Vegetables galore

We live on the outskirts of Vienna, and one of the big advantages is that we can get fresh, cheap, non-standard vegetables relatively easily.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging this summer is the amount of time I have spent in the garden. Most of my vegetables are in raised beds with large amounts of compost from our local Mistplatz. All that stuff that gets dumped in the Biomuhl containers gets composted centrally, and is then available free when you take your recyclables to the Mistplatz. Ours tends to run out occasionally during the peak garden work seasons, but it is still a great deal. Take containers with you and shovel in as much as you can transport. Even if you don't have a garden, you can grow great lettuce and herbs in window boxes kept fertile with generous servings of compost. We were in Iceland for over two weeks in June, and when we got back I hardly knew where to start on the garden - the vegetables had turned into a jungle. Wonderful problem to have!

But we have also been enjoying a lot of fruits and vegetables that I haven't grown. the flat outlying districts of Vienna are full of market gardens. The cheaper ones tend to be hard to find, have limited hours that their stands are open, and have small variety. However when you are carrying away bags of tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, and cabbages for a fraction of the supermarket price... Others specialize in things you can't get in the supermarkets. Gärtnerei Bach (22. Contiweg 165) has tiny inch long cucumbers full of flavour as well as the big ones, several varieties of chilies, white eggplants, purple potatoes and carrots (and normal ones), bags of mixed salad greens that haven't been gassed, bags of mixed veggies for soup. One green house is full of various scented geraniums, and in the spring they sell plants for the garden - flowers and various unusual edibles, too. Speaking of flowers, their bouquets are lovely as well, even if you stick to the standard floral ones. But I saw one of vegetables last week that I loved.

The Gutshof of the Schottenstift in Breitenlee has apples most of the year and other fruits in season. If you can't make it out to the 22nd district, they also sell the apples at the 'Klosterladen' at Freyung downtown.

If you want artichokes, there is a place in Raasdorf, just outside of Vienna that specializes in them. (Harvest is August-September.) The same town is full of stands selling strawberries and asparagus in the Spring. But for less exciting vegetables, almost any farm town you drive through will have signs outside the houses announcing what the farmer has to sell. Follow up on one and you may find a lovely little shop with much more than the sign promised, or a table at the entrance to a barn with two or three containers of raspberries with price labels. You never know until you stop and look.

We are in the harvest festival season, and many towns have already had a harvest festival, but many more are still going on this weekend, and the next few weekends. Tomorrow (September 28, 2008) is the harvest festival at Schlosshof. They promise to have stands of regional specialties. I will be very disappointed if I don't find at least one producer to follow up on. Next weekend is the Fall festival at Adamah , an organic grower and importer that also runs a box service. Once a week you can have organic food delivered to your home. Go out on Saturday or Sunday (October 4-5, 2008, 10:00 - 18:00) and have a look.