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Did you know that the colour in fruit and vegetables come from chemicals called antioxidants? Antioxidants are found predominantly in plants, and in some animals that eat these plants and store a small amount of antioxidants in their own tissues.

While using the sun’s energy via photosynthesis, plants generate simple sugars, then later create complex carbs, fats and proteins. During this process, things can go wrong and free radicals can be created, which are potentially harmful to the plant. Luckily, plants are able to shield themselves from these free radicals, and then absorb them to protect themselves. This shield is made of antioxidants, which will block and “consume” these free radicals.

Antioxidants are typically coloured because of this process – the chemical property that absorbs the free radicals creates colour.

Some common colours are red (lycopene), yellow (beta-carotene), and orange (crytoxanthins), although there are many other shades, and some are completely colourless.

Humans also generate low levels of free radicals throughout our lives. These can be from all sorts of things, however exposure to the sun, exposure to industrial chemicals, or a poorly balanced diet are common factors.

In humans, free radicals cause our tissues to become rigid – similar to ageing, when our bodies become stiff and less agile. Cataracts, hardened arteries, cancer, emphysema, arthritis, and many others forms of illness have been proven to be assisted by uncontrolled free radical damage.

Unfortunately, we don’t produce our own shields against free radicals (like those in plants), as we do not perform photosynthesis, so we must source them from elsewhere. In it’s purest form, our only option is in plants.

It is amazing, and as I grown older I am seeing it more and more – when something is “right”, it just falls into place perfectly. Humans, like most animals, are attracted to bright colours. We were being encouraged to eat these antioxidants since we have been on this planet, without even thinking about it. The only problem is that nowadays we’ve lost that attraction to what is good for us.

About two months ago I read “The China Study”, and came to the conclusion that I should be eating a lot more fruit and vegetables. While I try and eat as well as I can, I believe that one of the main reasons why I don’t eat as much fruit and veg as I’d like is because of the quality that we get at the shops here in Adelaide. What concerns me is that apparently we have it pretty good here! It must be very hard for some people to eat well in places like London.

I came to the conclusion that starting my own veggie patch was the go, so my family can eat that bit healthier and hopefully we can grow some better tasting food too.

I found a spot in the yard that has three retaining walls around it, and purchased some straw-bales to lay across the front to act as another retaining wall. After filling it with organic loam we now have a raised bed. For the past two months I have been composting all of our organic waste with some straw and soil and that is going quite well. Unfortunately the rain got into it over the past few days but I have since sorted that out to keep it a little drier and warmer during the heavy rain season. While a slow process, composting your scraps will produce a great organic fertilizer for your plants and is well worth the effort.

Last week I bought some seed trays and planted broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts in it. After just one week I have some very strong looking seedlings. After another couple of weeks I will transplant these into the vegetable garden. Direct into the ground I have now sown carrots, lettuce (mixed), silver-beet, spinach and snow peas. I will encourage the snow peas to climb up the fence using wire.

My tips for starting a veggie patch are:

• Unless you have great soil, starting with a raised bed is much easier. Buy some organic loam to get you started.
• Compost all of the organic waste you have. It’s free fertilizer and is made by nature. It’s the best for your crop!
• Do some research as to what to grow and when. Gardenate is a great website for this.
• Start small and enjoy the process rather than feel the burden of a massive veggie patch. Go bigger when you are ready.

Sort of following on from my post the other week, “The Great Outdoors”, spending the time outside in the garden has been really enjoyable. Maybe because as a kid I was always outside – my dad was a landscaper and loved working in the garden – I would always be outside helping my parents in the garden.

Working with the environment just charges me up and gives me so much energy. Watching the plants grow is an exciting process and very rewarding too. It’s little “wins” like this in life that makes me a happy person. Try it for yourself. It’s a bit of work getting setup but well worth the effort.