[QUOTE=feldon30;118632]I truthfully was not blown away by the carrots I grew at home. Maybe I didn't do something right.[/QUOTE]

Try starting some seed in early September and then agin each month until December. Make sure your soil is dug deep with a lot of organic mater and well limed and keep well watered. Here in the south carrots that mature when it is still cold are much better than the ones maturing in late spring or early summer. You can also leave them in the ground longer in cool weather but when it gets hot you have to get them out or they will be bitter, pithy or tasteless just like the ones in the grocery store.

Almost all homegrown veggies are considerably better than store bought. Sweet veggies are much sweeter. Green leafy veggies are milder and yet have a richer taste. Home grown tomatoes, nothing more needs to be said on that subject. Carrots and corn are soooo much sweeter and juicier. Cucumbers are so much better I just have to do without when they aren't growing in my garden or a friends. I miss homegrown lettuce and spinach for our salads all summer long. I can't really think of a single veggie that I have grown that isn't better than the store bought versions.

[quote=the999bbq;117817]hmm, shouldn't we all yell : "all vegetables taste better homegrown" ? and why do we even wonder ... Homegrown veggies are fresh, compare your onions with the ones you can buy in the store, mine are solid as a rock, the ones in the store aren't always so (I've seen a television show the other day where they explained onions are stored by the farmers sometime half a year to sell them off-season since they have to give money to get rid of them at harvest time - where are your fresh onions now ??). Homegrown raddish can make your eyes cry of their strong flavor but eat them instantly or be sure to run to the kitchen or they look 'different' already - the ones from the stores seem to last for days (no difference if you remove the loaf or not). "You say tomato I say potatoe". I have never liked store bought tomatoes and never can get enough from my own. Growing tomatoes also is economically interesting - just look at the price of the "commercially odd varieties (the market wants a black tomato, we'll let them pay more for a black tomato)"... on the other hand people sometimes think that growing potatoes isn't worth doing so since they are that cheap and they can take up quite some space in the garden. But the difference is huge (taste and structure) and they seem to be treated a lot ... Same as the onions : by the end of season my own potatoes still look better than some you find in stores... As average consumers we don't know anything anymore about how our food is grown - don't expect italian olives in all italian olive oils, don't expect meat from a single animal in your slice of protein-glued-meat, don't expect all cheese in your pizza-cheese,... expect the oil maffia, expect meat-binding, expect fake cheese,.... My region grows strawberries, but the seemingly commercially interesting soil grown varieties don't have the same amount of flavor as my own varieties (same soil, same air, same care, different varieties) but again mine don't store as long... When you have the opportunity to buy local what they grow local things might be different, but as long as we buy stuff that is selected to be picked half mature, fly the world (sometimes more than once), get brutalised (handled and added value added ... duh) by a dozen of intermediate companies AND be cheaper than the locally grown food, don't expect better products than the ones we grow ourselves since the biggest qualities for selection are not taste ... so my answer would be potatoes, tomatoes ... and everything else[/quote]

After watching the new video FOOD Inc, reviewing several articles about what humans of all nations are doing to out soils on a commercial scale and seeing this bit of doom and gloom re food next year [URL]http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html[/URL] I can't help but think that WE are in the forefront of wisdom regarding a return to not only growing our own, but doing so wisely.

With my own ills, I am doing everthing possible to improve my soils and add a considerable range of natural nutrients and minerals to my own garden; a garden that seems to be growing in size every day as I learn more here.

I've even been actively contacting the mega breweries, gins, mills, stables, quarries and more in seeking compost ingredients. My windrow is now 40 feet long and full of life forms, despite slowly unloading each truck with a rake while seated on the tailgate. Already received my favorite Christmas present..a cart that can be pulled like a child's wagon or towed behind a lawn mower that has a dumping feature and large pneumatic tires. For 69.00, IT is a real back saver!

I do wonder whether there is an appreciable difference in the mineral content of our produce grown in such mineral rich and life filled soils, or do they just take in what they need regardless?

All of my peppers turned out pretty flavorless (cool summer), and carrots don't do well here, so I can't say all my garden grown vegetables taste better than store bought.

For much of the stuff, for me it a matter of degree (good vs better). store bought sweet corn is good, and it might be better fresh out of a garden, but I might not notice if I were given one or the other without being told. Same for things like cucumbers. Some things are very noticable for me...bad (not worth buying) vs really good.


Strawberrys-- Varieties developed for gardens taste much better than "commercial" varieties (developed for size, color, hardness-shipping). If you look up agricultural reviews on strawberry varieties you may be shocked at how honestly they describe the flavor of some of these (much different than descriptions on sites selling them). You may want to do some research before buying strawberry plants because some of the "commercial" varieties are sold in the stores around here (because they are popular with strawberry farmers).

Brussels sprouts--Garden grown Brussels sprouts lack that distinctive (bitter?) taste found in the grocery store. Even though I developed a perverse affinity for that flavor I still prever garden grown. I can see how someone raised on fresh Brussel's sprouts (or any one else for that matter) wouldn't be able to go near ones from the grocery store.

Melons--Like tomatoes it is nearly impossible to find an edible mellon in the grocery store, but from a single hill in my garden I was able to eat a mellon a day for much of the summer and even the poorest quality ones were better than storebought.

[quote=TZ-OH6;150881]from a single hill in my garden I was able to eat a mellon a day for much of the summer and even the poorest quality ones were better than storebought.[/quote]

What kind were they, TZ?

Christine

The melons were Minnesots Midgets. They are small, about the size of a softball, change color and pull off of the vine when ripe, and are an early variety. Probably not the very best tasting mellon variety, but really good. The literature says that the vines only get 3-4 ft long (OK for containers), but mine were twice that. I'm going to try growing them inside a tomato cage this year so that I can us the original space for a larger late variety. I had 5-6 plants in a 3x4ft raised bed/hill.

[quote=TZ-OH6;151009]The melons were Minnesots Midgets. They are small, about the size of a softball, change color and pull off of the vine when ripe, and are an early variety. Probably not the very best tasting mellon variety, but really good. The literature says that the vines only get 3-4 ft long (OK for containers), but mine were twice that. I'm going to try growing them inside a tomato cage this year so that I can us the original space for a larger late variety. I had 5-6 plants in a 3x4ft raised bed/hill.[/quote]
Sound similar to a melon i have growing outside at the moment,i was given the seed by a person didn't know its name unfortunately,i'll post a photo of it soon to see if anyone can ID it