Anyone growing food

I have raspberry's, gooseberry's, blackcurrants and strawberry's in the garden as well as scallions and I am plating tomatoes and lettuces today. I have make yogurt in a flask and have make wine, beer and homemade raspberry and blackcurrant liquors.

Thing is I am sure if you took all the effort in to account it would be cheaper to get it in the supermarket, but you would never get the same satisfaction form buying it as from growing it.

I would love to make homemade cheese and salami as well haven't got around to that yet.

Anyone else doing the same.

Menas

I have some strawberry beds that produce lovely strawberrys every year. Just 4 or 5 a day for about 3 weeks in June....but yummy.
The good thing about growing strawberrys is that they need minimal effort to grow.

The Backwards Man

Spuds, lettuce, early yorks, cauliflower, sprouts, gooseberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and apples( never managed to eat any, the dog always gets them first), tomatoes and peas. All the peas actually, had to buy an extra freezer to hold them all last year.

Oh, and nearly forgot the rhubarb.

gramar

End of the month it'll be time for planting a few spuds...carrots, broccoli, lettuce, onions and a bit later a few cherry tomatoes. A small patch, easy to grow and
look after. Wouldn't feed the masses but nice to eat your own produce and a bit of a passtime.

kylith

Trying to get my allotment keys, but the feckers are all 'yeah, we hope to be ready to open soon'. Meanwhile all that's growing there is a lovely crop of weeds

Trying to grow in my garden is impossible with the dogs; they either eat everything or sleep on top of them.

MonkeyTennis

Apples, Strawberries and Raspberries. Also truing Chilis this year ( Patio Door with loads of sunshine)

Never know what to do with all the apples. The rest all gratefully eaten

I often wonder if something happened in the world would we in Ireland be able to grow enough food to feed ourselves, say everyone was given an acre of land how much food could you produce.

TinCanMan

mariaalice wrote: »

I have raspberry's, gooseberry's, blackcurrants and strawberry's in the garden as well as scallions and I am plating tomatoes and lettuces today. I have make yogurt in a flask and have make wine, beer and homemade raspberry and blackcurrant liquors.

Thing is I am sure if you took all the effort in to account it would be cheaper to get it in the supermarket, but you would never get the same satisfaction form buying it as from growing it.

I would love to make homemade cheese and salami as well haven't got around to that yet.

Anyone else doing the same.

How did your wine turn out? Was it drinkable and what recipe did you use?

gramar

mariaalice wrote: »

I often wonder if something happened in the world would we in Ireland be able to grow enough food to feed ourselves, say everyone was given an acre of land how much food could you produce.

I'd have thought you could feed a fair few people for a year off an acre. It's not too far of the size of a football pitch. Once it's well managed and with a bit of variety there there should be no problem. You'd have room for a few animals aswell although they'd need feeding too!

Pretzill

Just got a greenhouse so looking forward to red tomatoes this year! Have seeded brocolli, peppers, cucumbers, beetroot and others - have lots of herbs and will be planting onions and spuds this weekend - have blackcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries but had to build a special raised area for the strawberries because my dog snaffled them all last year!

Great weather for the garden this week - and yeah it does cost more to grow it yourself but it tastes finer knowing you've done it yourself. I will be cursing it all when the rain comes, the slugs take their share and the cabbage white is laying her eggs and the weeds...the weeds.

Yep, I'm growing these little beauties.

http://oi57.tinypic.com/2djryw6.jpg

Can't wait till they grow ripe and plump for harvesting xxx

TinCanMan

TinCanMan wrote: »

How did your wine turn out? Was it drinkable and what recipe did you use?

The gooseberry wine was interesting the beer and the liquors were very good. I also make sloe gin and was told it tasted like jagermister, to me it had a sight whiff of cough bottle but was nice to drink

Duggy747

Trying to grow lasagne but it's harder than it seems.

Dog of Tears

Carrots, Spring Onions, Lettuce, Raddish and Shallots.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades!

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Yep, I'm growing these little beauties.

http://oi57.tinypic.com/2djryw6.jpg

Can't wait till they grow ripe and plump for harvesting xxx

Was walking up in Glencullen at the weekend, lots of lovely lambs frolicking about, my husband said how cute they looked in my mind eye I saw lovely tasty legs of lamb. I am not sentimental about how we get food.

donegaLroad

just starting today... spring onions, lettuce, cabbage, rocket

Boom_Bap

Moved from After Hours

Ghost Buster

Yes only cos I was given a poly tunnel. Spuds, Corn, assorted greens, tomatoes.
I also inherited an orchard with gooseberries, rhubarb, raspberrys and blackcurrants as well as the apples.
To be honest if i werent handed it like this I probably wouldnt bother as Im not convinced by the minimal price difference involved in starting from scratch as against buying them.
Itsd fairly labour intensive as well and who has the time!

miezekatze

I grow my own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, peppers, spinach, lettuce, radishes and onions. It's nice that more people are getting into it. I've only had my own garden for a bit over a year, before that I grew tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce and courgette in pots on my balcony.

Dizzyblonde

I'm growing rhubarb, herbs, cherry tomatoes (they're still on the windowsill until the end of May). I'll be growing beetroot as I do most years in order to make beetroot chutney. I bought courgette plants last week - they yield loads and I usually make courgette chutney with some of them. I have kale in the vegetable patch since the winter but it's going to seed now. I grow mixed lettuce every year too.
I have a dwarf pear tree that produced tons of fruit last year, and I have a black elder so I might make elderberry cordial this year. Last year I bought two red gooseberry bushes and I don't know yet how much fruit they'll yield.

Shenshen

Not at the moment, the garden isn't really suitable right now. We're planning on levling it out, and then I will have some raised beds there again.

I'm planning on growing all the lovely things that can be so difficult to find in Ireland - summer squashes, broad beans, artichokes, daikon, might try my hand at white asparagus, jerusalem artichokes, waxy potatoes (Bemberger Hoernchen, a tribute to my home town).
And some cherry trees.

The only things I've got at the moment are 3 plum trees (red plums and yellow ones), with last years harvest being turned into plum jams, plum chutneys, plum crumbles and last but by no means least a really yummy plum liqueur.
And some loganberries, most of which ended up in jams as well.

gramar

Shenshen wrote: »

The only things I've got at the moment are 3 plum trees (red plums and yellow ones), with last years harvest being turned into plum jams, plum chutneys, plum crumbles and last but by no means least a really yummy plum liqueur.
And some loganberries, most of which ended up in jams as well.

I forgot about the plum trees...4 or 5 of them out there from when I bought the site and with the exception of one year the branches can barely cope with the weight of them.

Plenty of blossoms on them at the moment and they'll be in full flower in a few days so it looks like another good harvest unless there is a late frost.

I eat a few, give away more and the rest go to waste. I always say I'll make jam and never do but I don't really eat jam anyway so not much incentive.

sligojoek

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Apples, Strawberries and Raspberries. Also truing Chilis this year ( Patio Door with loads of sunshine)

Never know what to do with all the apples. The rest all gratefully eaten

I've been growing chillies for a few years. I'd get them planted ASAP as the year is getting on. Try to keep the seeds warm day and night until they get established. Also keep them away from the patio door at night until all danger of frost is gone.

Alice1

I don't have a garden really, but would love to grow mustard leaves. I'm told you can grow then in a pot. Any advice please because I've never done this?

Pretzill

Alice1 wrote: »

I don't have a garden really, but would love to grow mustard leaves. I'm told you can grow then in a pot. Any advice please because I've never done this?

Yes they grow very easily in trays - I just scatter the seeds thinly on some compost and cover lightly - if you're going to try mustard grow a tray of cress as well they make a lovely combination in a cheese sandwich and grow to picking size very quickly!

On a related point has anyone made salami and cheese at home?

Jawgap

That's the wife's department - she grows it, I cook it. This year we have

In the greenhouse
• Tomatoes
• Peppers - sweet and chili
• Aubergines
  
  In the beds
• Leeks
• Parsnips
• Carrots
• Onions (the variety she grows are delightfully pungent)
• Garlic
  
  In the garden
• Raspberries
• Blackcurrants
• Redcurrants
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Various herbs
• Spuds (lumpers)
• Pumpkins

I only just finished with the last of 2014's onions and still have some garlic left.

We also have 4 hens, which I look after!

pwurple

Yes!

Not as much as I'd like though, full time jobs etc.

Herbs
I've got loads of herbs, into our edible herbs. Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Chives, Parsley, Bay, Lavender, Lemon Balm, couple of types of basil. All from cuttings or seeds. I use wild garlic as a herb as well, patch of that in the garden. Do a lot of things like chive pesto...

Edible Flowers
I love edible flowers in salads and as decoration on desserts/cheese too, so pansy's, nastursiums, voilas and marigolds and other bits and pieces for that.

Nuts
I've a couple of hazels, but hoping to increase in a few years from cuttings.

Fruit
We've got two very old apple trees, the flavour isn't great to be honest for eating apples, but they are too stunning to chop down. Had a go at making cider last year, but didn't come to much. Better luck with chutneys and jams.
Gooseberries, Blackberries (are a total weed, but they comes over our wall and we eat them), strawberries of course. We has raspberries in our last place, but I won't grow them again. Too invasive for me, I can't keep up with them.


Veg
Spuds, onions and garlic are happily growing away. I've just put down some tomatos, I like the cherry varieties best. There's some beetroot that I pick the leaves off for salads, must pull them up at some stage. Peas are in my seed tray, hope to get them out soon. Various lettuces comes and go. I find veg very labour intensive to be honest, compared with everything else. Staking and thining and all the rest. So we don't do as much of it, because I don't have the time.

mymo

I have baby spinach started, last year it grew from April to late October, pumpkins and peppers started. We have apples, blueberries, raspberries and blackcurrents too. I plan to plant butternut squash (only got two squashes last year as I had to go away at a crucial time and the plants were half dead by the time I got back), peas, lettuce, shallots (delicious), leeks, and possibly carrots, although not had much success with them last two years.
I'm in middle of building a stone raised veggie bed and need to get it done in the next week or two.
Also have herbs growing.
Hope to get a good crop in the new bed this year, I need a bigger garden!

Jawgap

mariaalice wrote: »

On a related point has anyone made salami and cheese at home?

I've done some paneer and some air dried and smoked sausages (which would fall into the definition of salami).

I'm not offering advice, but a good understanding of botulism and how to prevent it is, imo, a worthwhile thing to have if you are heading down the road of a bit of home made charcuterie.

Sourcing good quality casings is another issue - I bring mine back from the UK (in the car - there's no way you'd get something as smelly as good quality beef or sheep casings on a flght )

I did look it up and it did say you have to buy a culture and a starter for the salami to make sure its cured properly and you don't end up poisoning you self.

Pretzill

Jawgap can you ask your lady where she got the Lumpers? I'd love to try some of our old potato varieties -

Forgot I have apple trees, plum, cherry and pear but none have been overly productive in recent years - and seeing as this is moved to food & drink - sage and cashews with a little garlic and olive oil make a lovely pesto!

Shenshen

gramar wrote: »

I forgot about the plum trees...4 or 5 of them out there from when I bought the site and with the exception of one year the branches can barely cope with the weight of them.

Plenty of blossoms on them at the moment and they'll be in full flower in a few days so it looks like another good harvest unless there is a late frost.

I eat a few, give away more and the rest go to waste. I always say I'll make jam and never do but I don't really eat jam anyway so not much incentive.

I've actually started eating more jam because the homemade one turned out so well. I made it with a little bit of cinnamon - plums and cinnamon, match made in heaven

Shenshen

Oh, forgot the herbs.

I've got rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, bay, oregano, majoram and chives in the garden at the moment, with coriander and basil sitting on the window sill.

Pwurple, how did you get the wild garlic started? I collect some every year, but haven't managed to grow some myself yet.

Jawgap

Pretzill wrote: »

Jawgap can you ask your lady where she got the Lumpers? I'd love to try some of our old potato varieties -

Forgot I have apple trees, plum, cherry and pear but none have been overly productive in recent years - and seeing as this is moved to food & drink - sage and cashews with a little garlic and olive oil make a lovely pesto!

She got a stock from a stall on the quays (I think it was there as part of the Maritime Festival) about 2 years ago, then grew them and kept a few back as seed for this year.

I have to be honest, from a gardening / cultivation point of view I can see the attraction of bringing back into wider use some neglected varieties of spuds and veggies - but from a cooking point of view, the lumpers are a pain in the h**e to prepare, and no matter how I cooked the few we had the end result was visually unappealing - they seem to cook to a grey colour!

Give me the George Hamiltons any day.......


You know George Hamiltons?????








.................the common taters!!! :D:D


I'll get me coat.........

pwurple

Shenshen wrote: »

Pwurple, how did you get the wild garlic started? I collect some every year, but haven't managed to grow some myself yet.

I think it got dropped in by a bird! It just started itself in a crappy corner of the garden, and I have been pulling everything else away from it.

I'd say relocating a clump would be the best way really... rather than seeds. I do love it though, delicious in an omelette or clear soups, flowers and all.

Pretzill

pwurple wrote: »

I think it got dropped in by a bird! It just started itself in a crappy corner of the garden, and I have been pulling everything else away from it.

I'd say relocating a clump would be the best way really... rather than seeds. I do love it though, delicious in an omelette or clear soups, flowers and all.

We got some from a friends garden in the Southeast and it's now happily growing here in the Northwest - wild garlic and cheese soda bread is delicious!

katydid

mariaalice wrote: »

The gooseberry wine was interesting the beer and the liquors were very good. I also make sloe gin and was told it tasted like jagermister, to me it had a sight whiff of cough bottle but was nice to drink

Do you have a recipe for gooseberry wine? I've made rhubarb wine, which was also...interesting, and I've tons of gooseberries in the freezer from last year. I need to use them before the next crop comes along.

I did make gooseberry liqueur by steeping 300g of gooseberries, 250g of sugar and some lemon zest in a litre of vodka and leaving it for four or five months. Nice stuff with a few ice cubes.

Minder

In the garden at the moment are strawberries, gooseberries, blueberries, a couple of apple trees and a plum tree. Also have a herb bed with rosemary, chives, thyme, sorrel and bay. I lifted a couple of sage bushes but they didn't like the move and promptly expired.

Starting seeds for chioggia and golden beetroots; white scallop and crown prince squashes. Also starting a variety of tomatoes. Adding perilla and borage to the herbs and starting a few salad leaves and some chard.

Gloomtastic!

Mostly herbs because I go through so many - thyme, rosemary, sage out in one of the raised beds and I have coriander seedlings on the windowsill.

The other raised bed has strawberries, brocolli and spring onions, all doing well for now.

Also got chilli seedlings on the windowsill. Learnt how to take care of them properly last year so looking forward to a bumper crop this year - we live in eternal hope!

spaceylou

First year doing it so it is all a bit of an experiment. Also trying to only grow stuff that will be okay in pots (can be large) as we are renting and might move in the next year or there abouts.

On the kitchen window sill - gets loads of sun:
Chilli's; radishes (although wondering if it is a little hot for them); mint; coriander; sage and thyme. The mint and thyme both came from my gran's garden - the mint is thriving but the thyme is a bit slow to take off - does anyone have any tips for it - how much water, how much heat etc?

Hope to have some rosemary soon (cutting from mum's garden next weekend) and might try grow some mustard seed and watercress for salads.

In large pots in the garden:
Gooseberry Bush
Rocket
Radishes
Beetroot

This year as I say is a bit of an experiment, seeing what works and what doesn't and hopefully supplementing the stuff we eat a lot of with homegrown rather than supermarket.

Muahahaha

can I ask about growing blueberries and blackberries? I've only a balcony, what size do the plants grow to? Also is there much of a yield ? I've grown strawberries before but not really sure if it was worth the effort given the yield, are blueberries and blackberries similar?

OldMrBrennan83

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Alun

I have two small raised beds but haven't planted them yet .. can't decide what to put in to be honest. It'll probably be some dwarf french beans and some spinach.

Also have the usual herb garden staples ... chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, mint and thyme, and lemon balm.

I planted a lovage plant last year which survived the winter frosts and has popped up again this year, thank goodness.

Dizzyblonde

Muahahaha wrote: »

can I ask about growing blueberries and blackberries? I've only a balcony, what size do the plants grow to? Also is there much of a yield ? I've grown strawberries before but not really sure if it was worth the effort given the yield, are blueberries and blackberries similar?

As far as I know blackberry bushes grow huge so they're probably not suited to a balcony. I have a blueberry bush in a pot on my patio for about 5 years and I get lots of fruit off it, once I remember to put a net on it so the birds don't eat them all. It's really easy to maintain, I just feed it with a liquid tomato food once the fruit appear. They say that if you have two side by side, even in different pots, that you get a lot more than twice the amount of fruit.

Gloomtastic!

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Not really. I know Rosemary, Sage, Thyme and Parsley grow fine without cover. Buy the pots of herb in the fruit & veg section of your supermarket - they're a fraction of the price of garden centres. Plant them outside and leave them for a bit to grow before you start picking them.

Harvest the stalks (Prune them) in the autumn and freeze them.

Muahahaha

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

As far as I know blackberry bushes grow huge so they're probably not suited to a balcony. I have a blueberry bush in a pot on my patio for about 5 years and I get lots of fruit off it, once I remember to put a net on it so the birds don't eat them all. It's really easy to maintain, I just feed it with a liquid tomato food once the fruit appear. They say that if you have two side by side, even in different pots, that you get a lot more than twice the amount of fruit.

Thanks for that, sounds like its blueberries for me How big is the pot you used, also what month do they tend to yield? And do you have to bring the pot indoors for winter?

Alun

Yes, pretty much anything will grow outside as long as it's not too exposed. The only things that may not fare too well are more delicate herbs like basil or coriander.

Rosemary is pretty much a perennial as is thyme. Sage dies back a bit depending on how bad a winter it was but grows back no problem. Chives die away completely but sprout up every spring again like clockwork. Parsley is a biennial, but is usually a bit of a mess in the second year and goes to seed quickly so it's better to treat it as an annual and root it up and replant afresh each year.

Dizzyblonde

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for that, sounds like its blueberries for me How big is the pot you used, also what month do they tend to yield? And do you have to bring the pot indoors for winter?

I've got it in a cheapo plastic pot, roughly 14 ins/36 cm in diameter. It doesn't need to be taken in for the winter and it yields fruit from July. When you're buying the compost, make sure it's ericaceous compost because that's what blueberries do best in.
I'm pretty sure I bought the plant itself in Aldi for a few euro.

vicwatson

Chives, Parsley, Basil, Tomatoes and Peas, hope to do spuds/carrots next year when I get raised beds going.

Elmpark

Got an allottment last year, so this is the first season with it all set up. Put in raised beds and have bits and pieces planted - cabbage, turnips, broccoli, artichokes (for next year), strawbs, beets, broad beans. a few spuds in pots.