Helen asks…

Growing your own fruit and vegetables?

Can anyone give me ideas for growing your own produce. Problem is I have no room for a greenhouse and have a hard landscaped garden with no available borders. I was thinking of getting a couple of woodern frames to put on the patio to grow a few things. Other problem is: I travel a lot and struggle with watering of plants. Have you any ideas how I could overcome this? xx

admin answers:

Grow bags and an automatic watering system. You can get all the stuff you need at any decent garden centre.

Chris asks…

Are you growing your own fruit and vegetables to beat the high shop prices now?

Lettuce is so expensive now!
Nelly: There are lots of good books on the subject. Reader’s Digest being one of the best!

admin answers:

No I haven’t grown anything to beat the high shop prices now. I have been growing for years for control on how much ripening my produce gets. For taste by choosing my favourite sort. For the fun and exercise and fresh air. For the Flavour most of all. Basically for my pleasure. The cost has not been a factor and I have planted for many years. It is an added bonus not to pay the hideous prices for such poor quality produce sometimes, but my biggest reason is a love of growing things. And how handy to be creating some dish and realise you need a bay leaf, some oregano and a tomato and a capsicum. Just wander down and select which one you want and how much you want. I recommend this hobby to you if you are three years old or 93. It is fun.

Richard asks…

Do you have your own fruit/vegetable garden?

What sort of things do you grow? Why did you decide to grow your own fruit/vegetables? Do your kids help and does it help them want to try a variety of foods?

admin answers:

We’re going to try again this year, and this year I think we’ll be using mostly pots. The fireants and the soil here is just too hard to deal with. I plan on tomatoes, some pumpkins, sweet-peas, squash, some carrots. Because I grew up with a veggie garden and loved it as a child, and it’s sort of a nudged thing in my religion in order to be more self-reliant. My kids will help, and in the past every time I’ve done this every child I’ve had help (from my own to nieces/nephews) ALWAYS ate more veggies because they helped grow them.

Daniel asks…

How many of you grow some or all of your own vegetables/fruit?

and what methods do you use?
acowen: they might think your grow light was for something else huh;)
Fabulous: if you’re in Indy like your name suggests, I’m about 40 minutes north of you…

I’m trying to make our garden completely sustainable but that’s a project in the making……last year was not real great (sweet corn was terrible but we had a ton of squash and tomatoes)
Fabulous….I’m not veggie now, just used to be and I love vegetarian meals (I’m just outside Lafayette and we have a couple of really good health food stores, Nature’s Pharm and Sunspot)
Harley, companion planting is great and it’s not as commonly used as it should be!
Mike: I find it very disturbing that people can’t do what they want in their own backyards, especially when it’s something so good as growing your own food……zoning laws don’t prevent me from it yet but boy if they ever try…..
Andro…..oh how I agree, there are alot of resources on using native plants instead of turf (more natural and don’t use as much water) you can’t go to your states’ d.n.r. (if you’re in the u.s.) for regional sales of native plants.

admin answers:

I used to garden when we lived in the Berkshires on 47 acres and our planting was done in raised beds with bio-dynamic consciousness and companion planting. We also had a fabulous organic garden and orchard at Koinonia in Stevenson, MD years ago before it was sold. And there was an organic garden at the Merciful Lion too.
My grandfather had an organic farm on sandy Rhode Island soil that had never seen a chemical in 300 years. He gathered the sea veggies after a Nor’easter down at the beach to add minerals to his soil base. He also moved his hen house every three years to plant asparagus after a fallow season to grow the best asparagus in the state. Composting was very important to the success of all of these gardens.
If you are serious about gardening fruit and vegetables check out the work of Rudolf Steiner on BioDynamic Gardening. You may know about him through his educational philosophy — via Waldorf Schools. Steiner was a visionary and intellectual giant who had positive, practical ideas about everything from growing food to growing children and healthy living hich includes education. His work has which has stood the test of time. Weleeda products are connected to his philosophy.. Interesting man – great information.

Mark asks…

Do you grow your own fruits and/or vegetables???

admin answers:

I did that when I used to live in a house with a big, big back yard! Wow, one summer I slaved myself growing ALL kinds of vegetable!!! Tomatoes, corn, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, strawberries, cucumbers…OMG! Can’t remember what else…it was sooooooooo much work. I would go to the store and see that they had beautiful bunches or radishes for 50 cents, beautiful strawberries for 2 dollars per basket…lol!!! Other than the tomatoes, it was so not worth it. Now I live in a place with a very tiny are for gardening and I have 4 dwarf citrus tress…last year I actually had great Red Blood Oranges.♥

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