If you could only grow ONE thing...
orangecrush
Forumite 260 Posts
Hello all!
After a fairly disasterous summer of growing (no)things, I've decided to narrow my focus for the next year. This years disasters include:
I have little time to spare (working mum of a toddler) and I'm a bit fed up with it all - I scraped time here and there to grow stuff and its all been a failure.
So! Onwards. I'm going to grow less variety, and try to just grow one (maybe two) things well.
My question to you is: if you could only grow one crop, what would it be? (And is it idiot prood:huh:)
Thank you moneysavers!:beer:
After a fairly disasterous summer of growing (no)things, I've decided to narrow my focus for the next year. This years disasters include:
- Brassicas were completely destroyed by caterpillars
- Onions just didn't grow.
- Courgettes got mildew and died.
- Spinach and chard destroyed by slugs.
- Blueberries... lord knows what happened but we got literally 5 berries and they were really sour.
- Raspberries got beetle-d.
- Morello cherries all split, then got eaten by wasps
- Squash got slug-ed.
- Potatoes were just pants.
- I have 3 surviving leeks that may make it to adulthood :rotfl:
I have little time to spare (working mum of a toddler) and I'm a bit fed up with it all - I scraped time here and there to grow stuff and its all been a failure.
So! Onwards. I'm going to grow less variety, and try to just grow one (maybe two) things well.
My question to you is: if you could only grow one crop, what would it be? (And is it idiot prood:huh:)
Thank you moneysavers!:beer:
1
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Replies
You really can't go wrong with apples.
Not least as you already have the blackberries & in the glut years you can do a brisk trade with all happy jam makers (as apples are wonderful for pectin & getting jam to set)
Also an excellent tree both to learn to climb on and to throw accurately. (Happy childhood memories!)
My rhubarb is doing pretty well for an ignored most of the time plant, but the jostaberry is doing brilliantly too. Son inadvertently "took a cutting" with a trimmer, but the cutting took so I forgave him. More jam & crumble filling!
Why am I in this handcart and where are we going ?
Others
Toms
Peppers
Lettuce
Chard
Really versatile
Thank you for giving us a smile.
Buy lots of netting
Plastic bottles and aluminium pie cases on strings.
Bunting
Good luck for next year
and we will never, ever return.
Sadly some have reminded me of more failures that I had forgotten about 🙈 Cucumbers also got mildew and died, and lettuces were a slug banquet 😂
I do zero pest control, which doesn’t help. We don’t have hedgehogs as its a stepped garden and apparently hedgehogs can’t do steps. Tempted to put in a ramp 🤔
Winter plans include putting in a wildlife pond in the hope it attracts frogs that will maybe provide some predation on the pesky slugs and snails!
I would love an apple tree, but we’ll be moving in the next few years. Wonder if it would live in a pot temporarily?
Tomatoes and potatoes maybe for next year - we did get a potato harvest this year but I grew a different variety to usual and they just weren’t nice. Back on the pentland javelin for next year I think!
Will start looking into tomatoes and putting pennies away for a mini greenhouse.
Thank you everyone!
Or you can buy online around now & get a "bareroot" tree of your choice of variant (ruddy ploughman, james grieve, allington pippin etc) which you dig a deep hole, add the growth hormone sachet they sting you extra for & it has more likelihood of surviving (as you'd hope at around £30.
You then eventually sell the property with a viable tree & plan to buy with a tree, or plant a new one this time with bonus experience. Seriously - the apple tree is the busy mothers ideal plant as you really can dig it in & ignore it For Years. (Just have your toddler draw you pictures...)
There are trees that can cope with container life but they're small & a bit fiddly, whereas a dig it in & let nature take its course bigger tree is much more robust.
Best of luck!
Given OP disasters I'd not be growing a blight prone subject like tomatoes, wait a few months, then see them die with blight would be just too much IMO
+ 1 for rhubarb, slugs could scoff it but if big enough it'll survive
+ 1 for apple, some fruits could get maggoty but even then fruit would be suitable for pies etc
In the end I would grow. .carrots..
Annual target £24000