Anyone grow their own?

Iamnobody

Dont get excited I'm talking fruit and veg rather than hydroponics and funny smelling lofts.

For the first time this year we have grown potatoes, runner beans, marrow, corn, leeks and carrots.

The leeks and carrots weren't successful but the potatoes in particular and the rest were.

Tonight me and my eldest who is four dug our potatoes and pulled off beans and corn for our tea. You can't get fresher than that. She is learning and it's good quality happy time together.

There are lots of negative posts around lately - so I thought I'd post an upbeat one!

I'm actually a bit gutted that we won't have anything in the winter.

Stevepage

Unfortunately I don't have my own garden, though once we move into a house with a garden I'll be having a few things growing. 

Recently I dug potatoes out in my boss' garden. She gave me a load to take home and after washing, chopping and shoving in the oven they were lovely chips. The idea of growing your own food and seeing every step is quite satisfying.

Rocker

Well done. Tomatoes can be grown in a grow bag, as can most vegs and strawberries. Water and feed them well. Definitely worth the effort.

TheBlueWolf

No but I might ask the council about getting an allotment.

strumjoughlamps

Yep been doing it for years now, cauli, shallots, spuds(done them in compost bins last 3 years, works treat), carrots, runner beans, chilli, strawbs, toms and our rhubarb is amazing grows all year round.

RandallFlagg

ahhh...the good life

strumjoughlamps

RandallFlagg said:

ahhh...the good life

We have chickens but no pig

TheMarlin

I grow a variety of herbs, about ten varieties of tomato, beans, peas, aubergines, spuds, cavolo nero, several lettuces etc etc. 

Pidgeons and slugs are the bane of my life.  They'll pick my veg patch clean if you let them. 

BigBearKris

Homegrown weed is nice ;-) 

We grow some veg at work - helps to encourage people to cook from scratch, teaches responsibility and has an educational value. ( I work with young adults withe autism).

Iamnobody

strumjoughlamps said:

Yep been doing it for years now, cauli, shallots, spuds(done them in compost bins last 3 years, works treat), carrots, runner beans, chilli, strawbs, toms and our rhubarb is amazing grows all year round.

Interesting - anything else you can consider in the winter?

If I'm honest I don't think I could say the spuds taste better - I doubt I'd pass a blind test with supermarket ones.

I read that homegrown corn tastes particularly nice and sweet assuming you harvest and eat quickly. Apparently the sugar starts turning to starch as soon as you remove it from the plant...

Roland

I was told that when you pick sweet corn back to the kitchen and drop it in the boiling water.

equalsql

My first year as an independent gardener as my old neighbour and friend 'Len' died in January.

I put in raised beds and built a greenhouse this year and have grown potatoes, peas, carrots, runner beans and tomatoes.  The tomatoes were my neighbour's legacy to me having been originally gotten by his grandfather from the Canary Islands in 1848. They were never grown commercially, so I have carried the torch for Len's tomatoes this year and plan to keep the strain going.

I've started on growing herbs too with Rosemary, Basil, Mint and Oregano currently on the go.

Roland

We have always grown a lot of fruit and veg. Asparagus, broad beans, French beans, borlotti beans (for drying), purple sprouters, cabbage, sweet corn, beetroot (fresh and pickled), parsnip, courgette, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, and leeks. Apples, plums, damsons, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, red and black currants, blackberries and rhubarb. A lot of it gets juiced, jammed or pickled rather than used immediately. I don't grow carrots because of root fly, or peas because of mould, or onions because they take up so much space. I've had to stop growing potatoes because we had blight a few years ago, and I don't want it on the tomatoes. [pause for breath] No wonder I don't get much guitar playing done.

SteveRobinson

Yes we have an allotment. This year we've grown French beans, broad beans, courgettes, peas, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, white and red onions, beetroot, kale, black currants, gooseberries and grapes as well as various herbs and loads and loads of cut flowers.

The great thing is (apart from great tasting food) that it's something that my wife and I do together, which is nice. 

Over winter we're going to plant some more broad beans, onions and garlic which generally does well.

The allotment was youngest daughter's idea then she went off to uni and left us with it.

Iamnobody

Roland said:

I was told that when you pick sweet corn back to the kitchen and drop it in the boiling water.

Yes that's exactly what we did - the girls said it was the best they had tasted. I don't eat it though so have no opinion.

CHRISB50

We grew sweetcorn, tomatoes, and strawberries this year. I think home grown stuff always tastes so much nicer than shop bought produce. 

Home grown tomatoes tend to be a lot more flavoursome than anything I've bought in a shop. 

Axe_meister

The one plant we have never managed to grow properly is Rosmary.
We have tried every thing from almost desert like soil through to the smelliest horse poo ridden soil.
The plant grows for a few weeks and then just dies.
Yes our neighbour has a huge well established plant in the same spot.

ToneControl

I planted apple and cherry trees
the birds eat all the cherries

Lots of apples though within a year, very nice and near-zero maintenance.

We have 2 old plum-type trees, one gives lovely sweet plums, which the birds eat. I got one plum this year
The other  produces something like green gauges, which litter the floor until  they are cleared or rotting,  when they  then get eaten by  alcoholic  foxes I assume

CabbageCat

Yup. A fuckton of potatoes. I have a sackfull and have only harvested about 20%. Also far too many tomatoes so I'm going to have to do some long-term storage. I have a lot of massive courgettes too but I've managed to palm a few off on people.

Plenty of onions but they'll all get used. Chard. Beetroot. Leeks (if it's the same as last year I'll just leave them over winter and they'll be fine in spring).

Had some rocket and spinach earlier in the year but they bolted super-quickly. I think it's just too hot in the south for them. And my carrots came out like sticks of wood.

EricTheWeary

We used to have an allotment. Now we just have a couple of raised beds with strawberries and rhubarb and stuff like that.
Yes, fresh corn is excellent. 

boogieman

Started growing fruit and veg a couple of years back when I retired. This year we've done sweet peppers, cucumbers, French beans, tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes and strawberries. We've got a little herb bed as well. Most of it has turned out well except for the aubergines, which keep getting eaten by slugs. The strawberries have been a bit disappointing this year, they don't have a huge amount of flavour. Last year we grew some alpine strawberries and although they were tiny sized fruits, it was like a taste bomb going off in your mouth, amazingly good.