The ups and downs of growing your own dinner 2016...

Fruittea

Just a quick update on the price of veg. Most supermarkets don't seem to sell yellow courgettes - don't know why as they are lovely but Ocado have them for a whopping £1.25 per 100 grams. My veg total this week is £60.20! Most of it in beans! Supermarket shop was £1.57. So my overall total is £245.27. That's just a bit frightening.
New and up coming on the plot - the fennel is doing well I have a row of around 12 coming along nicely. Parsnips good and chillis, peppers and aubergines just about to come through but I won't be self sufficient in peppers and aubergines as I don't have enough space.

zafiro1984

Fruittea wrote: »

Just a quick update on the price of veg. Most supermarkets don't seem to sell yellow courgettes - don't know why as they are lovely but Ocado have them for a whopping £1.25 per 100 grams. My veg total this week is £60.20! Most of it in beans! Supermarket shop was £1.57. So my overall total is £245.27. That's just a bit frightening.
New and up coming on the plot - the fennel is doing well I have a row of around 12 coming along nicely. Parsnips good and chillis, peppers and aubergines just about to come through but I won't be self sufficient in peppers and aubergines as I don't have enough space.

Wow, I've got some yellow ones as well but I find them smaller than the green ones. Love your total, it just shows how much can be saved. I can see you making the 1K by the end of the year. That will be brilliant :T
What do you do with your surplus beans, I find runners freeze well provided they are shredded first but my French ones always seem to be watery when defrosted, so I'm only growing a few french this year.

Planted out the last of the leeks yesterday.

I'm having a bit of a crisis with some of the raised beds. The uprights are collapsing. The beds were made with treated fencing posts and rails in 2004/5 when the EU didn't allow 'proper' preservatives so because we are on acid sand they have rotted where the soil touches them, both posts and the rails are affected. - job for the winter!!!

Fruittea

Morning everyone
Nice and cool here in Gloucestershire and great for the garden.
Zafiro sorry to hear your raised beds are failing. I've used pallet collars for most of mine. I got them on ebay for a couple of quid but they are cheaper than buying raised beds. I didn't paint mine and they are fine after about 4 years but they could do with a paint now and emptying out and relining - I put down 3 layers of thick cardboard at the bottom and use a no dig principle to layer them up. I'm thinking of adding to them - so will start looking for bargain deals now.
About the French beans I grow a few different types. Some don't freeze well and are always eaten or sold at the gate or given to neighbours. I find the best for climbing French for freezing is Trionfo Violetto from Seeds of Italy and Purple king as a dwarf - they turn green when cooked. I just blanch them for a minute, cool and freeze. The yellow St Anna don't do so well but are really nice fresh.
If you have freezer space - it might be a good ideas to start saying plastic juice bottles - I save a fortune on freezing apple juice every year and the season is nearly open us. That will all add to the total - as it's the first year I've focused on the totals I'm not really sure how much I will eventually save but it's looking good. I find my supermarket market bills are quite small through the summer as I prioritise the veg cooking over anything else.
All the best.

moneyistooshorttomention

Got some dwarf broad bean plug plants to put in now -adding to my varieties of veggies I should have available to eat as the weather gets colder.

Gasping for enough money to get myself a greenhouse and should have enough saved up finally to get one at the end of the month. So I'll be able to do things "properly" next year onwards - ie start my food plants off from seed, rather than buying plug plants (courtesy of not having anywhere to start them off and it all sorta felt a bit much - as I'm still learning how to tell weed seedlings from t'other plant seedlings).

Mind you - I have been known to rescue weed seedlings to grow on if they seem useful. Don't know if I mentioned - but I've got fat hen plants growing on amongst my other plants.

I want to grow a few medicinal plants as well as the edible ones - and am making a start. My comfrey plants seem to be going great guns now:). Must get some garlic, ginger and tumeric in (dual purpose - food and medicinal purposes). Got some aloe vera now (for growing indoors).

Jolly_Roger

For anybody having difficulty growing courgettes or cucumbers, you might like to try something I was forced to do this year.

Having a new allotment with little land prepared, I planted a courgette plant in a compost frame built from pallets and half full with some quite nice compost and top soil.

At the same time, I planted another courgette plant in plain earth.

The one in the compost bin has romped away and is as happy as larry. I suspect this is because it is protected by wooden sides, so loses little surface water and remains moist but warm. It's also a lot healthier than most courgettes I have grown in the past.

I'm seriously considering using this technique with other veg, too, and have planted a similar compost bin with carrots, beetroot, lettuce, spring onions and so on in recent days, covering the top with fleece or net curtains. The seeds are emerging slowly and look very happy... I'm guessing they'll do better than open sowings when the weather begins to close in.

Fruittea

Hi Jolly Roger - I've done the courgette thing with good results and also with pumpkins. I find it also helps me shrink down the compost and leaves if very friable. But I wouldn't have thought about carrots etc as I would have thought it might have been a bit rich and my carrots seems to like a very sandy soil - so I'd appreciate you posting with result as it's something I could try - I have about 6 composts on the go so it's just another spot to grow from.
Thanks for the update Money sounds as though you're right on track. I've just reminded me I have a bit of turmeric root hanging about - I might just see if I can sprout some. If I do I'll let you know.
Funny thing I moved my 6 chicks to one side of the front garden only with the result the other side has burst into life with all sorts of thing shooting up. Last night under a tonne of Evening Primrose I found a courgette growing by the front path. As Ive never grown courgettes in the garden this is a surprise - I'm guessing that it came in with the birdseed. Can't wait to see what els is in there.

butterfly2507

Hello everyone. Quite nervous, yet excited to have found this thread!

I've always been interested in growing my own dinner but never really took the chance. Last year I started with tomatoes and strawberries and they grew very well (& sooo tasty!). I want to take it to the next level though and add some more variety. (I'm about to see if I can get some more seeds cause the only ones I have left are pumpkin and tomatoes.

Both of them were planted last year and didn't grow at all. I'm very new to all of this so I might have done a lot wrong. Anyway, bought some blackberry plants and well...so far it's going great I think. :T

My parents have an apple tree in the garden and they're growing nicely. Can't wait to pick them and cook some different things with it. Is there (maybe) a page where I can find a list of when to plant what? I'm a bit confused :rotfl::rotfl:

Think I'm gonna end it here. Sorry for being all over the place. But I'm happy to be here! :T:A

Fruittea

Hi Butterfly - Yes this is a very helpful thread. Great to hear of your interest. I don't know of a list per say but it would be good to hear a little about your growing space and your interests in food and then I'm sure the others will come up with a list of suggestions. August is quite late in the growing year as lots of things are already established. If you already have strawberries they will have runners and you could grow more. Most seeds are half price so you can make great plans for next year on the cheap.
Dwarf beans and peas will still grow for you and give you a crop and any of the salads of course and you can sow greens for next year. October is the start of the garlic and broad sowing time and you could over winter onions and shallots. Do you have a greenhouse?
Give us a little more info and I'm sure people would be happy to make recommendations.

butterfly2507

Well I live in Luxembourg so the weather isn't always as nice as it should be (currently between 19 & 21 °C) but the summers either get VERY HOT or are cold. Hence why I was surprised at my strawberries growing again (two years in a row -yay). My tomatoes didn't make it though

I'm fortunate enough to be able to use my parent's patio and garden & will be working on getting my own patch with a little fence cause our dog is always playing there. Then we (my OH and I) also have a little balcony which only gets a little bit of sun. But as for now I'll be trying to grow some seeds inside the house and maybe they will over winter there. No green house, unfortunately

As for my interest in food: I basically want to try and eat everything. Hence why I figured I could grow it on my own (as long as it's possible with this climate) instead of spending so much on veggies & fruits. My stables would definitely be garlic & onions since I'm always using so much of them

I will try and get my hands on some salads! And peas too I guess Thank you so much!

Fruittea

butterfly2507 wrote: »

Well I live in Luxembourg so the weather isn't always as nice as it should be (currently between 19 & 21 °C) but the summers either get VERY HOT or are cold. Hence why I was surprised at my strawberries growing again (two years in a row -yay). My tomatoes didn't make it though

As for my interest in food: I basically want to try and eat everything. Hence why I figured I could grow it on my own (as long as it's possible with this climate) instead of spending so much on veggies & fruits. My stables would definitely be garlic & onions since I'm always using so much of them

I will try and get my hands on some salads! And peas too I guess Thank you so much!

Hi Butterfly - I can recommend a tomato for you - it's called Sub Artic Plenty. It's one of the toms I grow to get an early start. The story on this extra early tomato is that it was developed in the 1940's to be grown by US Air Force troops stationed in Greenland. It is extremely hardy and tolerates very cool conditions but plants cannot be allowed to freeze. A heavy yielder of 2 oz, round, red tomatoes in clusters. The plants may be placed close together and don't require staking. They take about 60 days to fruit and can be started on a window ledge in February and planted out in early April - depending on your weather. I can practically guarantee them. If you have trouble sourcing them PM me with you address.
Look out for the Chinese salads and mizumi they are very hardy.