Veg: what counts as different?

Rosemary7391

I'm sure I'm overthinking this.. but here goes. I want to try and eat more different portions of vegetables - like the recommended 5 a day just in veg (I'll always eat enough fruit!). I'm also hoping to get myself an allotment and grow them when I next move. So I was wondering, of these weird and wonderful vegetables I could grow, what counts as different? Especially with winter veg, since variety would be harder at that time of year and I like roots a lot. I've found varieties of carrots that are orange, yellow, white or purple/red - nice and colourful, but they're all carrots! Or I could have parsnip, root parsley and chicory, and they're technically more different but they're all the same colour. And winter squash - butternut squash and pumpkin are quite similar once you've chopped them up!

I think what I'm asking is this: how do you make sure you get enough variety in your vegetables?

Ready2Rock206

I think you're trying to make it more complicated than it needs to be. Just eat the veggies and don't spend so much time trying to make it so much more difficult for yourself.

ecjim

Grow what you like & what grow well in your climate. I'm in Fl & grow southern & tropical stuff - Where are you stationed? Eastcoast Jim

HeidiCooksSupper

Root vegetables are more difficult to grow in a newish garden that bushy vegetables. This is chiefly due to soil condition. To grow carrots, for instance, you need nice, airy, friable soil down at least the length of the vegetables you want to grow. It's hard to generate a wide variety in a single plot over a long season. You will need to find out what grows well in the soil you have in the climate you have. The local government/university extension services in the US can be very helpful with this, even having services that can test your soil and tell you what it needs.

Rosemary7391

Eastcoast Jim - I'm on the west coast of Scotland currently, so a very different climate! I will have to move to get a garden though. Currently eying up northern England which is only a little different - cold, wet and short "summers". So things like winter roots are definitely in Growing tropical stuff sounds really exciting to me! But it wouldn't survive here for sure. Nevermind, plenty of tasty things will

I guess I just feel like if I'm growing it I'll need to think a bit more over what I put on my plate. Not just whatever is on special this week at the shop.

livingleanlivingclean

I think it's more about the amount you eat, not so much about the number of different things you eat. A range of colours and types will give you a range of nutrients, but if you have to get your 5 a day with 2.5 serves of one vegetable and 2.5 serves of another, do that.

(I have a feeling the UK recommendation is 10 80g serves of F&V per day... I could be wrong.)

middlehaitch

West coast Scotland or northern England can grow cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, onions, peas, and beans.

Some of the Chinese bok choi types would grow, as would the long steamed broccoli and chives.

Quick crops of salad greens, various lettuce, arugula, and herbs are good, as well as radish and spring onions.

The area you are looking at is difficult for tomatoes, unless you find a fast growing type, the smaller the better. Peppers of all types would probably need more sun, or a small green house. Oh and corn can be a challenge, possible, but takes quite a lot of space, and does need heat.

If you get a new allotment potatoes would be a good first crop as it will break up the soil. I am guessing it will be quite Clay-ish.
If the allotment has been used before you should be good to plant anything.

I'm from Manchester, but live on the west coat of Canada now. The latitude is about the same, so the same hours of daylight, but we are just a little warmer.

A good book for growing in your area is very helpful.

For now, pre-allotment, a good selection of colour, root, and leafy is good. If you see something you have never had in the store, get a little and try it.

Cheers, h.

Rhubarb and berries will do well.

Rosemary7391

Wow, thanks for all the information middlehaitch I've heard the potato thing before but I'm not so keen on potatoes. Mind, I'll probably like them better fresh. I'm certainly looking forward to trying new stuff you can't get in the shops.

I really like peppers and tomatoes so I'll look into getting a greenhouse, thanks for the tip. And I do like rhubarb !

Livinglean - it is 5 a day, but I suspect that's on the low side just to look achievable.
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Whatcounts.aspx
That page says about it, but also says that beans/pulses can only count once even if you eat loads. So it isn't quite so straightforward. And I like planning things out something to do with short evenings!

Heidi - that sounds like a really interesting service! I don't think we have something equivalent here, but we don't have the variety of conditions that the US has either.

kommodevaran

I tend to obsess a bit about this too. But there are so many, slightly different, recommendations, and humans are extremely adaptable and can thrive on a wide range of diets, and reducing stress and anxiety is important for good health, so my conclusion is that there is no "right" way of eating your vegetables. "5 a day" is both fruit and veg, but there are also recommendations of "10 a day". In my opinion, variety is just as important as volume, but variety is limited, both in how many different vegetables that actually exist, and how many are practical to buy and store, and two pounds of carrots still only counts as "1". By the law of diminishing returns, fretting over details when you're already in a good routine, is pointless. But if you're not eating any vegetables at all, getting some in is a good idea.

My strategy is to have vegetables for all meals, a range of different vegetables for dinners through the week, and buy 2 sufficiently different munching vegetables every time I grocery shop. This does still not answer your question exactly, but your question is more of a philosophical one, and about personal values and preferences.

theabsentmindednurse

I am Vegetarian.
Use the colours of the rainbow as your guide.
Also- Just buy fresh produce that is in season.
Roasted vegetables ate delicious. You can roast almost anything.
Have you tried roasting mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, chicory, carrots, parsnips, turnips and beetroots.

No need to make things complicated...
Just delicious

Sunnybrooke99

Swiss chard does well in colder climate. I think beets grow in warmer temps, but beet green are very nutritious, so maybe you could eat them young. You can also sprout radish and broccoli seeds. You can look into setting up some cold frames.

Lounmoun

Have you done any gardening before? You sound ambitious.
Grow things you like to eat. Start with easy things that grow well in your area.

I am a fairly novice vegetable gardener. I grow tomatoes & peppers most years. I grew a squash plant and potatoes this year.

Rosemary7391

Thanks folks! Lots of ideas

Lounmoun - I've never really had charge of a garden before, no. Occasionally weeded the patio when I lived with my folks, but I've not lived anywhere with a garden since then. I'm really hoping to get one when I move though - it finally seems possibly since I won't be a student! I probably am being over ambitious, but at least I'll figure out most of the ways to do it wrong quickly

lemurcat12

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

I'm sure I'm overthinking this.. but here goes. I want to try and eat more different portions of vegetables - like the recommended 5 a day just in veg (I'll always eat enough fruit!). I'm also hoping to get myself an allotment and grow them when I next move. So I was wondering, of these weird and wonderful vegetables I could grow, what counts as different? Especially with winter veg, since variety would be harder at that time of year and I like roots a lot. I've found varieties of carrots that are orange, yellow, white or purple/red - nice and colourful, but they're all carrots! Or I could have parsnip, root parsley and chicory, and they're technically more different but they're all the same colour. And winter squash - butternut squash and pumpkin are quite similar once you've chopped them up!

I think what I'm asking is this: how do you make sure you get enough variety in your vegetables?

I don't think you have to be too worried about it. Are there a variety of vegetables you like? Do you eat multiple veg at your meals (or at different meals)? Presumably, because you'd get bored. Do you eat different types of vegetables (and include some leafy greens)? Then good to go! Especially if you eat somewhat seasonally, where you'll inherently get some variety.

And remember variety doesn't need to mean at the same meal or even within the same day. Just don't have only three (or whatever) vegetables you eat, if you can avoid that, eat more widely, try new things if they come up. As you eat more I think you naturally eat more variety, since that's just human.

dwilliamca

I too like a variety of vegetables especially colorful ones in my diet and grow some of them. Some vegetables like carrots are so cheap to buy I quit trying to grow them, although purple ones would be fun. In my climate (southern California) I grow artichokes as perennial and usually get 3-4 "flowers" per plant a couple times a year. The plants last for years and roots (shoots) can be thinned and replanted. They pretty well take care of themselves (ants do love them but don't seem to affect them) until time to cut and eat. I also grow asparagus which takes two years to get stalks then they come up annually. They also are easy and only need thinned occasionally. The other plants I grow are chard and kale which again grow here year round and I just pick the leaves so the plants continue to grow until the plants get to big and woody and I start over. I've grown Japanese eggplant which is an annual, but a good colorful vegetable for grilling....goes well with grilled zucchini squash. Peppers are also colorful to grow. Here we can grow broccoli as a fall vegetable, but most climates are too cold. Root vegetables and squashes seem to take so much room and run over everything so I buy them. I did grow Persian cucumbers a couple years ago and they were a good spring vegetable, but took a lot of space. Not a vegetable, but I have a stevia plant which I dry the leaves and use in teas.