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The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

Dizzy_Ditzy
Dizzy_Ditzy Posts: 17,462
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edited 13 January 2017 at 2:20PM in Gardening
MoneySavingExpert Insert:

Huge thanks to Dizzy Ditzy for starting this off in 2017. You might also like to read some of our Grow Your Own Blogs.

Back to Dizzy Ditzy's post...

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Hello folks and welcome to the 2017 grow your own thread :D

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?




Happy new year, and happy growing!


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

There's a fab Facebook group called "Allotment Life" I'm not affiliated to it in any way but it's a fab little group. It's a closed group but is worth looking up if you're on Facebook.
I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Health & Beauty, Greenfingered Moneysaving and How Much Have You Saved boards. If you need any help on these boards, please do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert
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Comments

  • Jazee
    Jazee Posts: 8,888
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    Thanks to Dizzy Ditzy for starting us off again.

    I am growing fruit other than just strawberries this year, but in pots. I sent off for the offer via MSE recently and have loganberry, raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry and blackcurrant plants. They're in the greenhouse at the moment (unheated) but I'll be moving them out to a 'shelf' in the garden once I'm able to later this week (sprained ankle at the moment).

    I'm intending to grow more flowers as well as food this year but I won't be entering the local gardening competition this year.

    I am however, hoping to join a local gardening club.

    Good luck with all your growing everyone, and Happy New Year.
    Spend less now, work less later.
  • Fruittea
    Fruittea Posts: 956
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    Great to see the new thread DD. Thank you. I'll be planning to grow most of the usual stuff and to be supermarket free for most of the summer.
    I'm having a veg box from Able and Cole at the moment but it's mainly for peppers, tomatoes and salads. I still have plenty of potatoes, onions, garlic, herbs, greens, squash, parsnips and apples to get me through. There's also plenty of stock in jars and frozen so the last year was pretty good to me.
    Once again I'll count the cost of anything grown by me (which is new) and price it against the Supermarket and see how much it saves me. But that won't start for a few months.
    Hope to see all the old gang posting soon.
  • Dizzy_Ditzy
    Dizzy_Ditzy Posts: 17,462
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    All in all I had a pretty successful growing year last year. Potatoes weren't that great but they were plentiful. I grew oca this year but I wouldn't bother with that again because the results were very poor and quite frankly a waste of valuable growing space. Still using onions but down to the last couple now and we have tons of garlic still.

    Fruit wise it was fabulous - enough to make 60 bottles of wine! I made wine from gooseberries, blackberries, grapes and both a white and rose from rhubarb.

    Peas we didn't do well with at all but going to a wedding abroad right in the middle of the sowing/planting season threw us out of kilter completely. Runner beans did fantastically well - we only planted 8 and we had so many! Carrots did well and are still doing well. I grew parsnips for the first time but from plug plants - they grew but not that well - I used a 50/50 split of soil and sharp sand but don't think I used enough sand! They're definitely on the growing list this year. Sweetcorn and beetroot all did well and the chocolate beetroot cakes were always popular!

    We also grew spaghetti squash which was a winner.

    Greenhouse wise, tomatoes, chillies and peppers all did well.

    I'd quite like to try growing citrus fruit this year - maybe grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes but I need to do a bit of reading up on that

    Still picking sprouts and savoy cabbages and carrots so don't think it's going too badly really!
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Health & Beauty, Greenfingered Moneysaving and How Much Have You Saved boards. If you need any help on these boards, please do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert
  • youngie
    youngie Posts: 999
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    I tried several new varieties of tomatoes last year not impressed going back to money maker ,roma and gardeners delight
  • Flip1
    Flip1 Posts: 62
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    Ooooh a lovely new thread, thanks Dizzy Ditzy. I love reading about everyone's progress and quite envious at the amount and variety of produce that some manage to grow
    , as I only have a few planters. However I have had some success with parsnips in bottles thanks to ColinS thread. I had a good year of chillis a couple of years ago, but a disaster last year so I will be having another go this year, finger crossed.
  • e4rly
    e4rly Posts: 66 Forumite
    Hi, I would love to take part. I am very much a learner and in 2016 managed to grow some of the basics (a bonanza of tomatoes, strawberries, salad, squash, potatoes). I really enjoyed it and want to spend some quality time in my garden in 2017 - I will most probably be lurking to work out when I need to be planting what ;)
  • CAFCGirl
    CAFCGirl Posts: 9,122
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    Wishing you all a happy new year.

    New joiner if I may?

    Had my allotment for almost 2 years now and its pretty much just gone nowhere, with uni, an unhelpful 5 year old, not driving etc made it a challenge - plus my hand built pallet shed got burnt down by the horrid people who broke into the site.

    I digress. This year my promise to myself is to make tis the year of 'growth' both personally and with the allotment.

    Its a full size plot, next to a water tap (YAY!) and already has a pear, plum and cooking cherry tree. Then I have raspberries, gooseberries, red white and black currants as well as blueberry bush, wild and cultivated blackberries and some strawberries (PHEW!)

    Its basically looking like a dump at the moment, a few raised beds I've put in but it basically needs just about everything doing to it - including a new shed. I've even got a greenhouse sitting in bits in my garden waiting to be installed up there too!

    Today I'll be going through the seed box I think and getting that organised and writing myself a plan. I've promised myself if its not done by July (my plotversary) then I need to give it up.
    Manifesting Abundance in 2023
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  • Fruittea
    Fruittea Posts: 956
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    Good luck to all the newbies it's great to have a few more posters on board. And what a great time to start organising. I to will be going through the seed boxes and making choices about what to sow - so it would be good to know what others are planning.
    Don't think about giving up CafCGirl a whole allotment is difficult to manage - so why not choose just a couple of areas to focus on and cover up the rest until you get going - or plant some areas up with flowers so it looks nice.
    Last year I managed to grow produce to the value of £700+ I stopped counting in October - and that doesn't include produce in jars or apples.
    Anyone with fruit tress must save a fortune - so we are all very MSE.
    All the best for now and I'll post up any plans I make.
  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,460
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    Another Newbie here.


    I recently bought a new house, in part because of the large garden.


    My plan: to be self sustainable in veg in two years.


    The garden is currently massively neglected so at the moment I am trying to find it under all the bramble! Positive news: it used to have a veg patch so once weeded it is already laid out etc, although I do intend to extend it some what.


    What I am hoping to grow this year is mainly the 'basics' such as onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, salad leaves, root veg, beans, chillies and maybe some fruit bushes.


    Most seeds are already purchased so once the patch is cleared I am mainly waiting for March.


    I have previously grown a range of bits and bobs including tomatoes, chillies, asparagus, potatoes, garlic but now I am going to be growing on a larger scale!


    I have three freezers now, two are earmarked for spare produce that I will freeze to use during the non growing season.


    Any tips on successfully storing over produce is gratefully received. For freezing I have assumed part boiling before freezing is the way to go - if not or you have additional tips please share !


    So target is to definitely to be able to grow a few dinners in 2017!


    I shall give a progress update in the near future!
    YNWA

    Target: Mortgage free by 58.
  • Fruittea
    Fruittea Posts: 956
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    Hi Niv
    Good luck with your plans. It might be useful to monitor what you eat and what you really enjoy so you consider that along side your planting plans.
    I stick to growing the things I really like and is expensive in the supermarket. I like artichokes and fennel which cost around £2 a pop. I also have plenty of squashes which keep well right through the winter, also still have potatoes, onions and garlic from last year and plenty of green veg still growing on the allotment.
    I try to stretch the growing year by planting early varieties and then later ones so try to have fresh as much as I can.
    On storage - I can some vegetables but mostly make up sauces and chutney with any excess, I also have three freezers one large and two small. So I'm able to roast veg and freeze which works well and also make up lots of bolognaise sauce, veggie lasagnes and bakes. When you freeze the veg make sure you only blanch things for the minimum amount of time. This little video is very helpful http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-freeze-fruit-and-vegetables
    I also invested in one of those food savers which sucks out all the excess air and allows you to keep the food in the freezer twice as long.
    You can start some chillies off now and have them early as long as you have a sunny window sill. Broad beans are happy to go in in February if you can cover a bit of soil and keep it warm try some very early potatoes in late Feb to - depending on where you are of course.
    I'd definitely go with plenty of fruit I still have around 4 kilos of raspberries and strawberries which work well in jellys or smoothies - in the supermarket raspberries cost around £20 per kilo - so well worth the investment.
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