Vegetables we grow and how to store them!

As a general overview most vegetables require humidity levels of 80-95% for the best possible storage results. Most fridges humidity levels are usually at 65% so to prevent your vegetables from dehydrating in your own fridge you need to keep them in sealed containers, bees wax wraps or silicon wraps. Removing excess moisture is also very important for a long storage life. While a small level of moisture is important to keep humidity around the vegetable to much moisture can dramatically shorten the storage life of all vegetables but especially leafy greens.

Not all veggies should go in the fridge – Tomatoes and capsicums are best ripened at mild warm room temperatures, this allows them to develop more taste as they ripen naturally. Once they are fully ripened and the weather is hot you may store them in the refrigerator. The longer they are in the fridge the more likely they are to develop soft spots and loose flavour.

Root vegetables – The best possible way to store all root vegetables is to snap the leafy tops and store them in a sealed container. This includes carrots, beetroots, radish, kohlrabi and turnips. The greens can be stored like all other leafy greens.

Leafy greens- Greens do not have an outer skin like most other vegetables which makes it especially important to remove excess moisture and keep in a sealed container to prevent dehydration.

Herbs – We store our herbs on the bench in a glass of water, it is important to change the water very few days. If this is not for you a moist cloth in a container is second best.

What’s in season at Rainbird Farm?

This is a rough guide on what we will have available through the different seasons. With our crop plan we try to have as much available as often as possible but as I’m sure most of you know the best made plans can be unexpectedly interrupted by a hungry caterpillar, duck or snail. This list is also not exhaustive as we always want to try new crops out in our system.

Summer (December - February)

In the heat of summer there is always abundance to juicy summer fruits, leafy greens and roots with the last tastes of winter still disappearing

Rocket
Salad mix
Wombok
Pak Choi (although hard to keep the caterpillars off!)
Silverbeet
Cabbage (early and late summer)
Broccoli (late summer)
Parlsey
Basil
Spring onions
Shallots
Beetroots (early summer)
Radish (early and late summer)
Turnips
Carrots
Green beans
Capsicum
Cucumber
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Yellow squash
Leek
Fennel

Autumn (March – May)

At the beginning of Autumn you will get the tail end of all the summer fruiting crops and it will slowly transition into an abundance of crunch sweet winter crops such as snow peas, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, beetroots, English spinach ect.

Rocket
Salad mix
Wombok
Pak Choi
Silverbeet
Cabbage
Kale
English Spinach
Broccoli
Broccolini
Cauliflower
Parlsey
Basil
Spring onions
Shallots
Beetroots
Radish
Turnips
Kohlrabi
Carrots
Peas
Capsicum
Cucumber
Chillies
Eggplant
Pumpkin
Tomatoes
Shishitos
Zucchini
Yellow squash

Winter (June – August)

Once winter has set in we have seen the last of the summer treats and we have settled into the soft crunchy delights of winter. Winter is a wonderful time of brassicas, leafy green, lots of sweet roots and peas.

Rocket
Salad mix
Pak Choi
Silverbeet
Cabbage
Kale
English Spinach
Broccoli
Broccolini
Cauliflower
Parlsey
Coriander
Spring onions
Shallots
Beetroots
Radish
Turnips
Carrots
Peas
Pumpkin

Spring (September – November)

Early spring is very similar to winter crops but by mid spring the juicy summer fruits are starting to trickle in. By the end of spring you’re getting all the summer crops as well as the end of winters.

Rocket
Salad mix
Pak Choi
Silverbeet
Wombok
Cabbage
Kale
English Spinach
Broccoli
Broccolini
Basil
Parlsey
Coriander
Spring onions
Shallots
Beetroots
Radish
Turnips
Carrots
Peas
Green beans
Capsicum
Chillies
Cucumber
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Shishitos
Zucchini