Grow your own...
 

So I like to grow things...have a bit of a green thumb as it were, in fact I can use the shittiest potting mix, or even like MUD that I find in a park or whatever, throw stuff in it, water every couple of days and it (tends to) thrive.
Guess the weather here's pretty good for that though, so might not be all me.
I like to touch what I grow, as it grows...some folk might say that's what does it...some like me might not...I just like having a tactile connection to something I've seen from day one.
Weird hm?

Anyone else garden?

Now, I also have a 600w HPS son-t-agro that I've yet to put to good use...need to deck out a wardrobe after doing a little research, to grow the obvious, and maybe some ox heart tomatoes and huge fully grown mature basil & oregano's, even thought about a spiral-trained passionfruit vine.
Another story anyways.

I've been looking into pretty much perpetually growing things, and found two.
Potatoes, and mushrooms.
There are some very simple small indoor/outdoor setups to pretty much keep you in potatoes and mushrooms year round - they're really easy and not all that dependant upon "sunny" conditions. I'm essentially mentioning this to let people know about something really easy to grow that will provide foor on an ongoing basis.
Potatoes are still relatively cheap, but hey, money saved is just that...and mushrooms, are going up in cost.
I just think it's great to harvest and use your own produce.

I'll also be doing some hanging strawberry gardens in-season, or maybe throw a few in under the hydroponic light if the sun doesn't allow for it.

Thought about getting another light/closet setup exclusively for vegetables, so that my lack of garden space will stop being an issue...I'm essentially a veranda gardener right now...and hey, it works for me...but I'd like more.

So there's my second random thread in a while.

Anyone here grow their own....anything?
What have you got going on? What are you thinking about doing?
Most/least successful crops?

Talk about it.

I used to grow a lot of stuff- flowers & veggies, but the place I've lived for several years now has no space for it. I used to always have some tomatoes growing, because there's nothing like a fresh tomato. I love growing things and I really miss it.

I know, how good is a tomato off the plant?
Love it. The smell of the plant is also very nice to me.
They must put so much rubbish on them pre-sale, they excel in blandness sometimes. Kumato would be a great thing to grow as well.

There's a point too, back on the smell...I love the small of fresh produce...it's like a while other thing.

If there's about a fridge/wardrobe worth of space, even in a garage, it's well worth looking into an indoor setup...the initial layout isn't much and the amount of produce yeilded by a single light can be astounding.
I've seen entire gardens of about 8 herbs and spices, various lettuces, zuchinis, beans, and tomatoes growing under a single.

Also, check into the mushroom thing, very small space requirements.

You should do what you like, right?

I grow a few things at home.

Herbs including tarragon, thyme, chives, parsley, rosemary, mint, basil.

Sweet potatoes

Chillis - white habanero, jalapeno, naga jolokia, fluorescent purple, tobasco.

Spinach

Tomatoes

Beans

Eschallots

I have thyme & lemon thyme (the regular grows like a madman, huh) a small purple chilli tree that will hopefull grow again one day...ha, it had a hard childhood...red geraniums and jade, some regular mint...hm...think that's about all at the current time - gearing up to plant some more things at the moment.

Sounds like you've got some good space there.

I'm just getting into growing myself. My ma used to come home from the store with the leaves of plants that she liked. She could always get them to root, so she never had to buy her own house plants. I'm not that good, but you have to start somewhere. I know alot of people who would agree that working closely with your plants, touching and talking to them, really does help them to grow. I even know people who swear playing some classical music a couple times a day will help too. I touch and talk to my plants, I love putting all my 5 sences into growing.

I too have been looking into a nice HPS indoor system. They are dropping in price, and ex-pot farmers are selling them dirt cheap all the time. Wisconsin can easily hit -40 degrees in the winter, and I can't build a green house here. Gotta get HID to keep growing all year.

Yeah, there is nothing like fresh vegetables. The flavours are so much more intense than most store bought produce.

I find growing herbs to be especially good - you usually only need a small amount for a meal. I find if I buy a bunch from a grocer, most of it ends up going to waste because I just can't use that much. Being able to just cut off a sprig or two from the garden is so much more convenient.

I forgot a few other things we have - strawberries, oranges, lettuce, and a big macadamia tree that gives us more nuts than we can use. The dog eats a few that fall on the ground, it's amazing watching her crack the shells with her teeth.

I would like another lemon tree (we had one that died a few years ago). The thing that really annoys me about store-bought citrus is that unless I get them from an organic market, they are waxed. Which makes them look good, but I would rather not use zest from waxed fruit if I don't have to.

Nice Manchester. 12 years ago I lived near Pheonix Arizona and had 22 fruit and nut trees. No macadamias, but two almond and four pecan trees. We also had greatfruit lemons tangerines oranges apples peppercorn and 4 peach trees. I hated mowing that yard and I'll never own a peach tree again, but nothing beats that freshness(and lack of wax).

So true. Sounds like an amazing garden you had there!

My wife has recently obtained an allotment plot and is slowly but surely clearing it up and planting a wide range of veg and herbs. Already had a shit load of the ever faithful rhubarb out of it, made some great rhubarb crumble with it.
There are some big plans afoot over this plot of hers so hoping to reap the rewards at the end of Summer.