Guy’s guide to local veggies

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For details of our local fruit farmers, see the relevant part of the Local Food Directory.

Ok, since you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that a) you’re not completely self-sufficient re veggies and b) you’re interested in buying local.

If so, it may not actually be that easy for you to meet all of your veggie needs from local producers. Here is a simple example: there appear to be no local producers of broad beans, rockmelons or sweet potatoes, even though these veggies can all be easily grown in Melbourne.

A final point by way of introduction: veggies are mostly annuals so a farmer may change what veggies they are growing from year to year. Any lists, such as those included in this article, are therefore indicative only.

There are only two local farmers who regularly grow and sell a wide range of veggies:

Farmer Base Available from Indicative list of veggies
Kinglake Vegetables Kinglake   Beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower, carrots, celery, eggplant, fennel, kale, leeks, swedes, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, silverbeet, snow peas, spring onions, tomatoes and zucchini.
Sugarloaf Produce Strathewen Eltham Farmers’ Market.
Kingsbury Drive Community Market.
Yarra Valley Regional Food Group Farmers’ Market.		 Beans, beetroot, capsicum, carrot, cucumber, eggplant, garlic, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, rocket, spinach, tomatoes and zucchini.

 

In addition, there are a couple of farmers who grow a wide range of vegetables but which are less regularly available for sale:

Plus there are some local farmers who contribute to wider veggie boxes:

And, finally, there are few local farmers who are specialised:

Note that, whilst many of the local veggie producers appear to be chemical-free, none are Certified Organic2. If Certified Organic is what you want, then you can still buy it locally although it typically won’t have been grown locally. Your options here include:

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