So with all this talk of natural farming and beyond organic practices, how do we know the veg we grow has any more nutrients than the 13 pence carrots from supermarkets?
We don’t. We have no idea, we trust that the practices we carry out and the measures we put in place are going to deliver us food that’s good.
We could send off for plant tissue and sap analysis. But the cost is highly prohibitive for allotment growers or small market gardeners. Even some commercial farmers’ eyes bulge at the thought.
But there are things we can look at here in the garden. And they start with observation.
Does your carrot have a bitter aftertaste? If it does, the essential sugars produced in healthy growth are missing.
If your food is getting eaten by pests (and I mean eaten not nibbled and sampled) then the likelihood is your soil profile is growing insect food. The old adage that if it’s good enough for the bugs it’s good for me really is misleading. All animals are equipped with amazing sensory tools in their nose and mouth (including us). If a vegetable tastes horrible the likelihood is it is. Insects are in our gardens to remove the weak and sick plants. That’s their job in the ecosystem. What they choose to eat should be an indicator.
We can also use a Refractometer or Brix meter which tells us part of the story and can point us in the right direction when looking at the nutrient density of our food.
Essentially it is measuring the light refracting through the dissolved solids in your carrot, measuring your skills as a grower to manage chlorophyll. As we all know this is one of the main factors in healthy plant growth.
When you look through the Brix meter you see something that looks like a fuel gauge and it pretty much is. If you get a low reading your carrot is pretty much out of fuel and has been starved. The line dividing the top and bottom of the gauge is an indicator of calcium levels.
It's not by any means a complete solution but will start you on your quest for the best.
Be sure to check @bionutrientfoodassociation they are developing a piece of hardware that will send data to your phone so you can test veg in the shop or in the field.
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