Hi, I am still a beginner with growing vegetables (in good and prepared soil) and I would definitely grow spring onions, garlic, peppers, beetroot, beans, lettuce and zucchinis again. My tomatoes are just going red and you can buy them now for $1.99 per kg at New World. I also found that herbs grow way too prolific and take too much space to bother again (baring parsley and chives), as we don't use them enough (I threw out 2 buckets full of basil). What is your 'must' grow and 'better not'?
melford,
Feb 24, 3:14pm
I'm not growing tomatoes again as by the time they ripen they are cheap enough in the shops. I also don't grow potatoes as they are cheap enough at farmers markets or from the roadside stalls. I don't grow lettuce, strawberries, herbs apart from chives and parsley. I grow carrots, silver beet and leeks and sometimes beetroot. I have found by the time you buy compost and fertiliser plus all the messing around watering etc it is not worth growing certain things plus at the end of the season you have so much dead rubbish to dispose of
deanna14,
Feb 24, 3:27pm
I grow because I don't spray and delight in munching on something just picked knowing its pure. I grew parsnips last year, and would grow again. Tomatoes, pumpkins, capsicums, climbing beans, Silverbeet, potatoes, garlic, elephant garlic, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, spring onions, parsley, flat leaf and curly, cauliflower (still need to master them) broadbeans, beetroot (still need to improve there) and I would grow them all again. Only into my 2nd year growing. Am awaiting capsicums and my 1st chillies to harvest.
oh_hunnihunni,
Feb 24, 3:51pm
Beans. White flowered Italian runners - prolific, tender and so much better fresh picked than bought in. Cherry tomatoes in all colours because I like a colourful salad, freckles lettuce, two coloured courgettes, peppers, cukes, gherkins, spring onions, chives and salad herbs - basil under the cherry tomatoes because it helps both grow. Silverbeet and black cabbage in the winter, and this year I tried kumara for the first time, in a tiny tiny space. Fabulous growth - no idea when to harvest though, so I'm leaving it till the suspense is killing me.
And my punkins are a major disappointment.
I garden for pleasure though, and taste.
samanya,
Feb 24, 4:04pm
"I garden for pleasure though and taste". Same here hunni. I know that Kumara need around 6 months growing season & of course are frost tender & that's why I have never grown them as the climate is not suitable here. Good luck with them. In answer to the original question . I grow a lot of salad type things. Currently I have Pak Choi, caulis, cabbages & Broccoli, carrots, beetroot, onions, Kohl Rabi, Parsnips, Yams, Artichokes, Yacon, celery, celeriac, tomatoes, a couple of chillis, a few spuds left, spinach & Silver beet, Daikon, corn, beans for Africa, lettuces, asparagus (finished), strawberries & raspberries & heaps of culinary herbs. I'm lucky to have the space, but it is a lot of work but very rewarding.
lythande1,
Feb 24, 7:04pm
I grow herbs party to use but mostly for groundcover in the areas I don't want to spend my life weeding. I grow toamotoes - couldn't care less about shop price - I don't like those big flavourless things. I make relish and puree with the excess. I also grow the expensive things - passionfruit for instance, capsicums and things I can preserve or make things with. What I don't bother with really is the leafy stuff - lettuce, spinach etc. or onions and carrots. Don't use enough to justify the hassle of storage.
maccachic1,
Feb 24, 7:12pm
I grow loads because its so much easier to pop out the front door than to drive to the supermarket when I feel like something. I did find over winter I just picked the whole heads off the lettuces and they kept growing back all winter it was brilliant, didn't work in the warmer months they just went to seed.
samanya,
Feb 24, 11:39pm
Growing what you like to eat most of, is the answer, really isn't it? I aim for having enough to get me through winter (more or less) without having to buy too much ( I can afford it, but prefer to know how my veges have been grown). I love lettuce all year round, so that's an aim. Having something fresh & green & home grown on my dinner plate daily is another aim & I usually manage it after a bit of trial & error.
oh_hunnihunni,
Feb 24, 11:49pm
My freckles grow around the base of ornamental in my big pots. Worth it for the taste - I reckon these are the best tasting lettuces bar none, and they keep going all winter too. love 'em!
oh_hunnihunni,
Feb 24, 11:55pm
Funny thing about the kumara. My Mum used to start one off from a chopped off top in a dish of water, then pop it into a wall vase and keep it freshened up, and the vine would trail all round the kitchen. Thinking it'd be rather fun I tried to start one off, worked a treat but when I reorganised the kitchen I put the small vine into a pot of old mix outside. (I'm too soft to kill a non weed plant!) It say there on the deck, neglected through winter, then a few months back I tipped it out and found the inside of the pot literally filled with four or five miniature kumara. Too tempting - so into the garden the plant went, and it's triffiding all over the place, lol. Great fun.
dibble35,
Feb 24, 11:59pm
I grow beans and end up giving most of them away to my sister and work colleagues but it is worth it cause they love them. I grow tomatoes because they taste far superior to anything you buy in the shops. I grow zucchini (just 1 plant) because there's nearly always one ready to add to a meal when needed, or it makes a beautiful choc zucchini cake when I get to many. I grow oak leaf lettuce so theres always a salad there ready if I want it. I think I to will give basil a miss next year, and capsicum - cant grow them for some reason. Never bother with carrots as cant grow them very well either - shop ones are better than mine!
samanya,
Feb 25, 12:15am
They do make an attractive triffidy pot plant, don't they? My mum had one, but never anything remotely edible underneath it, I don't think, I'd never have known, but maybe I ate one? Who knows?. I guess some vege things we have to buy, but if we can manage to be able to wander out into the garden & pick a meal . I'm happy about that. That's my aim.
samanya,
Feb 25, 12:18am
I grow far too much for my own needs & it's so good to be able to give the extra away, isn't it? I give stuff away to people that have the space, but can't be bothered & yet they rave over the flavour that my veges have . hellooo? They could do it too!
gem661,
Feb 25, 4:36am
Srawberries
stefanie,
Feb 25, 4:43pm
Thank you for all the answers. I learned that tomatoes (as great as they are) are not really worth it, my celery is totally stringy (but very easy to grow from seeds), capsicums are definitely worth it and I gave away about 15+ heads of lettuces. ( The ones I grew from seed bolted early, but I found out are very edible afterwards for about 2+ weeks). I made the mistake of planting them out at the same time. As another poster mentioned, potatoes are nearly too cheap if you don't have the space and I also got rid of all my strawberries (the birds are so much faster getting them-even under cover, same with our avocados). I have tried brassica (brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli) and found them getting attacked by all sorts of insects too much. loved the kohlrabi, but can't find any seeds for it to buy. Same with fennel, but I didn't have much luck with that before. Raddish and rocket are ready before 30 days, and are definitely worth sowing every 3 weeks. My husband built us two good sized garden beds (additional to what was there) and he doesn't mind eating vegetarian as long as it's home grown. it's good fun and very rewarding.
jbsouthland,
Feb 25, 4:51pm
My father also grew them as pot plants. fist in the super heater cup red to sprout then placed in. A suitable jar of water so bottom got wet . I loved the bright green leafy trawl that decorated our mantle piece . We also grew onion heads and wheat men or hedgehogs. I'm sure these delightful projects are what started our love of gardening .
oh_hunnihunni,
Feb 25, 5:07pm
I'm sure you're right. Being brought up watching them do it made it almost impossible for us to think it wasn't normal to play in the dirt. And then seeing my beloved grandmother in her late seventies behind a wheelbarrow, and getting her begonias to drip flowers the size of dinner plates - I don't think I ever had a chance really!
dibble35,
Feb 25, 7:12pm
I managed to have just the right amount of tomato plants this year - last year I was freezing them and had relish coming out my ears. I do love going out in the garden every 2nd day and picking whats ready, having a munch of cherry tomatoes or beans as i go around. And knowing that its all naturally grown with no artificial ferts and definately no pesticides on it is great!
gem661,
Feb 25, 7:26pm
Same for me, it is a rewarding hobby gardening.
samanya,
Feb 25, 10:38pm
That's one of my pleasures, too.
samanya,
Feb 25, 10:49pm
A 'rule of thumb' in summer, leafy veges like spinach & lettuce will do well in a shaded spot. Spinach is basically a cooler weather crop. I have an a/c with Egmont & got my Kohl Rabi seeds from them. Have just planted more for a winter crop. I have often found that bought seedlings of lettuce & spinach, bolt way too soon, so now sow the seeds at regular intervals & get better results. It sounds as though you are getting it sorted & doing well for a beginner & you'll have failures & success's & learn what your garden will cope with & how much better your home grown tastes compared to commercial produce. I've been gardening for some years now & still can learn from here as this is always a forum where knowledgeable people are happy to share their secrets/tips. Gardeners are like that ;o)
reggienz,
Feb 26, 12:55pm
Iv'e found that silverbeet and lettuce bolts if its planted too early in the season. I like to plant around august and eat even after its bolted but after Jan/Feb plant another lot and they grew normally for most of the winter.
tub4,
Feb 27, 1:27pm
While you may not save a lot of money growing your own veggies we enjoy watching them grow and harvesting them fresh when we want to use them. We believe ours are a lot healthier to eat than commercially grown as we don't use sprays.
trogedon,
Feb 27, 1:42pm
Egg plant.
kindajojo,
Feb 27, 2:02pm
Grow what you eat. I plant Jersey Benne in August and have new potatoes for three months from Xmas when they are an awful price in the shops. Tomatoes, sure they are cheaper but the smell of a fresh pickd tomatoe. and if you make sauce relish etc it can last you all year. Carrots, parsnips, leeks, cauliflower and broccoli I have a patch he of mesclan salad that will self seed. so constantly picking salad greens. Perennial spinich Garlic . jumbo. great for roasting . and strawberries although don't seem to get a big crop its a race against the birds Really need a glasshouse.
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