livinginreality

Hi all
Just spent an afternoon in the veg garden and wondered if anyone out there is growing their own food and what?So far I have harvested peas,parsnips,courgettes,pak choi,potatoes,onions and some strawberries.Tomatoes don't seem to be going too well,need some more sun I think!So what are you growing?Or harvesting?

OrkneytoPortugal

Okay - well we are in central Portugal and are currently harvesting runner beans, mountains of courgettes, cucumbers, and gherkins, tomatoes are just ripening nicely, peppers and chillis and leeks are well on their way, squashes and a melon are doing well. We didn't do aubergines this year cos the kids dont like them but last summer we had tons. Onions, garlic and broad beans were all harvested earlier in the summer. The lettuces have all gone mad and bolted. We have had baskets full of cherries and plums, and are now looking forward to fig season! Unlike the local inhabitants, we do not go in for cabbage growing on a large scale - it's all they seem to grow!

Growing our own food was one of the main reasons for coming to live here, and in the summer it really is an abundance of goodies

livinginreality

Wow thats impressive!When I lived in Oz way back,it was very easy to be self sufficient,which I was!I oly ever went to the supermarket for meat and abit of dairy.Here in the UK,its abit more hard work,but well worth the effort!There's a huge resurgence of people growing their own food and about time too I say!(I also don't visit the doc unless its absolutely necessary and touch wood thats hardly ever).I make my own cleaning products too,like washing gel ect!

Sue

I keep meaning to try and grow some veggies and things but it gets so dry here in the summer (we are in NC) that I just know it will involve a lot of watering and don't know if I am up to that.

Mummy in the foothills

Strawberries, but the chickens get to them before we do, so we've yet to taste any.

quoll

Not great growing weather here at the moment but the DH has cauliflower, broccoli and various strains of lettuce along with a plethora of herbs as far as I can see. Oh yes and eggs, we've got lots of eggs

mr mover

I grow mine in half wine barrels, cover the top with wire mesh , keeps the chooks out............mm

jmh

My tomatoes are doing better than last year. I have a tiny garden, but I did manage courgettes one year. I can't seem to get strawberries to grow. The plant is fine, just 2 fruit. I am feeding them.

I grow herbs of varying sorts too.

Mummy in the foothills

I'm to lazy to move them, they were a gift from a friend who was thinning out her garden. Mostly our garden consists of a dried out (dead) seasonal grasses and trees that we have to water daily to keep alive.
The Chooks love it, lots of lizards and spiders to eat, they have lots of huge eggs for us year round.

hudd

Hi

I have managed to get the old vegetable garden cultivated this year. Its been 25 years since it was really used. Its 30 x 50 ft and took a lot of clearing this spring.

We have peas, French, Runner and Broad Beans, 3 types of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, onions and spring onions, courgettes, cucumber, lettuces, celery, new potatoes, swede, parsnips, turnip, radish, beetroot, carrots, garlic, rocket, tomatoes, peppers, gooseberries, rhubarb, melons, straweberries, apples, plums, pears.

Also lots of herbs.

Wife like organic food from the garden and we getting all our veg from the garden at the moment.

Hopefully we should get all our greens i.e cabbage family plans from the garden over the winter.

hudd

livinginreality

I tried growing several different types of brassica's last year organically but those pesky white butterflies kept laying eggs all over them,and it was too hard work trying to keep up with removing them all the time.I have thought about buying the nets next time.What do you think?Any tips?thanks in advance!

ann m

Ooh - I'm jealous!

I was too late off the starting blocks this year - and the growing season is so short here anyway - but I'm gearing up for next spring by creating the beds for them soon.

I have one loneome tomato plant on the deck at the moment but it seems happy enough, and a few green beans on the go. I might get two salads and one meal out of them

hudd

livinginreality

I know its a lot of effort removing the eggs. You can use netting or fleece to keep cabbage butterfly's off and laying eggs.

hudd

hudd

ann m;

I know how hit and miss growing vegs in some parts of Canada can be.

In the Ottawa Valley I dug a 80x35 ft veggie plot. One year I had 100lbs or carrots and the next about 5lb. I did grow 100+ Pumpkins each year which my 2 sons sold at the end of our lane.

I brought a poly tunnel made from plastic joints an 2x2 from Home Hardware. Then I could start growing vegs in early May instead of June. The only problem I had one year was to much snow on the roof and caused part of it to collapse.

I am picking 3-4 lbs tomatoes each week from my greenhouse. Just had a BBQ this evening with all fresh veg from the garden.

I picked my first beetroot this afternoon and using my Canadian Mason jars I brought back with us to England.

hudd

livinginreality

Thanks hudd!When I lived in Oz,I grew all our own food,and my chook yard opened up by a gate into my veg garden so every day I would let the "girls"in for a free lunch and de-bug!It worked a treat too!I am going to get a couple of chooks soon.Slug and snail wise no problems,I use half full lager tins (Fosters,thats about all its good for )and that works well too!