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GLT's Grow: You Grew It, So Don't Waste It

Potatoes in a bowl
Food Group
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Flickr/Creative Commons
The best place to store your garden-grown potatoes is in low light with cool temperatures.

There are a lot of reasons for wasted food, the least of which is children pushing away before forking some broccoli.

In this edition of our gardening podcast Grow, Illinois State University’s Patrick Murphy tells GLT's Mike McCurdy why and how our food gets wasted.

The National Resource Defense Council estimates up to 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. goes to waste, even though 1 in 8 Americans struggles to put enough food on the table.

  • Some waste happens before it ever reaches your kitchen. Row crops like corn, beans, rice and peanuts can end up never being harvested due to environmental factors, such as limited access to market due to, say, a wildfire or other calamity nearby. In other parts of the world, Murph says, war and other conflicts can force farmers to leave unharvested crops behind.
  • At your home, food storage is key. Take your garden-grown potatoes, for example. The best place to store them is in low light with cool temperatures. Consider a wooden box, paper bag, or a drying rack where air can flow. Avoid the floor, where the temperature fluctuates.
  • You can eat more of that vegetable than you think. How much of an asparagus do you use—the whole stalk, or just the most tender parts? Did you know that the whole garlic plant—except for that little spur at the bottom—is edible and can be delicious? Think before you throw it away.

Learn more in this week's episode of GLT's Grow:

Next week on GLT’s Grow: How to protect and preserve trees.

GLT's Grow is your source for gardening advice and down-to-earth tips. Host Patrick Murphy and co-host Mike McCurdy are ready to take on all your gardening questions, so submit yours today.

People like you value experienced, knowledgeable and award-winning journalism that covers meaningful stories in Bloomington-Normal. To support more stories and interviews like this one, please consider making a contribution.

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.