Growing your own food...

Greetings,

I thought it might be a good idea to post fruits and vegetables that are easy to grow by ourselves in/around our home...

I am in the process of getting some of the backyard converted into a min-garden and the first thing I plan to do is grow Potatoes in some old tires I got laying around. Potatoes can be grown in almost any condition and are great source of carbs

http://www.humeseeds.com/potato.htm

Anyone else have any fruits or vegetables that are easy to grow? I am looking into Onions and Garlic next with maybe Tomatoes and some herbs coming next.

Please everyone post what you would like to grow and what you would cook with it. I like Potatoes because you can fry them, bake them, put them in stews and other things.

My yard has rhubarb plants and raspberry bushes that keep producing year after year. All you have to do is trim the raspberry bushes down to about knee level in the fall or spring (doesn't seem to make any difference which).
Beans, peas and tomatos are easy to grow. Just picked peas are great right in the yard, or in a dish with a little creamy salad dressing and a bit of black pepper. No need to cook any of the goodness out of them.
Lettuce sometimes grows well in pots. Grow some near the barbeque so you can put ultra fresh lettuce on your burgers.
Onions usualy do well. Grow them near the barbeque, too.
One of the keys to growing food is the soil. If the soil in your yard isn't great, mix lots of manure and topsoil into it.

Don't forget carrots Very Happy

eric

I routinely grow potatoes, tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, beans, zuccini, cucumbers, and assorted herbs. Every year, I've been adding more manure and wood ash to the soil (occasionally some super phosphate) and the plants keep getting bigger and bigger. You have to watch out for bugs on the cukes, beans, and potatoes and herbs, but the peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes are generally insect-free. I use sevin if the bugs happen to be bad enough. We've been losing cukes, beans, and some herbs te past few years to a series of unfortunate groundhogs though Mad

This is the suburbs and I can't shoot them...and they don't seem to be eating the poison I put out. I consider the zuccini bug free but they routinely die from squash vine borer which is inevitable and hits them after a month and a half or so...just stagger plantings and everything works out. Up north, I have great luck with yukon gold potatoes (Ready very early in the season) and have given up growing anything else. Well, that was rather disjointed and rambling....

-Eric

Hey, cool another Eric, that makes three. Welcome to the forum Winter. It sounds like you sure know your eatables Very Happy

eric

Here's a recipe for making 'fries' by baking the potatoes. They are just like french fries, but healthier. You can adjust the seasoning to however you like:
- Cut 1 pound of large potatoes into fry-sized strips. (Peeling them first is optional.)
- Put strips in a bowl and sprinkle with black pepper and either ceyanne pepper, paprika, or chili powder.
- Beat 1 egg white and pour over the fries. Toss to cover evenly.
- Place the fries in a single layer on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for about 30 or 40 minutes, turning occasionaly so they do not stick.
- They are done when golden on all sides.
- Serves 4 people, with about 2 ½ teaspoons less fat per serving than regular fries.

Ive been trying to grow these http://www.humeseeds.com/cukelem.htm for the past 2 yrs, last yr I planted them too late, so they made it to the size of a small crab apple (1") and this yr I put the seedlings out too early and they all died, planted new seedlings and they havent done very well either... next yr will be the yr of the Lemon cuke!

I've never seen cucumbers like that. Next year you should be able to time the planting just right, based on past experience.
Last year my cucumber plants grew okay, but the cucumbers were no good. This year I've already canned a (very small) batch of pickles from cucumbers that I and a neighbour grew. I'm expecting more cucumbers as the plants are still blossoming.
The lettuce I planted in pots didn't come up at all. Next year I'll look for a different brand. The seeds I planted this year were the ones that come on a paper strip. I planted spinach very late in pots and it's coming up now. The peas and beans are doing well. The pepper plants are growing well and - knock on wood - might produce peppers. There has been lots of rhubarb (Mmmmmmm....rhubarb pie.... Very Happy

), and the first batch of raspberries are coming out now. Last year I grew a pumpkin from a seed from a pumpkin someone gave me the year before to use as a jack-o-lantern. This year I'm growing a pumpkin from a seed from last year's pumpkin. The plant has come up nicely, and I'm hoping it blossoms.

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

Our neighbor has a huge garden, but he is getting on up in years and isn't quite the spring chicken he used to be. Surprised

He grows pretty much everything....you name it, he's got it. Cool

We don't have a garden ourselves, but we do have some potted tomato plants on the back porch. They're doing pretty good. Very Happy

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17