THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

westcoastscot

I agree it would be a massive learning curve for many people. We have a fairly seasonal diet here, not always through choice, but reading my many wartime diaries and cookery books I know that we eat far more - so that would be the second issue I think?

Edited to add: think of the benefits though? introducing people to the wonderful thing that is the first peas of spring, straight from the plant - or straw and raspberries after a winter of apples and pears? Wonderful - I so look forward to those things each year!

mardatha

Yep WCS absolutely. Because the lettuce and strawberries and all the rest of it now taste of nothing at all. All year lol

karcher

Home grown (organic) salad leaves, cucumber and tomatoes really are a taste sensation..none of this bland, tasteless, uniform, watery stuff you get in supermarkets.

I know the growing season is short, but if you were fortunate to have space for a small polytunnel the season would be massively extended.

I never realised there was so many varieties of tasty salad leaves which put the mockers on even a cheap iceberg lettuce, never mind an expensive one.

[Deleted User]

Winter veg make nice salads too, kale (sorry Mar) is a very Scandinavian salad ingredient and coleslaw made with white cabbage, carrot and onion is as cheap as chips compared to 'baby leaves'. Wartime winter salads included finely shredded sprouts, grated raw parsnip and swede and finely shredded leeks along with stored apples, celery, raw or cooked beetroot, cooked butter/haricot beans, chopped dates and kibbled nuts all of which would provide a good level of nutrition and taste too. Cress as in mustard and cress is very easily grown on a flannel on a windowsill all year round and more modernly alfalfa seed is very easy to sprout in a jam jar on the windowsill too for added vitamin boosts. A dressing makes for tastier salads and you can really ring the changes with those too for not much outlay. No real need to spend a fortune on out of season imports only habit perhaps?

lobbyludd

In fairness I don't know anyone who is even the slightest bit concerned about the lettuce/broccoli/courgette "crisis". I didn't know it was a thing until I read it on here, and the only people I know who are talking about it are those mocking the newspaper hype.

thriftwizard

Our medieval ancestors ate a lot of salads, or "sallets" as they generally wrote it, all year round, and simply used whatever was available. I'm hoping to be able to use one of the two little poly-tunnels I had to buy to temporarily house my chickens in for growing lots of salad-type veg this summer & autumn, and the conservatory windowsills to keep us in rocket, lamb's lettuce, mizuna and sprouted beans all next winter too. The potential is there; I just need to sort out the mess that's been stopping me using them.

The other polytunnel isn't going to survive that long. They cost the same, from different suppliers - and were the only "instant" solution locally available when the poultry ban was announced - but one is very much better designed & tougher than the other, and it's the one that didn't come from a garden centre. Interesting!

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - over the last couple of days I've been able to get most of what I wanted veggie wise - and I can see I'm going to be eating an awful lot of vegetables over the next few days in fact:rotfl:

No aubergine.

No organic tomatoes (having to make do with others).

But the good news is courgettes were there in T*sco and I've duly bought the ones I want.

But - am thinking it's time I got my greenhouse up and running and started potting up some seeds and should be able to "get going pretty much fully" this year at last. So - I guess it's time to sow some lettuce and rocket seeds into pots in the greenhouse and get some tomato seeds going in my propagator indoors.

What other veggies is anyone else starting off shortly?

westcoastscot

I've been wondering about going back to bottling rather than relying on the freezer all the time. When we have a glut of courgettes, tomatoes etc I like to make a roasted ratatouille type thing that we have as a vitamin rich sauce on pasta, sausages etc. Be lovely to have that available over the winter. I don't have a lot of freezer space and our power is not totally reliable - it's better by far than on the island but still not great. Anyone still doing this???

[Deleted User]

There's always wild salad leaves, such as Dandelion.

Jazee

I'm still taking pickings from my winter salads planted in the autumn. They fare better than the summer stuff because there are less pests around to eat them first. Currently I have a whole mix of various leaves, Chinese selection, rocket and also have chard and leeks. There are still onions and garlic in the shed to use too.

Will start planting again in March in the greenhouse and raised beds, which will be late for me, but I'm assured it won't make a lot of difference.