Do You Grow Your Own Ingredients?

karadawn

karadawn

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14 Apr 2014
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Just curious how much of your own food you grow for cooking. Last summer we had tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower that we incorporated into supper on a regular basis, as well as basil growing in the window all year. This year we're expanding to some other fresh veggies and adding more herbs to the kitchen window.

What do you grow? Do you can and freeze it for winter?
 
In the Philippines, the only seasons we have are the dry and the wet season, which by today's standards would also equate to, "hellish-hot season" and "freezing cold season", haha.

But kidding aside, we grow our own ingredients - though only some fruits and vegetables. Much of what we grow, though, are used more to aid cooking than being actual ingredients themselves. Standard vegetables like pepper, tomatoes are the things we grow at home. But because we don't have a season that makes it dangerous for these things to grow (unless we're talking dry season, we just have to water them a lot), we don't can them. We just pluck what we have and buy the others we don't have, haha.
 
We recently moved to a small home on a farm and is now setting up our own small vegetable patch. Mostly it will consist of tomatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, onions, some herbs and berries. We especially love the Cape Gooseberries as it produces fruit for up to 5 years.

The produce would only be enough to supplement our cooking, so we would still need to buy many items. I am however now sourcing milk from a local farmer and producing our own soft cheeses and mozzarella.
 
I used to grow most of my own veg & fruit, plus all of my herbs. But we no longer live at that property and now only have a tiny patch of land (a strip 1m long by 15m in front of the house). I do have all my herbs growing again, wild rocket in hanging baskets, strawberries growing in tubs and 3 lots of potatoes also in tubs, but I think that is probably as much as I can squeeze in given we are tenants and our landlady lives next door in the shared courtyard area! I may manage to get a couple more things in tubs in, but anything such as lettuce or anything edible by slugs and snails vanishes overnight and there is also a rabbit problem to deal with. I may just get away with some courgettes in a tub (something I have done successfully in the past) but the aubergines I tried last year were consumed by slugs sadly.
 
I wish! I had no idea how lucky I was growing up. Everyone had a garden, my grandmother, my godparents, my great-grandparents, they all grew their own produce. Peas, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, even sugar cane! My godfather was Trinidadian, so he kept that in his garden.

Now I live in an apartment in Chicago and there is simply no room for that. I miss it, as I would save so much money growing my own.

I do have a friend who also lives in an apartment and grows herbs in her kitchen that seem to be doing quite well. I'll have to get some tips from her because I'd love to give it a try.
 
The cooking and the taste of my food is so much better because I grow most of it. Nothing better than to grow it, pick it, and eat it.
 
I live in an apartment so the answer is: I grow nothing.
However later on I will want to have a couple of food related plants, either some kind of fruit trees in the backyard or maybe some more exotic spices.
 
I don't grow anything, but I'd love to. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment, so it would take a good amount of compromise and adjustments compared to a traditional way to garden, but I'm still planning on doing so in the near future, even if it's just herbs so I can get a feel for it.
 
My family loves to grow their own food, but it is only financially viable if we share what we grow. We tried growing corn one year but it required so much water that it was cheaper to buy it from the farmer's market. Now we only grow things that we eat a lot of and it is cheap to produce.
 
We only grow tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and a bunch of different herbs. I really need to get all of this stuff in the ground.
 
My friends out on the East Bay just got themselves their first backyard chicken, which is a bit beyond my level of expertise. But I'm dying to go over there for breakfast soon!
 
If I had some outdoor space I would grow as much as possible in the way of herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries. As it is, my apartment is on an upper floor and I only have indoor space available.

I grow herbs on my kitchen windowsill and I also try sprouting seeds, beans and the tops of root vegetables that produce edible leaves.
 
I live in an apartment and there is only so much I can grow on my windowsill and balcony. I grow all of my herbs, but that's really the extent of it. I tried to grow tomatoes and small peppers but they weren't in the proper environment to flourish. My parents live fairly close and have a much larger garden than I do. I take from them what I can't grow :)they cut back a lot this season but still grow tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers and zuchinni. They also have an extensive herb garden but since I grow my own I don't need to take it from them. Growing up I would spend summers with my grandparents and they had a huge farm where they grew everything, including potatoes!
 
I endure winter so I can have Spring and Summer for all of my gardens. Something special about having your own veggies right outside the door when you are getting ready to make a meal. I cook a lot more when that is available which makes my friends happy.
 
Only a few! This year I'm growing: romaine lettuce, spinach, strawberries, green onions, chives and tomatoes. I tried a few other things from seed but they didn't take. Next year I will most likely use mostly starters!
 
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