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

arkonite_babe

I bought 4 crowns of asparagus at £1.49 each in B&M bargains last weekend. if these grow then that's loads saved as asparagus is at least £4 a small bunch in my local supermarket

Primrose

Karen - yes you can buy seeds at Homebase. Some supermarkets also sell them but you will get the biggest selection from a Garden Centre.

Mortal

I bought a few packets at Morrisons with my groceries

globalds

Has any body grown mushrooms?
It would be great to have a crop of these.

markandkate

Grow small amounts of veg that you can't freeze or else you will end up giving it away. Grow 2-3 lettuces and tear the leaves off as you need them. Plant Rocket and Spinnach as well and then you can have mixed salad leaves. Even if they go to seed you can still use them.

Start simple with things that you know you will like and don't spend a lot on expensive plants or compost unless you are going to stick with it

Fresh herbs can be expensive but can be frozen too or even dried.

You can make jams and chutneys quite easily. Look up some recipes and see what you need and then grow it. Home made Picalilli is great and can be made with runner beans and courgettes so you can save money there too

Muffin99

markandkate wrote: »

Grow small amounts of veg that you can't freeze or else you will end up giving it away. Grow 2-3 lettuces and tear the leaves off as you need them. Plant Rocket and Spinnach as well and then you can have mixed salad leaves. Even if they go to seed you can still use them.

Start simple with things that you know you will like and don't spend a lot on expensive plants or compost unless you are going to stick with it

Fresh herbs can be expensive but can be frozen too or even dried.

You can make jams and chutneys quite easily. Look up some recipes and see what you need and then grow it. Home made Picalilli is great and can be made with runner beans and courgettes so you can save money there too

I'm growing some different types of Basil this year and have read you can freeze these by putting leaves in an ice tray and filling with water. Then defrost in winter when you want them. I'm going to try this this year. Basil is a great addition to pizza toppings!

Growing herbs is also great for making fresh teas in Summer - so much tastier than dried teabags! My favourite is lemon balm which is really easy to grow and will come up every year so it's cheap too and you can get loads of delicious lemon-scented leaves which are also great to add to your salad bowl. Lemon balm is said to strengthen the brain and prolong life too! Infact Llewelyn,Prince of Glamorgan regularly drank lemon balm tea and lived to be 108! Also John Hussey, of Sydenham, drank lemon balm tea with a little honey to sweeten it and lived to the age of 116! But whatever - it's delicious!

One tip growing it is to cut it back just as it starts to flower as this will give you more growth and also prevent it from setting seed everywhere as unless you want more of it, it can grow a bit too well

Lavender is also nice infused as a tea with a little honey also or add a couple of sprigs with the lemon balm - it's a really fresh and delicate combination in Summer

choille

globalds wrote: »

Has any body grown mushrooms?
It would be great to have a crop of these.

Yes I bought a kit once - great fun.
I got in Woolies, but that was years ago.

I have shiataki's growing wild in a birch wood on the croft - so I'm lucky.
You can get plugs of them with spores in to put into rotten logs of birch & people have great success - worth a try.

globalds

choille wrote: »

Yes I bought a kit once - great fun.
I got in Woolies, but that was years ago.

I have shiataki's growing wild in a birch wood on the croft - so I'm lucky.
You can get plugs of them with spores in to put into rotten logs of birch & people have great success - worth a try.

Do you need a wood or shade for them to grow ..We have a wall at the bag of the garden where I've planted a Yew tree ..maybe a few logs under there would be a good environment ..How do you stop slugs ?

JimJim

globalds wrote: »

Do you need a wood or shade for them to grow ..We have a wall at the bag of the garden where I've planted a Yew tree ..maybe a few logs under there would be a good environment ..How do you stop slugs ?

Do not know about food as lucrative crop but some people are making money out of wild plants!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wild-Flowers-60-native-plug-plants-from-seed_W0QQitemZ330314584400QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item330314584400&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1686%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

And just look at their other plants!

Wonder if there is a Market for Ground Elder, good for some Butterflys, Honest!

choille

globalds wrote: »

Do you need a wood or shade for them to grow ..We have a wall at the bag of the garden where I've planted a Yew tree ..maybe a few logs under there would be a good environment ..How do you stop slugs ?

Yes - shaded & damp. You can use straw also I believe.

Slugs - just pick them off when you see them, get a hedgehog and encourage thrushes. You canu se sharp stuff around the plants they love - such as hostas - grit or sharp ash, broken egg shells etc.