothing else here thats for sale has not been sprayed with fungicides and insecticides. No matter if that's a farm store, side of the road or supermarket
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I try to grow what I can and that's as organic as it comes.
Standard supermarket veg I typically buy regular veg for, except for carrots. They definitely taste much better than the regular ones and organic coriander lasts 4 or 5 times as long as the regular stuff so we buy that as well.
If, and that's a big if, I have to buy dried herbs, then I will get the organic versions. But I grow a lot of herbs in the garden, so typically don't need to buy dried herbs often.
Standard supermarket veg I typically buy regular veg for, except for carrots. They definitely taste much better than the regular ones and organic coriander lasts 4 or 5 times as long as the regular stuff so we buy that as well.
If, and that's a big if, I have to buy dried herbs, then I will get the organic versions. But I grow a lot of herbs in the garden, so typically don't need to buy dried herbs often.
CookieMonster
Veteran
there are several things if "out of your own garden" absolute crush any competition found in the supermarket.
(been doing organic since the 1970's . . .)
carrots - fresh out-rooted, utterly stunning...
lima beans - the haters become converts...
new potatoes - pure good stuff in a skin...
sugar snap peas - utterly no comparison to 'right off the vine'
top mention, but super common, , , , tomatoes
top mention, almost never common, , , okra
home grown/small/fresh okra is akin to lima beans - it produces converts . . .
rascal
Forum GOD!
We are picking daily fresh peas along with other stuff. No sprays used so is that organic???
Russ
CookieMonster
Veteran
minor clarification . . .
no sprays - or no chemicals?
going organic I used 'floating row covers' to protect cauliflower / broccoli.
I did use soap sprays on crops oh-so-tasty to aphids.
also bought / released lady bugs - they'll eat 2-3 times their weight of aphids per day.
in the greenhouse, I used alcohol sprays to zap waxy pests.
the 'organic thing' is rather a bit more than "sprays" - if you're interested I recommend,
the "Encyclopaedia of Organic Gardening"
- updated through several versions.
it addresses the whole topic - from soil husbandry to pest control.
odd-ball 'disclaimer' - got my 'bent' from my grandfather - who raised a huge garden, and my grandmother, who canned it all.
supported his family - thru WW2 rationing with lots of rabbit meat . . . and later their 'hunting&fishing lodge' guests - all in the organic mode. I have more stories . . . .
I have his 'first edition' + the later edition.
rascal
Forum GOD!
So organic or not??.
Peas strawberry and raspberry all grown spray free. They are grown in soil mixed with sheep shit which we buy by the bag. This contains a wee bit of wool occassionally .
Are the veges organic???
Russ
Peas strawberry and raspberry all grown spray free. They are grown in soil mixed with sheep shit which we buy by the bag. This contains a wee bit of wool occassionally .
Are the veges organic???
Russ
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Without certification that the soil has been free of xyz, for however many years NZ insists on, so no legally.
I can't claim my chooks lay organic eggs because the land over which they walk to get to the house has non-organic sheep. The land which they are on during the day is maintained as organic. Their droppings and mulch are the fertiliser I use, but they stray onto non-organic land and pesticide sprays travel quite widely so you'll not know if your neighbours have sprayed pesticides during the day that have drifted onto your veg. Also unless the sheep are organic, then their fertiliser isn't either, and that's one of the big problems with pesticides. They are used widely and do pass through the sheep into their droppings and less than scrupulous farmers do put sheep out on sprayed land much sooner than they are allowed to by law.
Living on and amongst sheep farms (and having done so much of my life) I've seen it many times over.
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
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The farmers I know in my experience have never taken pesticides seriously in anyway. If it yields them a good crop to them it’s good stuff.
My own father in law went past my balcony when I sitting outside with a 6 month old baby and pregnant and started spraying. It coated everything, including the tea I obviously didn’t drink. I showered us immediately.
When I saw him later and very politely said you need to warn me if you’re going to spray. He looked confused so I said that stuffs not safe and you don’t want to be spraying a baby and a pregnant woman with it, he became most indignant and I got labelled one of those fuss makers!
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Yeah. We've had issues here as well. One year or landlord sprayed right up to the fence and we lost everything in the veg plot. After that we asked him to give us notice and took to covering the veg plot with anything we could lay out hands on which then went into the washing machine immediately.
Now he does spray near to our veg plot unless it is with the spot spray to control the thistles and is very careful to watch wind direction. But I know that he lets the sheep in to the field within 24hrs of spreading with roundup (which has just been banned here). The law was 48hrs minimum.
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
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It’s vicious stuff.
I asked our gardener quite a few years ago not to spray in the free run area where my pregnant dog went. He straight up refused and said it was a lot of nonsense.
I said just because there’s a gap between the exposure and the consequences doesn’t mean it’s not harmful.
I don’t think he could have scoffed harder! He argued very hard that he would be spraying and I was being silly.
But I stood my ground, I explained that if a chemical is strong enough to kill a plant or an insect then no matter the mechanism used us being biological ourselves meant it wasn’t wise to go bathing in it.
I’d never had a strong word with him before, I was just the nice woman who brought the tea and biscuits and politely listened to him moan on and on.
That day he and I nearly parted company for good.
I did eventually find a good gardener who didn’t care for the stuff.
I've got no idea whether my veg are organic or not; probably not. There are just so many bugs, insects, creepy-crawlies, predatory beetles, moths, caterpillars, micro organisms and insidious fungi here that vegetables grown without insecticides wouldn't last a week. I buy what looks fresh.
My experience in the US and the UK is that "organic"vegetables, instead of being cheaper, and around 20-30% more expensive.
My experience in the US and the UK is that "organic"vegetables, instead of being cheaper, and around 20-30% more expensive.