Growing our own!!

Options
Bella0608
Bella0608 Posts: 196 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The cost of fresh fruit and vegetables is soooo much these days me my hubby and kids have decided to grow our own!!
hopefully will get the little ones eating more too!
does anyone else do this? whats easy to grow?

Ive got tomatoes, strawberrys,courgettes, carrots, sprouts, cauliflower,onions,spring onions,potatoes,peppers,chillis and just put some peas in today...
really exciting and cant wait till something is ready to eat

:smile:
«1

Replies

  • ronda_gettinghealthy
    ronda_gettinghealthy Posts: 777 Member
    Options
    do you like squash?? easy to grow-and produces A LOT--also Okra and cucumbers are easy to grow and produce abundantly.

    we love to garden and I can a large quantitiy of veggies for the winter from the garden. good luck.
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
    Options
    We grow our own and are just beginning to see the fruits of our labours!

    We've got cucumbers and lettuce, toms beginning to ripen, cabbage, courgettes, mange tout, broccoli, spinach and potatoes!

    Later we'll have sweetcorn, squash, leeks, onions, carrots, parsnips, celeriac...oh...a bit of everything!

    We try to grow for succession throughout the year, but the winter really scuppered that plan last year, but it's a real delight to do the weekly shop and not have to buy veg!
  • Papillon22
    Papillon22 Posts: 1,160 Member
    Options
    I'd love to grow veggies, but I'm living in an apartment without a balcony :(
    I think it's a great idea!
  • Nikki_is_Knotty
    Nikki_is_Knotty Posts: 248 Member
    Options
    I live in an efficiency at this time but when i do get a place of my own (or just a bigger one) i will def start growing my own! I would love to grow corn, cucs, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, & peas! Best of luck with yours!
  • frenchprairiegirl
    frenchprairiegirl Posts: 173 Member
    Options
    I actually have 2 gardens this year. Potatoes (2 kinds) peas, yellow and green beans, carrots, onions, beets, rhubarb, lettuce, spinach and broccoli. I also have saskatoon berry trees all over my property as well as raspberries. I can't wait to start harvesting!
  • Bella0608
    Bella0608 Posts: 196 Member
    Options
    Yes love squah never thought of that thanks! :)
  • skibrina
    skibrina Posts: 36
    Options
    we have potatoes, corn, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, peas. our season is was a slow start, but starting to see more and more!!! it is fun and excitng. It takes time, but sooooo rewarding and worth the effort. plus our kids are enjoying it as well. :)
  • chrissym78
    chrissym78 Posts: 628 Member
    Options
    yep, see my profile pic :)
  • dcholliday2
    dcholliday2 Posts: 36 Member
    Options
    Hi,

    When we lived in an apt. with a patio we did square foot gardening...there are awesome books & resources out there to do this type of gardening. Now we just got a house and are in the process of transplanting our square foot garden into the ground!

    Here's a great website to buy heirloom seeds (not-genetically modified) http://rareseeds.com/ you can request a catalog. The seeds are amazing and the family story who started this company is great! We also buy flower seeds too!
  • bethdris
    bethdris Posts: 1,090 Member
    Options
    We too have a garden this year. I love watching it grow and showing the kids that not all food comes from the store. We have tomatoes, cucumbers, hot and reg peppers, green beans, snap peas, watermelon, pumpkins, romaine lettuce, and broccoli.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
    Options
    Jerusalem artichokes are supposed to be one of the easiest things in the world to grow and are plentiful come harvest time. Just remember to grow some winter savoury as well or you'll end up with a very windy family!
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,325 Member
    Options
    I do and i love it...I have greens beans out the wazoo
    now just gotta figure out how to can them before its to late!
  • trud72
    trud72 Posts: 1,912 Member
    Options
    yes i do...
    green beans super easy and you get tons :)
    i also grow toms(big and little),cucumbers,letace,parsnip,pickling onions,french beans,carrots,radish and spring onions...
    also rasberrys,strawberrys,gooseberrys,rhubarb and just starting 3 blueberry planys this yr...
    how was that for a list!

    ahh crud i forgot bell peppers!
  • Suzannejl
    Suzannejl Posts: 212
    Options
    My family is from Poland and we have been gardening for years. I am so glad to see everyone else getting on the wagon! Fresh is so much better. My Grandfather would never eat any foods with preservatives and lived to be 93!

    A couple of lessons learned: mulch with grass clippings!! This helps keep moisture in and weeds out, not to mention help fertilizing the crop as well.

    Another one is to Can or freeze what you grow. pickyourown.org is a very helpful site for instructions and recipes. A book by Ball can be found in the canning section at wal mart, is also very helpful! I reference both frequently.

    I also keep a notebook, and keep exact notes each year on what I grown, and can(some recipes turn out better than others). Two years ago I inherited my grandmother's pickling crock, I am still learning how to make pickles and notes help year to year.

    Have fun! My kids do eat more, not everything and not always, but definitely seasonal!
  • Suzannejl
    Suzannejl Posts: 212
    Options
    I do and i love it...I have greens beans out the wazoo
    now just gotta figure out how to can them before its to late!
  • Suzannejl
    Suzannejl Posts: 212
    Options
    I do and i love it...I have greens beans out the wazoo
    now just gotta figure out how to can them before its to late!

    oops, forgot the post!
    some veggies need a pressure canner, beans is one of them. Invest in a pressure cooker or canner, it's the same thing, just different size. freezing is definitely the easiest, don't forget to blanch them first, (dipping in boiling hot water for the specified time, them ice water for the same) Again I recommend investing in The Ball Blue Book, and checking the Pickyourown.org website as well.

    A couple of canning short cuts I have learned over the years:

    invest in a good rubber coated gloves.
    http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/medium-blue-rubber-gloves I found these in the local grocery store. I used them to handle the hot jars, lids and/or hot food. Can't tell you how helpful these have been!

    I no longer use a hot water bath to presterilize my jars, instead I wash them and place them in my oven at 215 degrees fahrenheit(the same temp as boiling water) for 10min. When you are canning 2-3 dz jars or large ones this really helps too! I still boil my lids.

    Depending on the recipe I use a boiling water canner or pressure canner. It also helps to have an electric hot water kettle going on the side.

    Also, buy your jars early in the season, when it get's busy they sell out fast! Good places to find jars: grocery store, wal mart, ace or aco hardware. Message or friend me if you have any questions. I have been canning for over 25 years, and my family has for 3 generations.

    And again, keep a notebook. You won't know if you like the recipe until you open the jars! My grandma used to say they couldn't open this years canning until the first snow flake. My kids run for the peaches when the first snow flake flies! lol
  • BFit40
    BFit40 Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    Yes I grow my own too and have just eaten a steak with homegrown new boiled potatoes, cucumber and salad leaves. Unfortunately the tomatoes aren't ready yet so I had shop bought.

    In the greenhouses I have tomatoes (4 varieties, 42 plants), cucumbers, chillis (6 varieties, 21 plants) and bell peppers.

    In the veg patch I have parsnips, carrots, sweetcorn, spring onion, leeks, climbing beans, dwarf beans, climbing peas, self-supporting peas, brussel sprouts, cabbages, butternut squash, lettuce, courgettes and potatoes.

    In the fruit patch I've got rubarb, goosberries, kiwis, figs, goji berries, tayberries, blackberries and honeyberries. I've grown strawberry plants from seed this year, so will be building a strawberry bed next month.

    Last year we started a little fruit tree section with cherries (eating & cooking), apples (eating & cooking), pear and sweet chestnut. We're planning to put more in in autumn.

    There is nothing like eating your food direct from the stalk.
  • Bella0608
    Bella0608 Posts: 196 Member
    Options
    Thanks guys for all your tips! :happy:
    its wonderful I had no idea how many of you grow your own fruit and veggies
  • BFit40
    BFit40 Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    I agree with sjlepkowski about the pressure canning, but as you're UK like me, when I first heard about pressure canning - I thought tin cans. Apologies if I'm teaching you things you already know, but pressure canning is actually like jam jars, but the lids have two parts - a screw part which has a circle cut out and a metal disk with a rubber like seal on the part which meets the jar.

    The idea is that the change of pressure and heat in the pressure canning unit pulls creates a vacuum between the rubber seal and whatever is in the jar and you secure the metal disk in place through the screw top.

    It is worth the investment. The jars are available from Lakeland.co.uk and I got my pressure canner brand new on Ebay.

    For freezing, yes most things I blanch like sjlepkowski, but some just go straight in. I do this with herbs particularly coriander. I grow this from seed and when it’s ready I’ll use some fresh and ten freeze the rest.
    The other one that goes straight in after chopping into slices is chilli. At £1.50 for 4 small chillies in the supermarket I go all out in summer to grow as many as I can (21 plants this year, each giving me at least 10 chillies). I slice these and freeze them. When cooking, I just put the frozen slices straight into the wok or pan without defrosting. It works.
    I did try preserving the chillies a couple of years ago in oil, but found that most of the flavour and heat leeched out into the oil and I like heat!

    Good luck with the veggies.
  • BFit40
    BFit40 Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    Oooo, one thing I forgot to tell you was two years ago we tried growing our own mustard and got a fantastic crop making our own wholegrain mustard. We still ahve quite a bit left but will have to grow some more next year.
    You'll be surprised what we can grow in this weird English climate.

    I have tried peanuts as well, but they didn't crop too well. It was a fun experiment though!

Categories