Great “Easy Lucrative Garden Crops” Hunt: What costly foods can you grow with ease?

ceridwen

lynneee wrote: »

I have yet to pick my beetroot yet, will be doing it tomorrow, but some look big (the tops are just poking out of the soil,) and some look like they have done nothing at all. I think I must have planted them too closely together. For a first try i am quite pleased though!

I definitely planted mine too close together I think....oh well...I know for next year...but meanwhile I've been using my golfball size beets I've had and eating the leaves....:rolleyes:

rosie383

We are now enjoying our first veg from the garden. It's all very exciting. We had cous cous (cooked the Algerian way ) yesterday and all the veg were ours: potatoes, carrots, courgettes, broad beans.
Another question now...... we were away for the end of June when it was really hot, and came back to find that all my spinach plants, and my mixed salad leave had gotten really tall, and most had flowers. I picked what we could use, and left just about 6 or so leaves on each, and was hoping for new growth, but all I have now are scrubby, pale stumps, with little growing at all. I have fed them with some tomato feed, and we have had a lot of rain here on and off, but they are not looking happy. Can I do anything, or just take them out and put something in their place? They are taking up a lot of room in my wee garden, but with no return for me.
Also my courgette plants are looking very healthy with huge big leaves, but I'm not getting much in the way of courgettes on them, compared to a couple of weeks ago. There are stalks with lovely big yellow flowers, but not much else. I fed them also with tomato feed, and am making sure they aren't drying out, but what else can I do please?

npsmama

Does anyone know if radish tops are edible?

We've been eating carrot tops, broad bean tops, beetroot leaves but I'm really into getting the maximum out of the veg plot this year so i'm looking into what is 'edible-but-not-fashionable'.

npsmama

Yippee!!!!

Radish top soup!!!! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Radish-Top-Soup/Detail.aspx


:j:j:j

furndire

Mouli is a quick crop, and milder and bigger than radishes, but I wouldn't want to eat the tops.

rosie383

My spinach has all gone to seed, or bolted, can I leave some plants where they are in the hope that they will just scatter the seeds for next year? Or just pull them out and put something else in their place?
I pulled out all my salad leaves which had also gone, and sewed lots of peas and carrots in their place.
Please, someone tell me.

Lotus-eater

rosie383 wrote: »

My spinach has all gone to seed, or bolted, can I leave some plants where they are in the hope that they will just scatter the seeds for next year? Or just pull them out and put something else in their place?

You can do either, but putting in your own seeds yourself is the preferred method as you have control over how much and what is where. If you get extra volunteer plants growing, that's a bonus.

rosie383

Thanks for that. I have pulled most of them out now, and left the healthiest looking ones to do their own thing!

MunnyBoiler

I vote for salad leaves - we grow a mixture in an old half of a barrell and eat some every day, whether it be with lunch or dinner. From looking at the cost of bags of salad leaves, I reckon we've saved about £30 so far this year.

Basil is also a good thing to grow: it can be grown easily on a window shelf and besides using the leaves in salads and pasta dishes, you can also use it to make your own pesto sauce.

irishwexford

I love leeks, also sweetcorn and they are so easy to grow but expensive to buy. Lettuces are also so easy, have not bought one for months. I grow most things as they taste so nice straight from the allotment but I also like to think I am saving cash.