Vegetables

The vegetables of Lemnos can be divided into summer and winter varieties, although they do not differ significantly from the vegetables grown in the wider region of Greece. Especially the summer vegetables and their cultivation method are called by the locals “argasá,” because the soil is “argázete” (is being worked), being cultivated multiple times until the plants are well established in the field. Thus, a typical Lemnian argasá includes both irrigated and dryland crops: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, melons, watermelons, corn (known locally as “koknáres” – feminine), sunflowers (known as “antílios”), and yellow and white pumpkins (“retsélia”). It is worth noting that, in contrast to the winter vegetables, the summer varieties are mostly local cultivars, well adapted to the island’s microclimate and remarkably productive for their requirements.

Regarding the winter vegetables, they follow the general pattern: lettuces, cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks, spring onions, parsley. All vegetables, along with the essential “krommidotópi” — a piece of land planted with onions for winter consumption — are based on self-consumption and the self-sufficiency of each household. The family’s nutritional needs throughout the year largely depend, even today, on vegetable cultivation, with seasonality not posing an obstacle. One could say that the Lemnian household consumes what it produces and stores it with the aim of maintaining a healthy and pure nutritional wealth. Most of the argasés of Lemnos constitute a small organic paradise, certainly larger in area than the “gardens” of mainland Greece, but a practical food production method also adopted by younger generations.