Poll: Do you grow your own vegetables?

[Jason]

There are lots of keen gardeners in the Workshop community happy to share their experiences and advice. There have been some really useful discussions about growing your own food, and we've seen some fantastic harvests from community members. 

As the weather starts to get warmer, it's a great chance to get into the garden and grow your own veggies. 

Our latest poll asks whether you grow your own vegetables. Please participate in the poll on the front page. We'd also love to hear why you invest the time in your garden growing your own produce, or why you don't currently get your hands dirty.

Jason

[Annette]

We started a vegie patch 3 years ago from scratch in our small patch of suburbia in Canberra. We made a few rookie mistakes in the first year but still had enough success to encourage us to continue growing our own  vegies. With the help of watching YouTube videos on all aspects of vegetable gardening we have increased our yield and are now having a very high success rate. We now have 4 raised garden beds in which we grow tomatoes, capsicum, paprika, chilli, cucumbers, zucchini, rhubarb, celery, onions, garlic, lettuce, spring onions, snow peas, corn, peas, beans, carrots and much more. We grow everything from seed and save seed where we can. We also grow herbs in containers and have 2 worm farms and 3 compost tumblers. We also have dwarf lemon, lime, orange, cumquat and lemonade trees from which we have harvested a modest amount of fruit. This year should be even better as the fruit trees are absolutely loaded with buds. We have just purchased a blueberry plant and can't wait to see how it goes. The first year we started off with 20 starwberry plants, and last year we had about 170 strawberry plants from which we got a total of approx 35 kilos of strawberries over the whole season. We were able to start new plants from the runners and we now have about 250 strawberry plants all of which are currently flowering. What we don't eat fresh, we freeze or dehydrate and from the excess strawberries I make smoothies, fruit-roll-ups, strawberry syrup, and many different desserts. 

As far as vegetables go, we are nearly self sufficient and buy very few vegies from the shops. We also have enough to share with friends and family.

[Jason]

Fantastic work @Annette. Many thanks for sharing. I'm sure what you have achieved in only a few years will inspire many other Workshop members. 

Looking forward to seeing you share your knowledge and experience with others. Thanks again for joining us. 

Jason

[Helen]

Sure do, always grown some, pumpkins, strawberries, peas, beans etc. Salad veg easy to grow, pick as required. Be lost without veg garden! Grass & weeds growing fast this year haven't caught up yet & today more rain!!!

[Oldfart]

WE grow our own vegetables where it's worthwhile doing, such as Roma tomatoes, zucchini, beans, sugar snap peas, cucumber etc. Don't bother if it is cheaper to buy from the supermarket than grow.

[Greta]

Yes! I'm 72, disabled and am still growing my own veggies. Have been since I was 30. I love the fact that the veggies I juice are organic and not filled with pesticides.

[Jason]

Thanks for joining in the conversation @Greta. And many thanks for joining the Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you with us. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your garden and your other projects. It sounds like you have loads of experience you can share. 

Jason

[Sharm]

Hi Jason,  

I newly moved to Wollongong and as I  am jobless,  I wanted to fill my time at home.  So after I went through the workshop updates,  it encourages me to start my own vegetables corner.  I prepared a corner in my house that I  rent,  and did the vegetable seedlings on 2/2/2020 . Hope it grows well.  Since I am a beginner and very new to this.  Hope I will get a lot more guidance from this workshop.  

Thanks to all who made my mind to try something new.  I believe that time and energy spent on soil is not a waste.  

 

 

[Jason]

Good for you @Sharm. Great to hear that you have been informed and inspired by the amazing community we have here at Workshop.

What have you planted so far?

Feel free to post anytime you need some more tips or assistance. 

We are looking forward to seeing how your garden grows!

Welcome to the Workshop community, 

Jason

[Helen]

Yes, but battling the weeds as time is something I don't have at present, I look after two homes. But I love getting into my garden often surprised with a pumpkin popping up or rainbow beet etc all self sown! 

[Sharm]

Thanks for the encouragement Jason. I have planted cherry tomatoes,  beans,  water spinach,  eggplant and chilli. My kids and I  always water it and waiting anxiously to  see the first sign of the seeds.  

Hope all turns out  well.