I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single item
that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There were a few
that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the supermarket, and
there are some where we just grow them for fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with supermarket-grown:
* onions
* butternut squash
* potatoes
* courgettes
* runner beans
* leaks
* redcurrants

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn
* peas
* french beans
* raspberries
* cherries

Ones I would miss if I could only supermarket them:
* strawberries (a close second place)
* all other tomatoes not in 1st place

Absolutely essential GYO item:
* Gardeners Delight tomatoes

Anyone else want to offer up their favourites? (I'm bound to have forgotten
something!)
--

wrote ...((snip))
I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single item
that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There were a few
that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the supermarket, and
there are some where we just grow them for fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with Supermarker/Greengrocer produce...
Courgettes
French Beans
Parsnips (not that keen on them)
Swede (see below)
Strawberries (see below)

Don't agree with your pain to grow list, they are all dead easy to grow
here.
I find the following a pain to grow....
Strawberries (weeds)
Raspberries (run everywhere)
Swede (get mildew and rot)

Ones I would miss or could not replace...
Thai Dragon chillies (hot)
Inferno chillies (mild)
Various potato varieties
Ferline and Fantasio Toms ( superb flavour when cooked in a sauce or just
fried)
Sprouts and cabbages
Peas
Shallots
Boysenberries and Loganberries

As for "Gardeners Delight" toms, yuk!

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
wrote ...((snip))

I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single
item
that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There were a
few
that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the supermarket, and
there are some where we just grow them for fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with Supermarker/Greengrocer produce...

Courgettes
yes
French Beans
seldom use them
Parsnips (not that keen on them)
yes - use a lot more than I could grow
Swede (see below)
yes - use a lot
Strawberries (see below)
my alpine strawberries are still cropping - just, but I never buy any.


Don't agree with your pain to grow list, they are all dead easy to grow
here.
I find the following a pain to grow....
Strawberries (weeds)

Grow alpines, close together, and they shade-out the weeds, cropping
from May to November, and sometimes December

Raspberries (run everywhere)

But can be weeded, uprooted, transplanted or given away with consummate
ease. Still picking my autumn golden ones.

Swede (get mildew and rot)

No room. Ground is certainly suitable.


Ones I would miss or could not replace...

Thai Dragon chillies (hot)
Inferno chillies (mild)

Chillis grown in pots here - Jalapino mainly.

Various potato varieties

I sling a few green ones in, sometimes, and grow tubs full of pink fir
apple.

Ferline and Fantasio Toms ( superb flavour when cooked in a sauce or
just fried)

Most of my toms ae seedlings from seedlings from seedlings, and are
delicious any way you like. Skins tend to be tough thobut.

Sprouts and cabbages

Not enough room - can get excellent stuff locally - indeed, next-door
has a little stall, and his cabbages and runner beans are lovely.

His tomatoes are &£$@**! awful though.

Peas

Never seem to crop well, so I buy frozen - by the scoop.

Shallots

I always orget to make a bed for them.

Boysenberries and Loganberries

Boysenberry has grown a foot in two years - it doesn't seem to be happy.
Loganberry is thriving, and so are the &%$@*X! blackbirds...

As for "Gardeners Delight" toms, yuk!

They're not that bad. I like Ailsa Craig.

--
Rusty

On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:43:42 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:

Strawberries (weeds)
Grow alpines, close together, and they shade-out the weeds, cropping
from May to November, and sometimes December

Have ordered a dozen plants to try for the very first time, Can you
suggest spacing distance.

Thanks

www.lincolnfuchsiasociety.info

Derek wrote:
On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:43:42 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:

Strawberries (weeds)
Grow alpines, close together, and they shade-out the weeds, cropping
from May to November, and sometimes December

Have ordered a dozen plants to try for the very first time, Can you
suggest spacing distance.

Nine inches keeps the weeds at bay. They'd probably appreciate more
room, and they do bulk-up into significant clumps. Propagation is by
seed - there are no runners.

I have lots of seedlings and shrivelled fruit with pips on - want any?

Some of them are probably crossed with either wild strawberries or Royal
Sovereign as the fruits tend to be of all sizes from ickle to
top-joint-of-thumb.

--
Rusty

Hi Rusty

I have lots of seedlings and shrivelled fruit with pips on - want any?
Some of them are probably crossed with either wild strawberries or Royal
Sovereign as the fruits tend to be of all sizes from ickle to
top-joint-of-thumb.

That's very generous of you, I have grown strawberries for over
twenty years, but never Alpines, (never even tasted any) . I would be
grateful for the chance to attempt to grow some.

Derek
17 Minster Drive
Cherrywillingham
Lincoln LN3 4LR

wrote in
:

I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single
item that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There
were a few that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the
supermarket, and there are some where we just grow them for
fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with supermarket-grown:
* onions
* butternut squash
* potatoes
* courgettes
* runner beans
* leaks
* redcurrants

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn
* peas
* french beans
* raspberries
* cherries

Ones I would miss if I could only supermarket them:
* strawberries (a close second place)
* all other tomatoes not in 1st place

Absolutely essential GYO item:
* Gardeners Delight tomatoes

Anyone else want to offer up their favourites? (I'm bound to have
forgotten something!)

I could not go with that , apart from onions and other alum.
Its possibly a mental thing with us, but we much enjoy our home grown
anything rather than shop bought.

New peas, broad beans and new potatoes will always be in the home list.
Sweetcorn has to be high too,
Runner beans, oh how can you?

Dont tell Pete about the leaks!

Tomatoes and strawberries are always, always absolutely the number 1. and
are essential but broad beans are......

Nice thread, made us all think a bit.

Baz

On 19/10/2010 12:53, wrote:
I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single item
that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There were a few
that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the supermarket, and
there are some where we just grow them for fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with supermarket-grown:
* onions
* butternut squash
* potatoes
* courgettes
* runner beans
* leaks
* redcurrants

Purple sprouting broccolli, sprouts and calabrese are fun and not too
difficult. And fresh lettuce just from the garden tastes nicer than
supermarket grown. Though you end up with a glut if not careful.

Fresh herbs are also worth growing - nothing beats using them fresh from
the garden. Carrots are a bit trickier but nice from the garden.

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn

Slug ate all mine at 4" tall this year.

* peas
* french beans
* raspberries
* cherries

Raspberries are fairly easy and with the right varieties available for a
fair chunk of time and not too heavily pinched by the birds. Other
fruits like blackcurrants, blueberries and jostaberries need netting to
get any crop at all.

Ones I would miss if I could only supermarket them:
* strawberries (a close second place)
* all other tomatoes not in 1st place

Absolutely essential GYO item:
* Gardeners Delight tomatoes

Anyone else want to offer up their favourites? (I'm bound to have forgotten
something!)

I like growing unusually coloured cultivars. Purple or white carrots,
yellow courgettes, black tomatoes (actually not worth it at all), yellow
ones are fun tho. I usually let one marrow plant have the oldest compost
heap to itself. This time of year we have apples and Japanese nashi
pears. Tend to end up with way too many chillis.

Heroic failures include aubergines and asparagus which really doesn't
like our heavy clay soil. I get a couple of stalks per plant per year
and strawberries have invaded the bed...

Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote:
Purple sprouting broccolli, sprouts and calabrese are fun and not too
difficult. And fresh lettuce just from the garden tastes nicer than
supermarket grown. Though you end up with a glut if not careful.

I had some good purple last year, but this year's was a failure, and I'm not
sure I've got any coming for this winter. Sprouts are always too small and
fiddley to deal with, and are just as cheap to buy! Although I do have 49
plants on the go atm. :-) All a bit small cos they went in a bit late,
though.

I am not a fan of lettuce, and the times I've tried growing it, it's either
died or bolted, then been fed to the chickens. I have a load in the
coldframe in the garden, destined for the chickens, all bought at 5-10p a
strip from B+Q last weekend! We shall see.

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn
Slug ate all mine at 4" tall this year.

Ours were doing well, we thought, but then they just stopped growing. Got
to about 4' tall and then ...

Raspberries are fairly easy and with the right varieties available for a
fair chunk of time and not too heavily pinched by the birds. Other
fruits like blackcurrants, blueberries and jostaberries need netting to
get any crop at all.

I had no problem at all with my red and black currants, possibly cos there
are so many plants that the birds could never eat them all! :-)

Raspberries are a bit of a bugbear of mine atm, as - I don't know if it's
the variety (we inheritted them on the plot), but they seem to go from
unripe to overripe and squishy /awfully/ quickly. The yellow ones seem to
last a lot longer on the branch before turning to squish. I'm seriously
tempted to bin the lot (and there are a /lot/) and start with fresh ones.
:-(

I like growing unusually coloured cultivars. Purple or white carrots,
yellow courgettes, black tomatoes (actually not worth it at all), yellow
ones are fun tho.

Me too! Although they always seem to be such a disappointment. :-(
Couldn't agree more about the black tomatoes - tasteless and squishy, every
variety we've tried! May have another go with a different one next year,
but I'm not holding out hope. Did get some lovely pink cherry tomatoes this
year (I believe they were 'garden pearl', which I believed to be red, but
whatever it was, they were definitely pink!), and a new favourite for
reliability on the yellow - 'vova yellow' (seeds picked up from Hampshire
potato day) did exceptionally well for me this year.

But nothing beats my GD for taste! :-D

Yellow courgettes I've never managed to get going well, no idea why - best
we get is always the 'green bush' courgettes, which crop and crop forever
(picked some just this weekend still!), but the yellows always either don't
germinate, or like this year, they are the ones eaten by the slugs when the
green ones are left untouched! (And yes, I mean the plants, pre-fruit, so
no idea why!!)

I usually let one marrow plant have the oldest compost
heap to itself. This time of year we have apples and Japanese nashi
pears. Tend to end up with way too many chillis.

We did chilli plants last year, and none got touched.

Heroic failures include aubergines and asparagus which really doesn't
like our heavy clay soil. I get a couple of stalks per plant per year
and strawberries have invaded the bed...

Our aubergines were a bit of a failure too - like the melons, they all
started fruiting way too late, no idea why. :-( Last year we got loads,
though. The asparagus also not doing well - too much asparagus beetle, I
think.

On 20/10/2010 09:44, wrote:
Martin wrote:
Purple sprouting broccolli, sprouts and calabrese are fun and not too
difficult. And fresh lettuce just from the garden tastes nicer than
supermarket grown. Though you end up with a glut if not careful.

I had some good purple last year, but this year's was a failure, and I'm not
sure I've got any coming for this winter. Sprouts are always too small and

Don't give up on it just yet.

Mine last year was eaten to within an inch of its life by caterpillars
when I was away on holiday (came back to skeletal plants and fat
caterpillars) and still it managed to do OK for me in the spring.

fiddley to deal with, and are just as cheap to buy! Although I do have 49
plants on the go atm. :-) All a bit small cos they went in a bit late,
though.

I reckon they are a bit sweeter just fresh off the plant. Almost time to
go off picking sloes now we have had a couple of frosts. I don't grow
them in my garden but they are in all the hedgerows round here.

I am not a fan of lettuce, and the times I've tried growing it, it's either
died or bolted, then been fed to the chickens. I have a load in the
coldframe in the garden, destined for the chickens, all bought at 5-10p a
strip from B+Q last weekend! We shall see.

Grows easily enough from seed (but seed doesn't keep that well). Again I
like odd varieties with colours or funny shaped leaves.

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn
Slug ate all mine at 4" tall this year.

Ours were doing well, we thought, but then they just stopped growing. Got
to about 4' tall and then ...

Strange. I usually have a bumper crop all at the same time. This year
didn't get enough decent sized plants to even set the fruits.

Raspberries are fairly easy and with the right varieties available for a
fair chunk of time and not too heavily pinched by the birds. Other
fruits like blackcurrants, blueberries and jostaberries need netting to
get any crop at all.

I had no problem at all with my red and black currants, possibly cos there
are so many plants that the birds could never eat them all! :-)

Never had the birds touch redcurrants. Don't know why. If you have hens
it is worth growing a jostaberry bush just to watch them jump up at it
to get the fruit. Birds will kill for them!

Raspberries are a bit of a bugbear of mine atm, as - I don't know if it's
the variety (we inheritted them on the plot), but they seem to go from
unripe to overripe and squishy /awfully/ quickly. The yellow ones seem to
last a lot longer on the branch before turning to squish. I'm seriously
tempted to bin the lot (and there are a /lot/) and start with fresh ones.
:-(

You have to pick over most raspberry canes every day or couple of days
in season to maximise yeild. Let a few go off and the little fruit flies
get hold and things can go downhill quickly.

I like growing unusually coloured cultivars. Purple or white carrots,
yellow courgettes, black tomatoes (actually not worth it at all), yellow
ones are fun tho.

Me too! Although they always seem to be such a disappointment. :-(
Couldn't agree more about the black tomatoes - tasteless and squishy, every
variety we've tried! May have another go with a different one next year,

We do swaps with other local growers of slightly odd veg.

but I'm not holding out hope. Did get some lovely pink cherry tomatoes this
year (I believe they were 'garden pearl', which I believed to be red, but
whatever it was, they were definitely pink!), and a new favourite for
reliability on the yellow - 'vova yellow' (seeds picked up from Hampshire
potato day) did exceptionally well for me this year.

But nothing beats my GD for taste! :-D

I have them coming up as volunteers most years but they seldom get big
enough to have more than a single truss.

Yellow courgettes I've never managed to get going well, no idea why - best
we get is always the 'green bush' courgettes, which crop and crop forever
(picked some just this weekend still!), but the yellows always either don't
germinate, or like this year, they are the ones eaten by the slugs when the
green ones are left untouched! (And yes, I mean the plants, pre-fruit, so
no idea why!!)

They are briefly vulnerable just after transplanting so I always put a
few slug pellets down. Never noticed any bias in yellow vs green ones
surviving - this year the yellows thrived and the greens didn't.

Regards,
Martin Brown

wrote in message
...
I've been having a think, and I've definitely come up with one single item
that I would /really/ miss if I couldn't grow it myself. There were a few
that I would miss cos they Just Aren't the Same from the supermarket, and
there are some where we just grow them for fun/easy/something to do.

Ones I could easily replace with supermarket-grown:
* onions
* butternut squash
* potatoes
* courgettes
* runner beans
* leaks
* redcurrants

Ones that are nicer home grown, but a bit of a pain to grow:
* sweetcorn
* peas
* french beans
* raspberries
* cherries

Ones I would miss if I could only supermarket them:
* strawberries (a close second place)
* all other tomatoes not in 1st place

Absolutely essential GYO item:
* Gardeners Delight tomatoes

Anyone else want to offer up their favourites? (I'm bound to have
forgotten
something!)
--

Not having a vegetable garden exept for a 5' x 5' raised bed specifically
created for runner beans, I had zero success this year. Not one bean
germinated :-( last year I planted young plants and had a good crop.

Not even looking at the other crops, I definitely miss my runner beans.
BTW, they were in TESCO for £1.50 .....for just 19 beans(pods that is)

Bill

Bill Grey wrote:
Not having a vegetable garden exept for a 5' x 5' raised bed specifically
created for runner beans, I had zero success this year. Not one bean
germinated :-( last year I planted young plants and had a good crop.

Oh no! I wonder why that is? We had a good rate of germination, and
they're still flowering and being pollinated even now, with insect drop off
due to the cold.

This year I planted french marigolds (the greenhouse was absolutely
overflowing with them!) under my beans, which may have helped. If you send
me your address I can send you some saved seeds once the greenhouse ones dry
up (assuming they don't all go mouldy, as it's getting a bit damp in there!)

Not even looking at the other crops, I definitely miss my runner beans.
BTW, they were in TESCO for ?1.50 .....for just 19 beans(pods that is)

Yeah, my neighbour (whose greenhouse I've taken over) said they were
expensive. In fact, I think she said 5 for 1.50! So you got a bargain for
19. But that was much earlier in the season.

I suppose I would miss my beans if I didn't get them, but I like runner
beans for their prettyness, rather than their crop. I much prefer the
French or borlotti beans for general cooking. But it's nice just being able
to grab a handful of baby runner beans (supermarket ones are always too
big!) and throw them in the pan for a couple of minutes.

Ok, I take it back, I'll keep my runners. :-)

wrote in
:


Ok, I take it back, I'll keep my runners. :-)


See. Runner beans, you didnt realise how much you like them till you see
the price in shops. I think we all have coocked dinner and thought oh no
not blummin runners again and then ran out of them. You still have a few
you lucky thing. Ours have all gone now, but for goodness sake the price of
them in the shops!
Btoad beans are the same but I think they freeze quite nicely, unlike the
runners.

Think of us when you are tucking into your last few.

Baz

"Baz" wrote in message
...
wrote in
:


Ok, I take it back, I'll keep my runners. :-)


See. Runner beans, you didnt realise how much you like them till you see
the price in shops. I think we all have coocked dinner and thought oh no
not blummin runners again and then ran out of them. You still have a few
you lucky thing. Ours have all gone now, but for goodness sake the price
of
them in the shops!
Btoad beans are the same but I think they freeze quite nicely, unlike the
runners.

A friend of mine - an acomplished gardener used to store his runner beans
(sliced) in brine.

Bill

"Bill Grey" wrote in
:


A friend of mine - an acomplished gardener used to store his runner
beans (sliced) in brine.

Bill




Did your friend cook or part cook them (if any)before putting them in
brine?
Too late of course for this year but its something to try next year.
Some people would rightly say that its maybe not economical, but I love
mucking about with this type of thing an cut off a bit of the carbon
footprint if poss.(complicate subject!)
Every little helps.

Thanks for the idea.
Baz