David in Normandy wrote:
I've had similar responses from people, surprisingly some pensioners who
lived through food shortages during the war. One old lady refused to eat
any of my fresh home grown greens because they had the odd caterpillar
hole or similar damage. She preferred to buy perfect looking but
pesticide ridden limp greens from the supermarket.

Perhaps they're working on the basis that they've done their stint having to
live through a food shortage, and now they deserve to be able to eat as much
pesticide as they like.

I too have had people turn up their noses at root vegetables because
they had traces of soil on them! Some people are really bizarre!

To be honest, the one thing I hate most about home grown veg is the amount
of washing off soil that one has to do. I like the potatoes that come out
clean. They're great. :-)

David in Normandy wrote:
A good idea if someone could arrange it, would be to have some local
drop-off points where people with surplus vegetables could leave their
produce for collection by one of those charities associated with helping
to feed the elderly or those living in poverty with no garden themselves.

Hmm, there's a UK organisation who make a thing about going out collecting
surplus unwanted fruit from garden trees and distributing it to Worthy
Places.

The name of the organisation slips my mind, and I can't think offhand what
to google for, but your google-foo may be better than mine right now if you
were interested.

Bob Hobden wrote:
We give some to family/friends but none of them live close so do I drive
them there? If I do I put up the cost of MY veg so it's a lot cheaper and
easier to return them from whence they came, the soil, if we aren't going to
see them anyway.
Neighbours do take some, but Runner Beans, for example, are a British veg so
only two households would eat those.

I've just spotted the neighbours gossiping outside and presented them each
with 3 courgettes (cue lots of "ooh, what's /that/?" for the yellow ball
ones!) and a handful of french beans (one of the 3 declined - oddly, the
youngest of the 3), and some raspberries for the lady next door.

Dave Hill wrote:
The drought set my beans back so none for about another week and 2nd
lot are just showing the first flowers.

Which reminds me, I did the experimental "digging a trench under half the
bean plot and not the other" approach this year. The trenched ones are
split between "doing really well" and "still only in flower", but that is
clearly split on variety.
The other side (ok, it's not a good experiment, as these are totally
different varieties!) - the dwarf canellini beans are good, but the runner
beans are all a bit ropey looking so far!

Looking in Tesco today they had packs of Value Beans for 45p BUT the
pack was just 3 beans, Kilo price was ?4.00 and they were from Kenya.

/3/ beans? I need to see these packs! That's just a waste of plastic!

The Spray for marking pods etc
Oasis flower colour, ask your friendly florist or find a wholesale
florist. must be cheaper than ordering on line
http://www.onlinepackagingshop.co.uk...ay-colour.html

Cheers.

On 09/08/2010 19:34, wrote:


To be honest, the one thing I hate most about home grown veg is the amount
of washing off soil that one has to do.

That was my pet hate about home grown leeks - they usually had to be
picked in the rain, so by the time I'd donned wellies and waterproofs,
paddled down to the veggie patch and dragged them out of the ground
covered in ud, I had freezing cold hands. Then there was all the
cleaning off to do, with cold water, by which time my hands were blue.
And they still ended up with far more mud and grot down the stems than
shop bought. In fact, I finally decided that it was easier to buy them
from the supermarket.
Now, I've got very little space for veggies, and a remaining son at home
who will only eat peas and sweetcorn (the frozen variety - where did I
go wrong as a parent?!?) so I restrict myself to my favourite, runner
beans, and a couple of courgette plants.
Jill

On Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:02:29 +0100, Jill Bell
wrote:

On 09/08/2010 19:34, wrote:


To be honest, the one thing I hate most about home grown veg is the amount
of washing off soil that one has to do.

That was my pet hate about home grown leeks - they usually had to be
picked in the rain, so by the time I'd donned wellies and waterproofs,
paddled down to the veggie patch and dragged them out of the ground
covered in ud, I had freezing cold hands. Then there was all the
cleaning off to do, with cold water, by which time my hands were blue.
And they still ended up with far more mud and grot down the stems than
shop bought. In fact, I finally decided that it was easier to buy them
from the supermarket.
Now, I've got very little space for veggies, and a remaining son at home
who will only eat peas and sweetcorn (the frozen variety - where did I
go wrong as a parent?!?) so I restrict myself to my favourite, runner
beans, and a couple of courgette plants.
Jill

I grow a few spuds in large buckets

When I harvest them, I throw them onto the sward and
hose them down. let them drain and then take them indoors for a final
rinse.


--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

Probably all of them die, if it's frost. And they would have all died had you had twice as many.

But growing fewer means you can have a greater variety of stuff, so more resilience. So this year you may have fewer courgettes, but maybe the aubergines have done well, that normally you wouldn't have had space for.

All you need to do with leeks is to trim the unwanted green bits off, the roots and then stand them green side down in a bowl of cold water. All the grit drops out.

Have to confess I much prefer Frozen peas to the fresh ones, except when the fresh are straight out of the garden and eaten raw.

Off hand I cannot think of a vegetable which we ever have so much of that we can give it away even to family. Mind we eat more veg than most people and very little meat.

Had the first Juiced Apples today, lovely and sharp.

Why do you have to wash leeks in cold water?

Whereas my three plants are producing about two a week. But I haven't room for more than 3 plants, so I just accept that some years are almost courgette-free. (This year we're eating a lot of french and runner beans)

Jill Bell wrote:
That was my pet hate about home grown leeks - they usually had to be
picked in the rain, so by the time I'd donned wellies and waterproofs,
paddled down to the veggie patch and dragged them out of the ground
covered in ud, I had freezing cold hands. Then there was all the
cleaning off to do, with cold water, by which time my hands were blue.
And they still ended up with far more mud and grot down the stems than
shop bought. In fact, I finally decided that it was easier to buy them
from the supermarket.

Blimey, you're a lot nicer to your leeks than I am. I just stick a big fork
under them and ease them out, and if they snap then, well, I was going to
chop it up anyhow. :-)

Now, I've got very little space for veggies, and a remaining son at home
who will only eat peas and sweetcorn (the frozen variety - where did I
go wrong as a parent?!?) so I restrict myself to my favourite, runner
beans, and a couple of courgette plants.

We have loads of space, with 1.5 allotments and a garden and 2 greenhouses.
And yet we /still/ run out of space cos we go mad at the potato day every
year ... !

"Dave Hill" wrote
"Bob Hobden"
"Dave Hill" wrote

I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food,
Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some
"Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is
freezing, salting and jam and chutney making.
If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when
properly ripe they will last well into the winter.
I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next
years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods
I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident).
With runner beans I do 2 sowings, with the 2nd sowing end of June/
early July so that they will crop almost till the frost.

We give some to family/friends but none of them live close so do I drive
them there? If I do I put up the cost of MY veg so it's a lot cheaper and
easier to return them from whence they came, the soil, if we aren't going
to
see them anyway.
Neighbours do take some, but Runner Beans, for example, are a British veg
so
only two households would eat those.

The drought set my beans back so none for about another week and 2nd
lot are just showing the first flowers.
Looking in Tesco today they had packs of Value Beans for 45p BUT the
pack was just 3 beans, Kilo price was £4.00 and they were from Kenya.
The Spray for marking pods etc
Oasis flower colour, ask your friendly florist or find a wholesale
florist. must be cheaper than ordering on line
http://www.onlinepackagingshop.co.uk...ay-colour.html

We are growing three different varieties of Runner beans as usual this year
so no good keeping seed.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK