The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2025!

Suffolk_lass

Welcome to the new ups and downs of growing your own!

Everyone is welcome. Come and tell us about your growing shenanigans

What do you like to grow?

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

Do you have any tips for growing?

Do you make anything with what you grow?

How much does growing your own save you?


I'll use this post for links that folks might find useful. If you want something adding in, please just let me know 🙂

KajiKita

Subscribed! 😊 Thank you for setting this up @Suffolk_lass 😊

I tried yacon for the first time last year. Never again! It had no flavour and made me uncomfortably ’windy’. 😂 Shame, I had high hopes for it. 

A big success though were peas - possibly all the rain? I have saved seed of this variety for this year 😊
Tracked what I would have spent if I had bought the organic produce I got from the plot - £210, a lot of which was herbs - it’s amazing how quickly those add up. Tomatoes did well in the treehouse, cucumbers were hopeless - lack of sun? 

Not trying anything new this year. Well, not yet, I haven’t placed my seed order(s) yet though 😉
Main focus will be keeping on top of the bindweed - going to set up a ‘kit’ for this of scissors and a small bucket to go round every morning before I go to work, as I have a relatively late start / finish in my new job. 

I’m not very confident with making things from what I grow (apart from eating / cooking them straight away), so that is something I will be watching other people’s posts for encouragement on this year 😊

Happy new growing year to one and all. I’m excited again for the fresh start 😊

KK

Glittering_M

Hello,
I'd love to join again, although I lurked a lot last year!

What do you like to grow?
Veg, herbs and some flowers. Still new to gardening and my plot. 

I had a very unsuccessful year on 2024 re. growing.  Nearly everything died! 

I'm very happy with the chamomile and winter savory I sowed in 2023 though, they really got into their stride last year and the bees loved the winter savory.

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Yes. 

Possibly a small pond and adding a new bed in for veg. I like flowers and the idea of a cut flower bed but it seems Iike a lot of effort.

Toying with the idea of a poly tunnel and onions as I've never tried growing them (put off as everyone just says they are cheap to buy so not worth it). 

I'd like to increase my herb garden and learn more about using herbs safely. 

Toying with the idea of getting a walnut and a sweet chestnut tree. 

Also intrigued by the idea of a small stretch of wheat.

I'd like to get better at thinking about how I can keep stuff throughout the year, about a year ago I made kimchi and that was great.

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

I don't think I did, it was just such a terrible year! 

Do you have any tips for growing?

Still getting the grips with it myself! Make sure you label seedlings and don't sow so much you run out of space! 

Do you make anything with what you grow

Not sure if this is a question about finance make or in terms of produce. No to finance. I save my chamomile for tea and I've made kimchi but I'd love to do more. 

How much does growing your own save you?

2024 was definitely a negative as nothing grew!

Confusedlad

Daughter bought me a packet of parsnip seeds for my birthday. 
Nowhere in the garden to grow them, so filled an old plastic recycling tub (after drilling some drainage holes), with a mix of home grown compost bin, peat free compost, topsoil and planted half a dozen seeds.  Watered and fed (comfrey compost), saw toms & courgettes in nearby growbags come and go, almost 8 months later, harvested on Christmas Eve.  Could've bought a bag of similar for 8p inthe supermarket, but boy were they good with Christmas dinner.  
NY resolution, do it again.

Farway

Confusedlad said:

Daughter bought me a packet of parsnip seeds for my birthday. 
Nowhere in the garden to grow them, so filled an old plastic recycling tub (after drilling some drainage holes), with a mix of home grown compost bin, peat free compost, topsoil and planted half a dozen seeds.  Watered and fed (comfrey compost), saw toms & courgettes in nearby growbags come and go, almost 8 months later, harvested on Christmas Eve.  Could've bought a bag of similar for 8p inthe supermarket, but boy were they good with Christmas dinner.  
NY resolution, do it again.

If any left, leave to go to seed, insects love the flowers, you get free parsnips forever

Kantankrus_Mare

I'm joining in again for the coming year.

Hoping that this year will bring me my first decent crop of asparagu though the bed needs a good weed and last years ferns cutting back.

We are also contemplating having chickens. Quite a commitment i know but I have a dog that needs walking every day so gives me a reason to walk to the plot rather than round the streets.

The area Im thinking of putting them is where my compost bins are currently situated so next few months I need to empty those and move to another area.

My stock of chillies from a couple of years ago that are in the freezer are dwindling so will have to get some seeds on the go soon.

Hope we all have a good year.

Suffolk_lass

I thought I should take my own medicine and say what I do - so here goes:

What do you like to grow?

We like to grow a small number of seed potatoes, because they clean the soil - we have blight residue in two beds that are more in shade from next door's thick conifer hedge, and so salad potatoes are better, picked small at the first signs. We grow shallots (usually successfully) and garlic, for the first time last year with great success. I need to work on curing them though. I do grow beans and squashes, and have one asparagus bed in too much shade. Mostly we grow fruit - gooseberries, blackcurrants, plums, apples, raspberries, strawberries. All things that cost more in the shops than our bought once plants. In the greenhouse I grow tomatoes, chillies, peppers and cucumbers. 

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Yes, I shall keep my seeds indoors, not in the greenhouse, and sow earlier for squashes as none of mine germinated in 2024 and I ended up buying seedlings at local agricultural shows. I also plan to add a trailer-load (4t) of compost to the veg beds in Jan/Feb

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

Not last year. DH has plucked up courage to say what he does not like, so this restricts what I grow (no aubergines or tromboncino here)

Do you have any tips for growing? 

Don’t be afraid to compost the weedy, spindly seedlings. They take up space and energy, invite pests and diseases and return little

Do you make anything with what you grow?

Yes. I make passata from tomatoes (I last used a tin that I kept in the motorhome that was going out of date, about four months ago, and prior to that, about three years ago) - they taste so much better. I also prep and store courgettes, making soup 1-2 times a week for our lunches. I stew and jar up fruit too, or bottle it, rather than paying to store it in the freezer

How much does growing your own save you?

I spend little or nothing on f&v in summer. Mostly I grow it because I know where it came from, and that nothing has been sprayed on it. It gives me pleasure

rtandon27

Farway said:

Confusedlad said:

Daughter bought me a packet of parsnip seeds for my birthday. 
Nowhere in the garden to grow them, so filled an old plastic recycling tub (after drilling some drainage holes), with a mix of home grown compost bin, peat free compost, topsoil and planted half a dozen seeds.  Watered and fed (comfrey compost), saw toms & courgettes in nearby growbags come and go, almost 8 months later, harvested on Christmas Eve.  Could've bought a bag of similar for 8p inthe supermarket, but boy were they good with Christmas dinner.  
NY resolution, do it again.

If any left, leave to go to seed, insects love the flowers, you get free parsnips forever

They definitely do - I'm still harvesting parsnips that have resulted the previous owners veg garden.  Their entire veg garden went untended for almost a year before we purchased and moved in, and everything went a bit wild.  The parsnips have been self-seeding for over 4 years!  I harvest, grate and freeze throughout the year and when there is enough turn it into cake using a carrot cake recipe. Hidden vegetables have become the norm in our house!

alicef

Oh, I'm a bit late signing up - though I do like to get Christmas truly over with first!   All decorations down and packed away until December 2025.  I haven't quite got into forthcoming GYO plan mode yet, but I do need to track down my grow lightbulbs and make sure I have a propagator ready to go.  In the meantime....

Wassail!

ArbitraryRandom

What do you like to grow?

The things I enjoyed last year (I'm thinking were easy/relatively problem free, I ate, and brought me pleasure) were my apples and courgettes. 

First time my tree produced apples, and the first one of my fruit trees to produce, so partly novelty, but also just really nice apples. 

The courgette plants mostly shocked me with how much/how consistently they produced throughout the summer. And I got into a good habit of making a courgette omelette for lunch (which was quick, easy, healthful and tasty). 

This year I've got some soft fruit bushes (planted late last year) - raspberry, gooseberry, jostaberry and mulberry - that I'm hopeful will produce. 

I'm also hoping my little fig will be established enough to fruit and that my cherry & pear will have more luck (which will really depend on when we get frosts). I know some of my trees (the damson, crab apple and quince) are too young to reasonably expect them to fruit yet, but you never know  

I am most definitely a fruit over veg type person... 

Are you going to try anything different this year?

The main thing I'm doing differently is moving things around and replacing a few things that seem to just not like my garden very much - things that have been in for 3ish years (in different spots in the garden) and still are failing to thrive. I'll give them to the lovely local man who helps me in the garden or if he doesn't want them they can compost. That means new things to go in their places - black and red current bushes (that are supposed to be good with shadier spots) 

I also got my finger out and actually planted my garlic and onion sets in (late) december - rather than waiting until they were on sale in April...  

Finally, for completely new plants:

I'm planning on trying a few carrots (have the seed already from a pack bought last year). My issue with carrots is using a bag full before they go manky, so I'm hoping being able to go out and pull them when I want them will be an advantage. I've also seen a few suggestions for what to do with carrot tops (such as making a pesto type pasta dressing) that I'm keen to experiment with.  

and I ordered some celeriac plugs (to be delivered in May I think). I've only had celeriac in pre-made soup... so it's new to grow but also will be new to cook with. 

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

I tried brassicas last year (broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and cabbage) - 3/10, would not recommend.... cabbage whites had a great time and I was constantly going out to pick off the caterpillars. Biggest issue, even worse, is that I realised I don't even really like the veg. 

I also tried potatoes for the first time. Did like (in tubs they were fairly problem free, just needed to remember to keep watering them), but I planted too many. So will plant again but fewer. Kept well in tubs so I could just tip one out when I needed them. 

Do you have any tips for growing?

I have no idea what I'm doing... but there's a ton of advice online and on here - and what's the worst that happens if you do something wrong? You spent a bit of money on a plant/seed that didn't thrive, but you learned from it and that's valuable in itself. You can always try again.  

Do you make anything with what you grow?

This summer I made 5 jars of mostly strawberry but some random blackberries jam, 4 jars of tomato chutney, 6 beetroot chutney, and 5 courgette chutney. (mostly all 'named veg with onions' as I had a huge onion harvest)  

I've had a taste of what wasn't enough to fill another jar of each, and they were nice (courgette and jam were great, the others okay) - but I'm keeping most of it until next autumn to give it chance to mature and so I have a rolling stock. 

How much does growing your own save you?

Minus lots of money for things like manure and a gardener to help me keep on top of the harder bits of work (I have a physical disability which limits what I can do) - but it's still cheaper than therapy. 

And a lot of the things I've put in (like the fruit trees and bushes) are one off expenses - once they're established it'll just be about keeping on top of the pruning and they should be a lot more productive in the next 2-3 years. 

Suffolk_lass

@ArbitraryRandom I love the advice bit - What's the worst that can happen if you do something wrong.

I have a redcurrant bush that is coming out this year. Yes, it fruits, but in ten years we have had one sprig of currants - even netting it, the birds love them before they are ripe enough for us (same with gooseberries - maybe 8-10kilos in three days once the greedy pigeon told their mates!)

I make jumbleberry jam if I don't have enough of one fruit (and I call it jingleberry at Christmas, when I give it away!)