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Enjoy Growing Your Own Fruits and Vegetables
You hear a lot of talk these days about how good vegetables are for you. The daily allowance of five portions of fruit and vegetables today is hard to do. But it costs a lot to buy fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. Despite all the guff about supermarkets being low cost places they still charge a lot for vegetables. It is not uncommon for a couple of heads of lettuce to set you back over $5.00. You can get vegetables cheaper if you go down to the Farmer's Market on weekends, but it can be out very cost effective to grow your own and much more rewarding. No matter what size space you have available, you can "Build A Garden" (see page on this website) or use pots and containers to your heart's content! Either way, you will LOVE having your own vegetables and herbs at your fingertips - LITERALLY! Here are some photos of the things I've begun growing this year. Let me tell you, they are DEEELISH and were a ton of fun planting and watching grow. Below are some of the fruits, vegetables and flowers I grow in my peaceful yard ~ Stop by anytime, you are always welcome!
Here are the top vegetables to grow on your own. I have based this list based on my own hard experience. These should suit the lazy gardener who has little time to carefully tend their crops every day. I like to grow in a largely organic way. The only chemicals that I ever use are a few slug pellets but recently found ORGANIC, PET-FRIENDLY product, waiting to see how that works. 1. Spinach beetThis is a great crop that is very easy to grow. The slugs and caterpillars will have a gentle nibble at it but largely leave it alone. You can plant it directly into the soil and thin out the seedlings when they come up. You just take off leaves when you need them. 2. RadishThese were the first veg that I ever grew as a kid. They had a big advantage that they came up quite quickly. They have a nice spicy tang and are best off eaten on their own. 3. LettuceLettuce can be easily grown and can be planted across the season. My personal favourite is the Tom Thumb as these can be picked very soon after sowing. Their size makes them very suitable as a single portion. The main problem with lettuce is that slugs and snails love lettuces and can destroy your whole crop. Slug pellets are some of the few chemicals that I would use on a garden. I understand that there is a biological control called nematodes, but I'm not sure where you can get hold of them from. (Beer is another technique you can use - see below) 4. CressThis is a great one for kids. The seeds can be grown indoors on a few sheets of tissue (best is unbleached) or in a little compost. It's not the easiest vegetable to eat but they can be spread on top of a salad or go nicely as an addition to a salad. 5. Cherry tomatoesThese are very easy to grow. They be grown from seed though I find that it is very easy to pick up seedlings from a village fete or from a vegetable shop or garden centre in late spring. They need alot of water. can buy irrigation hose pipe which will drip water at a constant
rate. 7. PotatoesPotatoes can be easily grown from either seed potatoes or the old potatoes that have started to chit (sprout shoots). They can be grown in a trench and as the potatoes come up it is necessary to keep them watered and to cover the sides of the plant with soil. They can also be grown in barrels or a particularly common practice is to grow them in old car tyres that can then be raised up with soil as the potatoes grow. 8. CourgettesCourgettes can be quite tricky to grow but with a greenhouse they can produce good results. They do not take well to no being regularly watered and can be prone to the same virus that effects cucumber plants. The secret seems to be grow the courgettes from seed yourself rather than buying them as seedlings from the garden centre. They can also be prone to aborting the courgettes that then tend to rot. 9. CarrotCarrots can be grown to good effect and they can generate good "beginners luck" in the first year. They are prone to carrot fly which can cause problems, particularly in the second year. I have found that baby carrots can be very effective - particularly if you mix them around other types of vegetable. So here are my top ideas. I once set myself a New Years Resolution to grow and eat ten vegetables in a year. With very little effort I managed to get to fourteen. Dealing with slugs My grandmother and mother taught me a very easy, safe, and effective
method for slug control that I wanted to share. Check out these links for fun, informative ways to garden!
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