People with gardens - how expensive would food have to be for you to grow your own?

bugslet

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Wife? What wife? I haven't go... oh.... um... ah, yes, snail-lover... admitted it above. Dash it all. Harumph.

Maybe I should treat Forum life like those men you see hiding their ring finger as they approach the bar... smoothing their hair to hide the shiny patch..

Actually, I popped back to say I had a good few fresh strawberries for pudding just now, and THAT is why I grow my own veg!

(perfect man... and she's got six dogs.. pah... wish my wife thought I was.. mumble mumble...

I'm sure snail lover does really;), you can always tell her she's got comeptition now. If you are brave:rotfl:

SEE

simmed wrote: »

I'm always slightly amazed by the lack of edible and practical plants in British gardens. Some people do plant them, but the vast majority* seem to use their gardens purely as something they need to sculpt to look good (and the vast majority fail in this task too, but I digress).

*I've seen a lot of ethnically non-British families grow edible plants, which is very respectable.

Personally I don't even have a garden, but I have a large tray of chives and salad leaves on my windowsill.

How expensive would food have to be for you to plant and grow your own? Or would you rather starve than cut down your petunias?

I don't think its about cost, I think its about laziness and reliance upon supermarkets. I grow all my own fruit and veg and preserve what I can for winter months.

Here is a fine example. This year I did a little patch in my sons garden so that my granddaughter could see how things grow and taste. None of it got eaten, it was left to rot.

The reason.

The idea of eating from the garden was disgusting. What if cats and rats had walked near them, or touched them.

My response.

What do you think walks near them on a farm?

For me, the younger generation is lost in a frenzy of material trifle. The cherries and cream are getting everyone else to do it for them. In a major disaster they'd all be dead and hugging their bottles of CK One, or whatever they drowned themselves in.

bugslet

I think you are partially right SEE, in so far as people have lost touch with the land and some children have no understanding of how food is grown and how it gets to the supermarket in its attractively packaged, dirt-free plasticness.

But for some of us it is a time issue (as well as not liking gardening!). I work 55-60 hours a week, 12 - 15 hours commuting. Looking after 6 dogs, running a house and most of this year caring for a very ill OH. Even without the ill OH ( gone into fulltime care), I only have a finite amount of time left over and I'd rather spend it doing things I want to do and enjoy doing. Which is why I said originally that things would have to be very expensive for me to grow my own.

oldtractor

They are expensive enough now for me to grow my own.
Potaotes are a good crop for ground clearing in the first year. New potatoes or puink fir apple pots are excellent to grow all the time much nicer thasn bought. currants gooseberries and rapberries are excellent to grow, strawberries are ok but may need more care. braSSICAS EG KALE V EASY TO GROW AND DEAR TO BUY. PEAS AND BEANS. COURGETTES. ONION FAMILY EG LEEKS, CARROTS TURNIPS ETC ALL GOOD TO DO. ENJOY.

mansars

m Scottish so any5thing I have to buy is too expensive...thats why I grow my own.:p

SEE

oldtractor wrote: »

They are expensive enough now for me to grow my own.
Potaotes are a good crop for ground clearing in the first year. New potatoes or puink fir apple pots are excellent to grow all the time much nicer thasn bought. currants gooseberries and rapberries are excellent to grow, strawberries are ok but may need more care. braSSICAS EG KALE V EASY TO GROW AND DEAR TO BUY. PEAS AND BEANS. COURGETTES. ONION FAMILY EG LEEKS, CARROTS TURNIPS ETC ALL GOOD TO DO. ENJOY.

One of the things I really love is sitting down on Christmas day to a plate full of runner beans that I picked young and tender 3 months before:D I've got about 100lb or so of red roosters clamped outdoors, I'm hoping the frost won't effect them:(