The most cost-effective veg to grow

sirbrainy

Courgettes (just get a variety with decent flavour)
Mangetout (eat raw straight from picking or barely boiled for a minute or so, you won't get that flavour from the supermarket and very prolific)
Sweetcorn (pick, cook, eat - supermarket supply is already days old and losing sweertness)
Herbs (sow a few seeds at a time, staggered)

boo80

budgetboo wrote: »

Do be careful with kids and herbs - they very quickly form STRONG opinions. The neighbour's 3 year old was checking my balcony for Basil and Thyme yesterday and was most disapointed there wasn't any on display to sample. Still it's gotta be better than looking for sweets?

I agree, my 4 year old samples chives everytime she see's them. I am quite impressed with her ability to recognise it year after year though!

sirbrainy

How about shallots?

In praise of shallots


Shallots: so much more tasty and expensive than onions, so identical in planting and cultivation needs. They take up the same amount of space and need the same care (essentially: push into the ground and water occasionally), yet add a gourmet flourish to your cooking. Look at 'Red Sun' and 'Longor'

schumie

I always grow spring onions as well. They about £1.00 for a bunch in the summer and they last only a few days as we eat the quickly and they don't really taste of anything at all. I grew some last year and they were so hot they blew my head off. Just make sure you sow them regularly as i stopped and then really begrudged buying spring onions in the shops.

Tomatoes are good as well although not massively expensive in the shops they are tasteless and there is nothing nicer than popping into the garden and picking a few fresh.

Salad as well is always a winner. Its a £1.00 a bag and it goes lifeless and manky in the fridge. I sow the cut and come again of mixed salad leaves and rocket and coriander taste wonderful in salads.

A good bit of advice a fellow allotment grower gave me (i only got my plot last week but have always grown at home) was to grow tomatoes, spring onions and salad at home as you won't want to pop to the allotment every night if you fancy some lettuce or a tomato in your sandwich.

That to means makes sense and that way i use the allotment for the bigger things that take up more room and don't necessarily need as much care and attention as the salad etc does.

Sally_A

Agree with sirbrainy, I much prefer shallots to onions these days. They are a handier size for sandwiches, and the smaller ones get used whole in a beef stew.

The long ones are my favourite, I think I did Pessandor last year.

Primrose

Tomatoes, Climbing French Beans and salad leaves. I know you can buy tomatoes relatively cheaply in the shops at the height of summer but you can't necessarily buy the better tasting varieties which seem to have more flavour than shop bought ones. . Climbing French Beans - try Cobra variety, the round ones, are absolutely delicious, crop prolifically in good weather and freeze well if you have too many, especially if you dry freeze them so they don't get frosted. Salad leaves because the variety you can grow yourself is huge, and you can keep them going all summer.

I'd Kavalo Nero kale to my list because it's so delicious, winter hardy and you can rarely buy it in the shops.

If you're a soup, caserole or stew lover, I'd certainly grow leeks too.

sirbrainy

Supermarket toms are unripe. fact

tinalc

Any suggestions for the people with smaller gardens or pot grown veg etc? I only have a small planting area in my garden so will be growing tomatoes in pots and carrots in the small plot. I also grow herbs. I have a small plastic greenhouse that i will grow my peppers in.
Any other suggestions please?

Thanks
Tina x

Primrose

tinalc wrote: »

Any suggestions for the people with smaller gardens or pot grown veg etc? I only have a small planting area in my garden

Tina - think about the items which appear regularly on your shopping list - salad leaves, French beans or soft fruit perhaps? If you only have a small garden, are you making the most of it? For example, could you replace a rose bush with a blackcurrant or gooseberry bush which would only take up the same amount of space, but be food productive?

Strawberries grow well in pots. Small amounts of lettuces or mixed salad leaves can be sown between other plants. Dwarf French beans don't take up much space and can be grown closely together provided the soil is well manured. A few beetroot can be sown in a small patch.

Do you have a front garden? Are you making the best use of it or is it a non productive area. I have taken up most of the shrubs in our front garden borders and now use it as my soft fruit area. I have planted redcurrant & blackcurrant bushes in one border. In another sunny border I have planted 3 gooseberry bushes, my strawberries and have a grape vine against up against the fence. Previously this was a totally unproductive area. Now it gives us enough soft fruit to freeze and last us all year round.

Little_Miss_Determined

I love home grown peas. Frozen peas are cheap but not a patch on peas eaten straight from the garden. Don't think any of mine have ever made it to the saucepan.