New in my wallet: organic fruit and veg guide
Wonder which fruits and veggies you should be buying organic? I recently printed out this handy guide featuring the 12 cleanest and dirtiest fruits and veggies (in terms of pesticides). Those items on the left contain the highest amount of pesticides when grown using conventional farming methods. The items on the right, on the other hand, absorb very little of the pesticide chemicals used on them.
I’ve seen lists like this several times before, but I always manage to forget most of the details when I’m standing at the grocery store making my produce choices. Never again! I’m determined to always buy the ‘dirty dozen’ items organic from now on.
I’m especially excited that 4 (bell peppers, strawberries, lettuce, and spinach) of the dirty 12 are growing organically on my balcony right now. Can’t wait to eat them.
I have a bell pepper plant as well but it is still small and haven’t sprouted any little peppers yet.
Have you tried growing tomatoes? I have a tomato plant and three baby tomatoes recently popped up… and I barely take care of the plant. I’m not sure how big they will grow but they’ll be good for a salad for sure!
Yes, we have 5 tomato plants on the balcony! They are full of little yellow flowers, but no actual tomatoes yet. I’m hoping they start any day now…
I think I have 5 bell pepper plants, too, and only one of them has started growing peppers. The others are much farther behind developmentally, but I hope that just means our crop will be staggered out over the summer more. That would be great.
And you’re right – the tomatoes require hardly any effort!
Although I try to always buy organic produce, I too, am aware of the “dirty dozen,” and work especially hard to buy those in organic. I wrote a post about this not too long ago and labeled these the “R-rated Fruits and Vegetables.”
http://www.vegoftheweek.com/2008/05/03/r-rated-fruits-and-vegetables-your-guide-to-buying-organic-produce/
R-rated – lol! I like it.