Why do the vegetables I grow look different to the ones in the shops?

The answer to the question why own grown vegetables do not look like shop bought ones is simply that own grown food has more variations in size and appearance. The reason that the vegetables I grow do not look as uniform and pristine as the ones in the shops might be partly due to the fact that I grow organically so that means I am not constantly applying chemicals to improve the appearance and size of the vegetables. In other words I am happy to have a few blemishes on my vegetables in order to have them free from being free of chemical sprays and fertilisers. Also it worth remembering that vegetables in shops are graded for size and so appear more uniform in size. When I am digging up a row of potatoes so I might dig up the potatoes there might be some that are the size of marbles and others could be as large enough to use for chips or baking potatoes. Obviously this does variation in the size of potatoes does not happen when I first start to harvest the first of the first early potatoes, but later in the season it might.

The thing I have discovered since starting to grow my own vegetables is that even the blemishes on some of the potatoes do not spoil the quality or taste of them once they are prepared and cooked properly. There are several things that can alter the surface of the skin of the potato scab for example will produce small raised and darkened patches on the surface of potatoes.  Potatoes with scab are edible there is no need to discard them.

Sometimes if you fail to pick French beans they will grow larger than the ones sold in the shop, I cook these and other need to use up quickly vegetables into a  vegetable soup.