Growing your own - is it worth it?

[Anna]

It only seems a week or so ago that I said I had baby beans but I've now had my first harvest of White Lady. Probably picked a bit young at 9" but absolutely stringless and very tender. Most impressed with amount of blossom and almost 100% setting, (so it's lucky that I like them!) On the tomato front, I bought different varieties from the market one of which, Shirley, must have been incorrectly labelled because I have a lot of trusses of small plum tomatoes. From a shaky start they are doing better re amount of fruit than the other ones which were Sun Gold and Alicante.

[gradus]

My apologies I'm late in responding. I still use Dithane left over from earlier seasons and it was still effective at controlling peach leaf curl. Luckily we've had very few Smith Periods and blight pressure here is very light this year allowing spuds to complete their growth (so far at least) and I'm pleased to say, outdoor toms to ripen and I've taken a chance and not sprayed, however my San Marzano 2 plum toms are growing very well in the open but have virtually no fruit setting which is baffling as they are normally very reliable, perhaps its a dodgy strain?

[amateur51]

... my San Marzano 2 plum toms are growing very well in the open but have virtually no fruit setting which is baffling as they are normally very reliable, perhaps its a dodgy strain?

Are they growing in trusses?

[umslopogaas]

Thanks Gradus, I also have some left-over Dithane, but dont remember doing any spraying this year; anyway, here in east Devon I have seen no sign of blight and I'm starting to harvest my Pink Fir Apple spuds. Its a bit early, they are main crop and would be bigger in September, but I ran out of space in the veg patch, so grew the remainder in large pots. This worked OK but required endless watering, spuds need lots of water and the pots dry out very quickly. In the end I got fed up with carrying cans of water, and harvested them. Quite a good yield, bit of slug damage but no problems with mice, unlike the one in the veg garden I sampled. I will probably do pots again next year, but I must get the hosepipe set up!

[gradus]

Very variable crops from early potatoes, from one ten foot row about 7lbs, in the next bed same yield from three plants! Quality is not bad though and I don't really want big spuds from earlies. Re avoiding blight, one way advocated by Alan Romans is to grow second earlies that keep, to avoid the need to spray, or of course, grow Sarpo varieties. Personally I quite like Mira and Axona although others take different views but the spuds are entirely blight free.
I grew La Bonotte in tubs last year from the virus free minis sold (at a great price) by Thompson and Morgan. For such a vaunted variety the taste was ok but didn't merit the hype and I kept some back and have them growing in the ground so will see if they taste better this Summer.
My main crops are doing ok although we are sorely in need of rain - but not too much nor too long!

[umslopogaas]

I havent come across La Bonotte, I'll look it up on the T&M website. Since I'm only growing for myself (apart from what I give away to friends and neighbours) and growing spuds takes up rather a lot of space, I concentrate on Pink Fir Apple, because they are difficult to find in the shops, and delicious. I have heard generally good reports about the Sarpo varieties and when I last checked the blight resistance seems to be holding up well.

(For anyone who hasnt heard of Sarpo spuds, they were bred in Hungary and appear to be totally resistant to blight, so dont need spraying. Gradus mentioned Mira and Axona and there was a third variety whose name I have forgotten).

Peas are just about finished and runners are just starting. I made a mistake with the French beans. I interplanted them among the spuds, but the spuds rather smothered them. I might try interplanting them among the onions next year, there always seems to be a lot of wasted space in an onion bed, and by the time the onions get big enough to be bothered by competition from beans, the beans will be finished.

We certainly do need rain, but there's none in sight. It'll be out with the watering can again tonight. Heigh ho, the exercise must be good for me.

[doversoul1]

The wheat has been harvested, Victoria plums and Damsons are colouring. Summer is coming to a close but what a most amazing year for gardening this has been! The weather has been absolutely perfect, no badgers, no caterpillars. Peas and beans by bucket full. I don’t think there has been a year like this and I don’t expect there ever will be again.

Yes, growing your own is definitely worth it.

[ed.] the wheat is not mine.

[cloughie]

The wheat has been harvested, Victoria plums and Damsons are colouring. Summer is coming to a close but what a most amazing year for gardening this has been! The weather has been absolutely perfect, no badgers, no caterpillars. Peas and beans by bucket full. I don’t think there has been a year like this and I don’t expect there ever will be again.

Yes, growing your own is definitely worth it.

I would agree - outside stuff has been good - gooseberries, redcurrants, broad and runner beans in freezer - garlic hanging in garage - but greenhouse stuff particularly tomatoes have been in danger of frazzling!

[amateur51]

The wheat has been harvested, Victoria plums and Damsons are colouring. Summer is coming to a close but what a most amazing year for gardening this has been! The weather has been absolutely perfect, no badgers, no caterpillars. Peas and beans by bucket full. I don’t think there has been a year like this and I don’t expect there ever will be again.

Yes, growing your own is definitely worth it.

Gosh dovers, it does all sound to be terribly hard work, though i do envy you the damsons - yum!

A great year for English apples, I heard on the radio recently and plums are always a treat too. Aren't we lucky?!

[french frank]

I am now fed up (!) with runner beans and propose to pick just a few more very young and let the rest ripen to harvest the beans themselves and dry them. Does anyone else do this? Apart from boiling them thoroughly before eating, any other tips?

(Before the autumn I'm planning a geranery - is there a more obliging plant, varying in growth habit, than the herbaceous geranium?)

[ardcarp]

Can one ever be fed up with runner beans? Very early this year, like everything else, so autumnal roast-beef Sunday lunches will be without them, I guess. Brilliant year for greengages, BTW.

[doversoul1]

Can one ever be fed up with runner beans? Very early this year, like everything else, so autumnal roast-beef Sunday lunches will be without them, I guess. Brilliant year for greengages, BTW.

I definitely never (fed up with runner beans). It is only what? a few weeks of the year when I can eat them (I don’t ever buy them).

An odd sort of a failure: my climbing French beans have grown massive but they have very few beans. I wonder this is because the foliage is so thick that nothing can reach the flowers to pollinate.

Yes, greengages. My old tree produced a nice crop for the first time in many years. The problem is, once I have tasted them, nothing else is good enough.

[french frank]

The runners were ready just about when the peas and broad beans ran out. I could be eating runner beans at every meal now and they were beginning to get huge because I couldn't keep pace with them. Disguising them as a starter, tossed in butter and garlic, didn't help either.

(Also, a new greengrocer has just opened up round the corner - so I don't even have to cross the road to the Co-op now - all the vegetables I could want ...)

[hedgehog]

The runners were ready just about when the peas and broad beans ran out. I could be eating runner beans at every meal now and they were beginning to get huge because I couldn't keep pace with them. Disguising them as a starter, tossed in butter and garlic, didn't help either.

(Also, a new greengrocer has just opened up round the corner - so I don't even have to cross the road to the Co-op now - all the vegetables I could want ...)

If you feel you might eat runner beans in one or two months time and have room in a freezer (a fridge with a separate freezer compartment is fine, but not a little freezer box within a single door fridge then they do in my experience freeze well after blanching: http://www.gardenfresco.co.uk/growin...g-runner-beans

Especially if they are then just lightly sauteed still frozen, not first thawed or, similarly, put in a sauce.

[french frank]

and have room in a freezer (a fridge with a separate freezer compartment is fine

I do sometimes think getting a freezer would be a good idea ...