What to Grow in June to Save on Groceries

What to Grow in June to Save on Groceries

Sweet Potato

The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves can be eaten as greens in the same way that you would spinach. (Wikipedia)

When we harvest the sweet potato leaves at the end of summer, we blanch the leaves for 3 minutes in boiling water to store them in the freezer so that we have greens even during the colder months.

Dave shows off a sweet potato harvest

Ginger / Turmeric

Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial that grows annual "pseudostems" about one-meter tall bearing narrow leaf blades. (Wikipedia) Turmeric The name turmeric derives from the Latin word terra merita (meritorious earth), referring to the color of ground turmeric, which resembles a mineral pigment. It is known as "terre merite" in French and simply as “yellow root” in many languages.

Indeed the word for turmeric in my native Tagalog is "dilaw" which is our word for the color yellow!

An 8-minute video showing How to Grow Ginger as part of a "Cut Down on Groceries" Pigeon Parcel that we used to sell on CrateJoy

Okra

Okra is a good source of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with supporters of West African, Ethiopian, and South Asian origins.

The plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world and is a notable part of the cuisine of the Southern United States (and Asia for sure!)

Sweet potato, ginger/turmeric, and okra.

Those are just three crops to get you started.

Now you know.

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