UK Veggie Variety

[thalestral]

I've come to the conclusion that my girlie pigs just aren't getting enough variety in their diet. Purdie has been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis and it's more important than ever that I stick to a good Ca:Ph ratio for their veggies. I think my main problem is that there are not enough greens in my girls diet.

But looking through the sample diet for a piggie with stones and other examples, I'm seeing a lot of greens that I don't know where to get my hands on. Namely:

• Endive
• Escarole
• Chard
• Baby Greens
• Chicory Greens
• Collards

I'm in Scotland, in a relatively small town, and none of the local shops have any of these :/ I've looked online at all the major supermarkets that have ordering services (Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys) and they don't seem to have them either. Where do we get these greens in the UK? I've been looking online but it seems quite hard to narrow the search to the correct thing at the moment, ie an online grocery shop.

I'm also unsure what these actually are:

• Spring Greens - ASDA
• Fresh Greens - Tesco
• Greens - Sainsburys

For lettuces, I've only really got round (butterhead) lettuce to hand. I can't feed cos (romaine) lettuce as it gives Rosie mushy poops, and the other common option is little gem which is quite expensive for not very much lettuce! I can sometimes get Lollo Rossa and Oak Leaf at the local greengrocers, they don't always have either. I cannot find Radicchio anywhere.


My girls veggies usually consist of daily round (butterhead) lettuce and bell pepper of various colours, and then alternated days of a combination of green beans, sugar snap peas, carrot, baby sweetcorn (cutting this out now as I found out it was fattening!) and celery. Corriander (cilantro) once or twice every couple of weeks for a few days in a row. Kale, every couple of weeks for alternate days. Occasional (every week or two) some tomatoes and apple.

Suggestions, improvements and where to buy those pesky greens are very very welcome!

(N.B. I cannot feed cos (romaine lettuce) because of Rosie's poops, and I cannot feed cucumber, courgette or sweet potato as they all give Brie terrible gas).

[charlie23]

Hi i have just done some shopping in asda and they have lo rosso lo biondo and red oak in a large mixed pack with roots for a pound athe moment. (i am in surrey might be different in scotland.) I use asdas mixed leaf greens when available temds to be a mix of above greens and spinach. If you look at the products information it normally tells you what it contains. My pigs also have cherry tomatoes once a week they are one pound 26 pence for a big pack in asda and last for ages with out going off. I hope some of this helps. I dont think we have a very wide range of fresh greens in the uk anyway when i first started looking all i could find was baby gems and ice berg lettuce. Good luck

[jabberwock]

Collards are pretty much the same as spring greens - in the UK at least. They are a loose (non-heading) cabbage but, as they are brassicas, you can't feed them every day. The "greens" in the three links you posted are probably these (or so closely related that they are, in all relevant details, the same thing). Members of the brassica family are incredibly promiscuous so it can be hard to classify things with great precision!

Escarole - as far as I have ever been able to make out, Batavian lettuce (in the supermarkets round Sheffield in autumn/winter/early spring) is the same as (or related to) escarole.

Endive - not usually available in shops (around Sheffield at least). Looks like a giant lettuce but the leaves are a bit thicker, sort of serrated at the edges.

Chard - again, not easily available in shops but easy to grow if you have any room (would probably grow in troughs/tubs). Not much use until next year now.

Where abouts in Scotland are you? You could try farm shops (I know that Pillars of Hercules in Fife have a good selection of greens). Or you could google "organic box schemes" and look for ones that deliver near you - they tend to have a wider selection of unusual vegetables than some small shops.

[FoolOnTheHill]

I'm pretty sure all the green/fresh greens are types of cabbage. they went down very well when I had pigs. You're not supposed to feed them too much cabbage though. and if one of your pigs seems to suffer from gas a lot you should probably go easy on it. What about sprouts/tops, broccoli/ leaves and cauliflower leaves? I should think they are all available in a green grocers.

You could buy one of the salad bags from Tesco or another super market, but make sure it doesn't have ice berg in as a few bags do. They have some rocket and spinach in too and the pigs liked the variety I found. (Something like this although own-brand will be cheaper).

I looked online at a few vegetable box deliveries, and a couple seemed to contain chard. They look a bit pricey but they also contain lettuces and cabbage and every other type of veg you can imagine so they could be an option.
If you have a garden you can always pick grass, dandelions, clover etc for some greenery.

I've never seen the veggies you mention either so perhaps it's just that what's popular in the USA isn't grown much over here. Maybe you could grow some of the things yourself next year?
Well I doubt this helps much but oh well

[thalestral]

That sounds promising Charlie, they don't have it on the Asda website so I assumed they didn't have them. Means I can't order them online but when I've passed my driving test I could trip out to the closest Asda no problem

Originally Posted by jabberwock

Collards are pretty much the same as spring greens - in the UK at least. They are a loose (non-heading) cabbage but, as they are brassicas, you can't feed them every day. The "greens" in the three links you posted are probably these (or so closely related that they are, in all relevant details, the same thing). Members of the brassica family are incredibly promiscuous so it can be hard to classify things with great precision!

I'll see if I can get my local Tesco to get in some of those fresh greens. Good to know they are cabbagey things! Once a week for sure, especially with Brie and her gas.

Escarole = Batavian lettuce - that is really good to know, I might be able to find that one now, perhaps in some mixed salad bags or something.

Endive is also known as Frissé I've found so that might be helpful in my search.

Originally Posted by jabberwock

Where abouts in Scotland are you? You could try farm shops (I know that Pillars of Hercules in Fife have a good selection of greens). Or you could google "organic box schemes" and look for ones that deliver near you - they tend to have a wider selection of unusual vegetables than some small shops.

I'm in Fife, but without driving license unfortunately :S I'm aiming to pass before Christmas so things will be a lot easier then, Falkland is not far away and there are a few farm shops around Cupar as well. Unfortunately they don't online order from what I've seen or do boxes... but once I get that license! If I can get to Pillars sometime I'll see if I can organise a mostly greens box.

Originally Posted by FoolOnTheHill

You could buy one of the salad bags from Tesco or another super market, but make sure it doesn't have ice berg in as a few bags do. They have some rocket and spinach in too and the pigs liked the variety I found. (Something like this although own-brand will be cheaper).

I went on a veggie expedition today and from Tesco got some Florette Crispy Salad which has Endive, Radicchio and Lamb's Lettuce in it, and they also had Florette Mixed Salad which has Endive, Escarole and Radicchio in it. The crispy one is just over a pound a bag at Tesco atm so that was quite good

From Lidl I got a bag of Lamb's lettuce. I also got some baby spinach, kale and parsley as I know they have quite a high Ca:Ph ratio so I can use them to balance against the lower ratio greens and veg.

I also picked up some purple sprouting broccoli which as you can see is mostly leaves. I have no clue on the nutritional data of that one other than it obviously being a Brassica so a one a week job. Googling away.

I had a mini celebration in Lidl when I found they have corn on the cobs back in! The Lidl ones have far more husks than the normal supermarket ones and I was getting a lot of strange looks as I filled my bag with a couple of cobs and a small mountain of loose husks! I know they have pretty much no nutritional value but my girls just love 'em I will be a popular piggie momma tonight!

Originally Posted by FoolOnTheHill

If you have a garden you can always pick grass, dandelions, clover etc for some greenery.

I've never seen the veggies you mention either so perhaps it's just that what's popular in the USA isn't grown much over here. Maybe you could grow some of the things yourself next year?

Sadly I'm in a wee poky flat with no garden, but I think I shall definitely try growing either some wheat grass or dandelions in some trays on what small window sill space I have. Maybe some of the tougher herbs as well.



Thank you very much for all the help, I've found far more closer to me than I expected!

[jabberwock]

My mother-in-law (in St Andrews) has a veggie box delivered from Bellfield Organic Nursery:

http://www.bellfield-organics.com/

A box might be too big for you but you could contact them and see if they could help.

Pillars of Hercules do a box scheme as well:

www.pillars.co.uk