1. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
Growing for Flavour
How sweet it is!
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

2. What are we going to be talking about?
What are todays veggies bred for?
What is flavour?
Aspects of flavour production –
Variety, sunlight, water, soil & fertiliser
Pest attack, pruning grafting and thinning
Harvesting and storage
What are we going to be talking about?
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

3. What are Todays’ Veggies bred for?
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

4. What are Todays’ Veggies bred for?
grow faster and bigger
mechanical harvesting, conveyor belts,
endure long periods of storage & long distance travel.
withstand repeated applications of toxic chemicals
New hybrid seeds need expensive biocides & heavy artificial fertilizers.
What are Todays’ Veggies bred for?
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

5. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
A complex collaboration between our senses of taste smell and touch,
Designed to –
Keep harmful stuff out
Let the good stuff in
Adults around the world prefer the taste of liquids containing 8-10% sugar.
A 50:50 of ratio fat and salt found in processed foods is most appealing.
Our perception of “flavour” is pretty universal
What is flavour?
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

6. The Aspects Of Growing for Flavour
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

7. Aspect 1 – The Right Variety
Don’t grow what you can buy – eg Floridade tomatoes
Varieties described as “huge”, “giant” or “mammoth” can be watery
Varieties described as “novelty”, “ornamental“ or patio have been bred for looks or small size not flavour
Don’t be afraid to try new varieties
Aspect 1 – The Right Variety
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

8. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
Avoid glasshouses – glass can filter out 40% of available light
Pale coloured fences, walls and pale coloured gravel can reflect light onto crops in winter
Prune back fruit trees so sunlight gets to the fruit
Leaf crops are the exception – high light levels boost chemicals responsible for pungent tastes.
Aspect 2 – Sunlight
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

9. Aspect 3 – The Right Colour
Tomatoes & strawberries grown through red plastic mulch produce up to 20% more and sweeter fruit
Basil grown over green surfaces produces more aroma chemicals
Red and green mulches mimic light bounced of other plants fooling the plant into thinking there is competition
Capsicums grown over aluminium foil produce 85% more fruit.
Biochar mulch warms the soil earlier allowing melon fruits to ripen earlier
Aspect 3 – The Right Colour
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

10. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
Cutting down on water improves crop flavour and nutrients
Provide abundant water when they are first planted out to help them establish (2-3 weeks)
Reduced watering for root crops means more sugar and polyphenols (nutirents).
For fruit crops cut down watering leading up to harvest
For leaf crops require lots of water if you like mild, less for a smaller stronger flavoured crop
Aspect 4 – Water
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

11. Aspect 5 – Soil and fertiliser
Always grow in soil
Heap on the organic matter
Don’t use commercial fertilisers – they contain lush growth essentials (NPK) but little or no micronutrients or minerals for taste & nutrition
Apply seaweed for minerals and micronutrients – scatter over beds or use commercial extract
Apply molasses to kick start beneficial bacteria, ease establishment of trees and add nutrients
Dissolve 450gms in a 9 litre bucket or watering can and apply 1 litre per square metre monthly during summer
Aspect 5 – Soil and fertiliser
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

12. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
Attack from pests can cause plants to ramp up production of defense chemicals, also improving –
Flavour
Nutrition
Mimic a pest attack –
Aspirin spray – ¼ - ½ 300mg soluble aspirin tablet in 1 litre water – 1 application early in the season
Jasmine flavour spray – jasmine floral water, spray neat onto plants shortly before harvest
Aspect 6 – Pest Attack
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

13. Making Jasmine Water

14. Aspect 7 – Pruning Grafting and Thinning
Prune to let the light in – it gives larger sweeter more nutrient rich fruit
Go for fruit trees grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks
Thin fruit just after it has formed – the more you thin and the earlier you do it, the better the quality of the remaining fruit
Aspect 7 – Pruning Grafting and Thinning
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

15. Aspect 7 – Pruning Grafting and Thinning
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

16. Aspect 8 – Harvesting and Storage
Pick fruit when ripe
For mild tender salad vegetables harvest in the cool of the morning
For sweet tasty fruit, harvest in the afternoon of a dry day
Store leaf crops in the fridge, strawberries, peaches, melons, onions and sweet potatoes at room temperature.
Aspect 8 – Harvesting and Storage
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

17. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
What are todays veggies bred for?
What is flavour?
Aspects of flavour production –
Variety, sunlight, water, soil & fertiliser
Pest attack, pruning grafting and thinning
Harvesting and storage
What did we talk about?
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

18. Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
The information for this presentation was extracted from the book –
Grow for Flavour by James Wong;
published by Mitchell Beazley in the UK, 2015
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

19. For more details check our website
Sustainable Living in the Suburbs
For more details check our website