My garden this year is smaller than in previous years, consisting of cucumbers, string beans, eggplant, japanese eggplant and cherry, big boy, and early girl tomatoes. Eggplant and cuke plants have been producing very well. String beans started out good, but have slacked off greatly and I think they may be done. As for the tomatoes, they haven't started producing yet, except for seven cherries. I counted over forty large green ones on the other two plants and they seem to be preparing to all come at once.
The title of this post might seem puzzling, so allow me to explain. The tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Many of you probably have heard that argument before, but it isn't only the tomato. The eggplant and cucumber are also fruits. If it weren't for the beans I would have a fruit garden instead of a vegetable garden. What? You say hooey. For anyone who does, or is puzzled by this, or disagrees with me just because they feel like it, here is what sciencebob.com says...
The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS? If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.”
And then there is this from the Oxford Dictionary....
The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.
So now that you are totally confused I will take my leave to go putter around in my fruit garden.
The title of this post might seem puzzling, so allow me to explain. The tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Many of you probably have heard that argument before, but it isn't only the tomato. The eggplant and cucumber are also fruits. If it weren't for the beans I would have a fruit garden instead of a vegetable garden. What? You say hooey. For anyone who does, or is puzzled by this, or disagrees with me just because they feel like it, here is what sciencebob.com says...
The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS? If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.”
And then there is this from the Oxford Dictionary....
The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.
So now that you are totally confused I will take my leave to go putter around in my fruit garden.
5 comments:
i don't think, if it has seeds or not, should classify it as a veggie or fruit. I agree with the cooks' perspective on this. A TOMATO is NOT a fruit....seeds or no seeds. We don't do anything scientifically or technical with fruits/vegetables, we eat them...order them from menus, grow them...etc...so there is no need to call them by there "technical" name. This argument is mute....and should be banished for all time :-) Good day now.
question...would it benefit us, if we don't have a garden, to start composting our waste? I guess I can email you this same question. I figured i would ask here since the post is about gardening.
The next time someone tells me we're having "gravy" with our pasta, I'll answer them in Babu's cousin's voice and say, "I hope it's not too frooooty"!
I too would like to know if it is beneficial to composte without having a garden.
do we get an answer about whether it is beneficial for us or not???!!
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