For me, bog standard carrots, onions and main crop potatoes are a waste of precious water and growing space
I totally agree with all that @Nollie - except I do still enjoy growing onions. When everything else is just thinking things over underground they're popping their little green heads up for a look around, which cheers me up no end. I also feel a little bit french when I have onions and garlic hanging up to dry. Need a bicycle and a stripey t-shirt too though - or maybe I'm stereotyping.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
That no-dig gardening does not mean never-dig. When the couch grass and bindweed get out of control in my veg bed, it's okay to dig over a section to remove the roots. I still feel guilt about disturbing the microbiome and all the severed worms.. and a bit of failure that my mulches do not magically suppress 100% of the weeds.. but sometimes digging is the only way.
I still grow carrots and onions, @paul_in_surrey, just not the bog standard ones! I grow the Paris round type carrot which I roast whole in olive oil, honey and cumin seed. Plus local pink garlic and a type of flattened pink onion called Cebe de Figueres which is very sweet and caremellises beautifully to make a ‘sofrito’: onion, garlic and tomato paste which is the base for a seafood fiduea - bit like a paella but using noodles instead. Catalans wear a type of flat cap/beret thingy, must get one
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
You're right Nollie,I just grow runner beans and courgettes,apart from salady type leaves,everything else is cheap in Lidls.There's just something about picking your own runners!!😁
The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
Yes, reminder to self that veg I buy in the shops usually tastes better than anything I grow, no matter what how anyone insists homegrown tastes best. Not in my house.
Mmm, not sure I'm totally on board with all this. I like growing veggies. I'm not deluded enough to think they're better or cheaper than you can buy (although my sweetcorn and broad beans were pretty good last year) but there's a real pleasure in seeing a veggie garden with all its produce ready to go. Also, there are reasons why some supermarket produce is so cheap.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
I don't dare calculate the cost of my some of my home-grown produce.. if you add time and labor, the cost per pound is eye-watering.
I'd rather just enjoy my time, and I'm sure they taste better simply because of all the sweat (and money for various garden supplies) they took to produce.
It is a delightful process, satisfying and great to share the harvest. And I'm sure other people's produce may well taste better than mine. But I am not under any illusion that the organic veg I buy is not better tasting than my own.
Surely freshness is the key to growing your own? And the chance to grow unusual varieties that's are not easily obtainable in the shops. Got my first allotment this year can't wait to take my granddaughters there to pick and eat the veg.
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I'd rather just enjoy my time, and I'm sure they taste better simply because of all the sweat (and money for various garden supplies) they took to produce.
Got my first allotment this year can't wait to take my granddaughters there to pick and eat the veg.