What about eating?

[ChanellG]

I don't think it's less work to grow vegetables I jus like to pretend sometimes that it is. I don't grow perenial plants, but I do grow seasonal vegetables. I am a lazy person, but when it comes to being out in the garden I don't feel lazy at all if I am not making sense I'm sorry.

ROFLOL!!!!!

That is hilarious! You're making perfect sense, so don't worry. With all the work it takes to grow and maintain ornamental plants, let alone all the extra for edibles/food producers, I would hardly call you lazy. It's a huge time requirement in addition to the physical effort.

 

[Annetteb]

Yeah but the results are worth it. I always feel a sense if great accomplishment whenever I see my garden produce. I love growing and eating vegetables. Especially eating.

 

[ChanellG]

As well you should! It as a great accomplishment! Just battling the bugs to be able to have a plant, and then to protect the fruit to be able to have something to harvest... It's a real challenge! Gardening can be immensely rewarding or terribly frustrating and you never know which you can expect.

 

[Annetteb]

Yeah I hate the frustration, but the rewards are great. I remember when I was a kid and I would go help my mom pick okra. The first time I wore short sleeves and no gloves. I had rashes all over my hands and arms. The next time I mafe sure I was properly covered. I loved the sense of peace I got when we were finished. That made the discomfort worthwhile.

 

[justusforus]

I love gardening and not only growing and eating them, but also having enough to give away. I have just put in a fruit tree and can't wait till I can pick (yes and eat ) them. I find nothing better than homegrown fruits and vegetables. I still remember the first time a neighbor brought over some beefstake tomatoes. I was very young, not really a tomato fan but thought they were the best thing I ever ate.

 

[ChanellG]

Yeah I hate the frustration, but the rewards are great. I remember when I was a kid and I would go help my mom pick okra. The first time I wore short sleeves and no gloves. I had rashes all over my hands and arms. The next time I mafe sure I was properly covered. I loved the sense of peace I got when we were finished. That made the discomfort worthwhile.

Wow, interesting you would say that - I found the leaves on the okra plants we have to be a little irritating, and the okra pods were often moist and had this weird odor. I tried to remember to always wear gloves when cutting it because the smell is hard to get off my hands.

I love gardening and not only growing and eating them, but also having enough to give away. I have just put in a fruit tree and can't wait till I can pick (yes and eat ) them. I find nothing better than homegrown fruits and vegetables. I still remember the first time a neighbor brought over some beefstake tomatoes. I was very young, not really a tomato fan but thought they were the best thing I ever ate.

I delusions of grandeur of being able to grow enough to give away and now I am satisfied with successfully growing enough to have a meal for one, lol. My herbs are plentiful, and I often give some away, but that's about it. Next year I hope to have enough blueberries to be able to share at least a few with at least one other person.

 

[blazedrive]

My grandfathers place has a large jackfruit tree. Every year during the in season, the tree produces enormous jackfruits. I am not really fond of jacfruits, but the one at his place is really yummy to eat. He also has a small mango grove in his large garden. I have always wanted to grow mangoes and is something I plan on starting next year.

 

[ChanellG]

My wants to grow mangoes. She has a large back yard now and she has gone fruit tree crazy. She has lemon, lime, kumquat, orange, peach, plum, fig, and avocado so far. She's had the first three for a while, so they are actually mature enough to produce fruit. She also has a couple grape vines and lots and lots of season veggies.

Now that my work is taking me away from home more I am working on a garden re-design plan. Meyer lemon is still really young, though I'd like to add a lime and avocado at some point and possibly a fig tree. I'm not a fig fan but everyone in my family loves them. Right now I am considering an olive tree just because I love the way they look. They are so pretty! I need a winter plan for dealing with all these trees though, and a storm plan for summer.

 

[Annetteb]

My mom has two fig trees in her yard, but we haven't been able to take good care of them lately. I also think it was the cicadas that did more damage to it. I think the ones underground are feeding on the roots and killing the fig trees. I don't know if that's the case, but I think it is. We still git some pretty good figs this year, but not as much as we use to.

 

[ChanellG]

Are you feeding the fig trees, @Annetteb? I don't know if cicadas can cause that kind of damage or not, it may be worth researching their habits so you can come up with a plan to combat them. I suspect though that you may just need to increase your efforts a bit at fig tree feeding time to increase the fruit yield.

 

[Annetteb]

Yeah I will look into that. It's at my mom's house so I don't know what they do for it. I know that cicadas feed off the sap from the roots of trees as they hibernate underground. I know tgat because of this they can kill a tree.

 

[Trellum]

I'd love to be able to grow cucubers again, but sadly I don't have the space to do that (I had access to a real garden back when I lived with my parents!). If I can, I think I'll try growing my own cucumbers, lemons and maybe get a nice avocado tree!

Not sure about trying to grow other things like carrots, I think I'd need to be a very experienced gardener in order to do that... It makes me nervious not to be able to see the final product... maybe some of those nasty worms (we call them ''gallina ciega'' - don't ask me for the english name, but they're quite common... yikes!) could start eating the carrots

 

[gata montes]

I eat just about every vegetable there is, apart from onions - which I do like, but they don't like me but my real favorites are probably peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, potatoes. peas and broad beans.
There isn't a fruit that I don't eat - I eat them all in large quantities, either as they are or in smoothies, oh forgot apart from 'prickly pear' fruits, which I don't eat, as to me they don't taste very special and certainly aren't worth the effort of wearing protective clothing to prepare them.

I grow all my favorite vegetables, but not as many root crops or winter vegetables as I'd like to, mainly because every Winter, without fail, we have such terrible storms and flooding that my sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower would be sailing off, to who knows where.
I grow just about every fruit, apart from some of the more exotic ones, like bananas and mangoes etc, and would love to have an avocado tree, but, although they grow very well just an hour away from me, they don' t grow very well here at all, as our climate isn't temperate enough for them.

It all sounds like a lot of work, which it is, but I love it and enjoy every moment of it, and of course there is absolutely nothing, that beats the taste of fresh fruit and vegetables that you have grown yourself and just collected, from your own garden

 

[Annetteb]

I agree with you. Fruits and vegetables from your own garden are the best. I love eating garden grown foods rather than store bought because I don't have to worry about all the chemicals they spray on them.

 

[ChanellG]

@Trellum, you don't really need a lot of room for cucumbers. If you can give them something to climb up or down, you can grow them in a container. Do you have a place where you can hang a large basket or flower pot? My mom has hers in one of those coconut lined hanging baskets.

@Annetteb, I never knew that about cicadas, but I've never thought about it, either. I hear them around here often and I see the shells every now and then.

@gata montes, it does sound like a lot of work! I can barely manage with the plants I already have. Battling with insects and critters over food plants would make me crazy!