Author Topic: top tip required please  (Read 6952 times)

Mrs Ava

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top tip required please
« on: June 04, 2004, 23:20:52 »
Going to mums on Sunday and want to take her a freshly cut lettuce or 2.  It will be at least 1 and a half ours before we reach her house and the lettuce can go into her fridge.  How do I stop it going limp (the actress said to the Bishop :o)   How do you keep your veggies um...stiff...err...turgid....ooeerr.. fresh....  ???

Mimi

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2004, 08:51:35 »
Diggin a deep hole there Emma ;D.  I have the same problem with flowers picked from the garden.  What I tend to do is wrap the base in wet kitchen roll and stick into a freezer bag but I should imagine that any plastic bag would do,  and keep in as cool a place as possible.
Take time to stop and smell the flowers.

budgiebreeder

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2004, 09:10:38 »
Leave the root intact.There are some Tupperware containers supposed to keep lettuce fresh.Now there's a thought can you still get proper Tupperware?
Earth fills her lap with treasures of her own.

john_miller

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2004, 10:05:41 »
When I used to grow hydroponic lettuce and harvested it with the roots intact I would bag it up and then wrap a rubber band, tightly, around the bag between the root ball and the leaves. This stopped the vermiculite getting into the leaves. It could stop soil getting into the leaves if you wish to harvest in a similar fashion.
I've just checked your highs for tomorrow. If I were you I would pick the lettuce first thing in the morning and put it, bagged, in the fridge, just as commercial growers do. If you have an insulated box, or, failing that, a tight closing regular box, and one of those blue liquid freezer bottles use both to transport the lettuce.

 

Palustris

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2004, 10:58:54 »
My mother always used to put a piece of clean coal in with the lettuce. Not coke, old fashioned black shiny coal!
Gardening is the great leveller.

Wicker

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2004, 11:05:31 »
Can't add anything to the above except Budgie's mention of the Tupperware container - I have a Tupperware "Lettuce Crispit" which I guard with my life it's so old and does what it's meant to do (hmmm am I talking about me?!).  Don't know if you can still get it but I must find out as I'd be lost without it - keeps lettuce crisp for days on end.
Equality isn't everyone being the same, equality is recognising that being different is normal.

budgiebreeder

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2004, 15:25:31 »
Thats the one i mean Wicker.They really did the job.Used to be my night out when the children were small,a Tupperware Party.Sad isnt it. ;) :( :'(
Earth fills her lap with treasures of her own.

Wicker

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2004, 22:05:58 »
Happy  days and fond memories, Budgiebreeder  ;D
Equality isn't everyone being the same, equality is recognising that being different is normal.

Mrs Ava

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2004, 23:18:05 »
Excellent advice, thanks all.  Roots and all into a sealed plassy bag, and it wasn't too bad.  The leaves on the kohl rabi I took her, limp as limp can be!  Makes me wonder how supermarkets keep everything so pert?!  I must get a good cool box and keep my freezer blox in the freezer so they could do their job!  
« Last Edit: June 06, 2004, 23:19:00 by EJ - Emma Jane »

gavin

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2004, 18:19:57 »
1.  Don't wonder!  It'll only keep you awake for 10 minutes.

2.  Don't buy the stuff.

3.  If bought - DON'T ASK.  It'll leave you sleepless every time you eat or serve the stuff!

;D ;D ;D

Wicker

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2004, 19:29:13 »
Irradiation??? :o :o :o
Equality isn't everyone being the same, equality is recognising that being different is normal.

Doris_Pinks

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2004, 22:57:42 »
Everyone out there should do a basic what happens to our food course! On second thoughts no they shouldn't cos then they would ALL want lotties! ;D Scarey stuff! :o
We don't inherit the earth, we only borrow it from our children.
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Val

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #12 on: June 20, 2004, 14:17:54 »
Hi everyone I'm new here so not sure if I'm getting this right, Just had to reply to Wicker, my tupperware lettuce container has just given up the ghost after 34 years, it was scoured on the sides, its been relegated to the shed now, so is still in production. ::)
« Last Edit: June 20, 2004, 14:26:23 by Val »
"I always wanted to be somebody…but I should have been more specific."

flowerbaby_uk

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #13 on: June 20, 2004, 15:44:25 »
Can't help re the tupperware but can tell you that the HYDRA organic catalogue sells plastic bags that keep your salads stuff fresh for longer. They are impregnated with minerals or something like that so worth a try and all for a good cause too :)

Ann-Marie

DolphinGarden

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2004, 14:03:37 »
Shops keeping their veggies fresh???

Like Wicker, first thing into my head was Irradiation.


regards,

Andy H

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #15 on: November 28, 2004, 16:53:50 »
Irradiation? whats that?

Someone mentioned bags impregnated with minerals so maybe the coal mentioned earlier would work :D
Wonder why???

windygale

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #16 on: December 01, 2004, 11:08:00 »
Hi Andy - H, hope this helps, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm
later
windy
my allotment
heaven

busy_lizzie

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Re: top tip required please
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2005, 00:09:06 »
EJ Just before Christmas discovered something called "Salad Bags" in Morrison's.  These are plastic bags with perforations in them and a lower space where the water drips down to, when you wash them. You swing the bag round after you have rinsed the lettuce etc and when you have poured the water out you seal the bag and the salad keeps for about 3 days.  It really worked and I did our Salad for Christmas day a few days earlier and it was still nice and fresh. I know this was to transport salad stuff to your Mum's last year but it might be useful for this year too. Pic below.   :) busy_lizzie
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Clayhithe

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Re:top tip required please
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2005, 11:52:43 »
When I used to grow hydroponic lettuce

Why did you stop?

How did you do it?
Good gardening!

John

skypilot

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Re: top tip required please
« Reply #19 on: April 11, 2005, 22:49:36 »
Wicker mentioned irradiation (similar to microwaves) If is the case that supermarkets etc irradiate the food to keep it fresh, then I need not worry, I have a Vodaphone mast next door to my lottie and my plants, are irradiated every day so they should last forever   ;D
Here are some pics of my allotment  & others!!!

http://community.webshots.com/album/286599773CoPRDK

 

anything
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