Post by eppingstrider on Aug 30, 2008 11:15:05 GMT
With all the discussion of what vegetables to feed, you may think you would like to save some money by growing your own.
You can grow veggies even if you don't have a garden. Lots of veggies can be grown in window boxes or patio pots (some are easier to do like this!). Even indoor windowsills can be used, but the choice is a bit more restricted. Info on that in another thread.
If you've never grown veggies before (or even if you have!) get a good book on the subject. A really nice cheap one £3.99 in the UK, is from the Green Essentials range - 'Grow Vegetables'. This has an overview of all the techniques, what to grow and when, when to sow and when it will be ready to eat (the two main things of importance!). You can browse through the rest of the bookshop gardening guides as you go on....
What to grow. I'd suggest growing things that piggies like, that are rare or expensive in shops, and preferably that you like as well (it's good to share). After that, well some veg are more difficult to grow than others...
Carrots. Well, of course! Carrots with tops are expensive in shops, although carrots themselves are cheap. GPs LOVE carrot tops! So I think they're worth growing for the tops even if they don't get a good carrot on them. Carrots prefer a light soil with no stones, and I never managed to grow them near London, although here in Norfolk it's nice carrot growing country. Its still much easier to grow them in a window box sized trough with a good sandy compost. I have some in the garden, some in pots and some in a window box (well the window box is filled with carrots). I grow the round ball type as well as some finger types. At present the GPs seem to like the ball type very much. A packet of seed usually contains about 500 for about £1.50, so get a packet and sow a pot up every month from March to July and they'll be providing greens and/or carrots from May through to November. You pull the whole carrot up to use it, so you need to sow a lot.
Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli These are loved by GPs and you can give them leaves, stalks, as well as the 'flowers'. The only trouble is that they can be a bit finicky to grow, take up a lot of space and attract cabbage white caterpillars that can strip them. However a couple of plants provides a leaf or two every day without harming the plant, and can go all the way through the winter, so you could try them, especially you get a tray of six or so mini-plants from the garden centre. It's probably not worth growing them from seed. Kale is very easy to grow and I've discovered that I like it, and the GPs adore it. Unfortunately so do the cabbage white caterpillars....
Peppers, courgettes, tomatoes and cucumbers These are all actually fruits, and you can grow the plants in pots very easily, in fact it's often the best way. Most peppers and cucumbers, and some tomatoes need to be grown in a sheltered spot or indoors. Plant the seeds in March and you should be picking fruits from late July for courgettes, and August for the others. You usually get about 20 -50 seeds in a packet. Don't sow too many seeds and fold the seed packet over tight and put in a plastic container in the fridge till next year. They'll keep for years, although the number of failures increases as time goes on. BUT you cant use any other part of the plant for GPs.
Herbs As far as I can tell, GPs can eat (in fact, adore) all herbs except chives (part of the onion family and onions are a no-no). So parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are all great, as are mint, coriander, lavender, oregano, marjoram, basil . . . I would be cautious of tarragon. All of these can be grown in the garden or in pots, window boxes, hanging baskets, pots on windowsills...... Buy seeds of leafy herbs or small plants of the bushy ones from the garden centre. The ones in pots in the supermarket veg sections are really small plants/seedlings and can be split up into pots to grow on but I've never had much success with that. Keep picking leaves and especially the growing tops of herbs to keep them putting out side shoots and getting nice and bushy.
Salad veg. Lettuce seems quite easy to grow if you don't have many slugs or snails in your garden, otherwise it can be a nightmare, but grow them in pots in a cool place and you'll be fine. I have a trough of lettuce and other salad leaves with a copper strip round the bottom of the trough that keeps the slugs away. You can get nice varieties of seed like Little Gem which are a small cos type where you normally pick the whole plant, but one or two leaves for a GP breakfast seems not to hurt the plant, or the oak-leaf type which are designed for 'cut and come again' i.e. take a few leaves off whenever you want them. I have found that although humans don't like lettuce leaves when the seed head has come up (run to seed) because the leaves are bitter, no-one seem to have told my GPs that. You can also get mixed salad leaves, which my GPs find very tasty, and rocket (good young, gets a bit to strong for them later), radicchio (very palatable) which is good sown later in the summer and in a shady spot. The number of seeds in a packet depends on the variety of lettuce, don't grow the commonest type (iceberg).
Beans and Peas These are well worth growing although my piggies didn't like broad beans (any part of the plant) which surprised me as I thought they'd like the young tops. But they love peas, especially the leaves and shoots, so plant loads and thin them out as they grow up sticks or netting (you can do this in pots as well) and give the thinnings to the piggies. I haven't tried them on dwarf beans or runner beans yet.
More unusual vegetables This is where growing your own really comes into its own as these are expensive in the shops if you can find them. I'm not keen on spinach but the GPs and I love chard, which is similar but milder. It is easy to grow and seems to last a long time. I pick two large or four small leaves from my row of chard every day for my 2 GPs (and about half a dozen for me!) and the row just keeps growing back. The stalks are pretty colours as well (rainbow chard or swiss chard). Fennel (Florence fennel not herb fennel, although that is also good). The feathery tops of this are absolutely adored by my pigs and it is always the first thing to be eaten - with a tug of war over the last stalk! It seems easy to grow although not all of my plants have produced a worthwhile 'bulb' for me to eat. This may be the variety and I'm going to look at the seeds more carefully next year. Kohl rabi this is a funny looking 'root' although it's actually a swollen stem at the bottom of the plant. It looks like a sputnik and is usually either purple-green or green. It's a member of the cabbage family so watch out for caterpillars. The GPs love the leaves and 'root' and I love the 'root'. It's often likened to a turnip taste, but I think it's nothing like (I don't like turnip!). It seems easy to grow.
Other root vegetables
I love salsify (or scorzonera) which are two unusual roots which need to be in the ground a long time - sow in March and eat in winter. I offered the GPs some leaves last week and they loved it! I'll try them on the roots in about December. My GPs don't like parsnips so I'm not growing them this year, and with the warning about not feeding beetroot leaves I don't know whether beetroot are worth growing again. They seem easy to grow here, but may be better in pots if you have stony or clay soil. I'm trying celeriac, which is a root vegetable tasting like celery as celery seems a bit fiddly to grow and its not expensive in the shops. The seeds came up nicely but they seem to be taking forever to get bigger (but they are a winter vegetable, so time is on my side). The GPs have enjoyed the thinnings (taking out seedlings that are too close together to give the other plants space to grow).
If you've got this far and think, wow, how many acres of land has she got? Well, I'm growing my veg in four 1 metre square blocks, with a couple of troughs and pots by the back door! I'm using the crowd together method, where you never step of the soil so you don't have to use the traditional spacings. If you have got space for more, go for it.
And I probably don't need to warn you to grow organically to make sure your GPs aren't poisoned by insecticides or fungicides.....
Reason for Editing: typos
You can grow veggies even if you don't have a garden. Lots of veggies can be grown in window boxes or patio pots (some are easier to do like this!). Even indoor windowsills can be used, but the choice is a bit more restricted. Info on that in another thread.
If you've never grown veggies before (or even if you have!) get a good book on the subject. A really nice cheap one £3.99 in the UK, is from the Green Essentials range - 'Grow Vegetables'. This has an overview of all the techniques, what to grow and when, when to sow and when it will be ready to eat (the two main things of importance!). You can browse through the rest of the bookshop gardening guides as you go on....
What to grow. I'd suggest growing things that piggies like, that are rare or expensive in shops, and preferably that you like as well (it's good to share). After that, well some veg are more difficult to grow than others...
Carrots. Well, of course! Carrots with tops are expensive in shops, although carrots themselves are cheap. GPs LOVE carrot tops! So I think they're worth growing for the tops even if they don't get a good carrot on them. Carrots prefer a light soil with no stones, and I never managed to grow them near London, although here in Norfolk it's nice carrot growing country. Its still much easier to grow them in a window box sized trough with a good sandy compost. I have some in the garden, some in pots and some in a window box (well the window box is filled with carrots). I grow the round ball type as well as some finger types. At present the GPs seem to like the ball type very much. A packet of seed usually contains about 500 for about £1.50, so get a packet and sow a pot up every month from March to July and they'll be providing greens and/or carrots from May through to November. You pull the whole carrot up to use it, so you need to sow a lot.
Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli These are loved by GPs and you can give them leaves, stalks, as well as the 'flowers'. The only trouble is that they can be a bit finicky to grow, take up a lot of space and attract cabbage white caterpillars that can strip them. However a couple of plants provides a leaf or two every day without harming the plant, and can go all the way through the winter, so you could try them, especially you get a tray of six or so mini-plants from the garden centre. It's probably not worth growing them from seed. Kale is very easy to grow and I've discovered that I like it, and the GPs adore it. Unfortunately so do the cabbage white caterpillars....
Peppers, courgettes, tomatoes and cucumbers These are all actually fruits, and you can grow the plants in pots very easily, in fact it's often the best way. Most peppers and cucumbers, and some tomatoes need to be grown in a sheltered spot or indoors. Plant the seeds in March and you should be picking fruits from late July for courgettes, and August for the others. You usually get about 20 -50 seeds in a packet. Don't sow too many seeds and fold the seed packet over tight and put in a plastic container in the fridge till next year. They'll keep for years, although the number of failures increases as time goes on. BUT you cant use any other part of the plant for GPs.
Herbs As far as I can tell, GPs can eat (in fact, adore) all herbs except chives (part of the onion family and onions are a no-no). So parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are all great, as are mint, coriander, lavender, oregano, marjoram, basil . . . I would be cautious of tarragon. All of these can be grown in the garden or in pots, window boxes, hanging baskets, pots on windowsills...... Buy seeds of leafy herbs or small plants of the bushy ones from the garden centre. The ones in pots in the supermarket veg sections are really small plants/seedlings and can be split up into pots to grow on but I've never had much success with that. Keep picking leaves and especially the growing tops of herbs to keep them putting out side shoots and getting nice and bushy.
Salad veg. Lettuce seems quite easy to grow if you don't have many slugs or snails in your garden, otherwise it can be a nightmare, but grow them in pots in a cool place and you'll be fine. I have a trough of lettuce and other salad leaves with a copper strip round the bottom of the trough that keeps the slugs away. You can get nice varieties of seed like Little Gem which are a small cos type where you normally pick the whole plant, but one or two leaves for a GP breakfast seems not to hurt the plant, or the oak-leaf type which are designed for 'cut and come again' i.e. take a few leaves off whenever you want them. I have found that although humans don't like lettuce leaves when the seed head has come up (run to seed) because the leaves are bitter, no-one seem to have told my GPs that. You can also get mixed salad leaves, which my GPs find very tasty, and rocket (good young, gets a bit to strong for them later), radicchio (very palatable) which is good sown later in the summer and in a shady spot. The number of seeds in a packet depends on the variety of lettuce, don't grow the commonest type (iceberg).
Beans and Peas These are well worth growing although my piggies didn't like broad beans (any part of the plant) which surprised me as I thought they'd like the young tops. But they love peas, especially the leaves and shoots, so plant loads and thin them out as they grow up sticks or netting (you can do this in pots as well) and give the thinnings to the piggies. I haven't tried them on dwarf beans or runner beans yet.
More unusual vegetables This is where growing your own really comes into its own as these are expensive in the shops if you can find them. I'm not keen on spinach but the GPs and I love chard, which is similar but milder. It is easy to grow and seems to last a long time. I pick two large or four small leaves from my row of chard every day for my 2 GPs (and about half a dozen for me!) and the row just keeps growing back. The stalks are pretty colours as well (rainbow chard or swiss chard). Fennel (Florence fennel not herb fennel, although that is also good). The feathery tops of this are absolutely adored by my pigs and it is always the first thing to be eaten - with a tug of war over the last stalk! It seems easy to grow although not all of my plants have produced a worthwhile 'bulb' for me to eat. This may be the variety and I'm going to look at the seeds more carefully next year. Kohl rabi this is a funny looking 'root' although it's actually a swollen stem at the bottom of the plant. It looks like a sputnik and is usually either purple-green or green. It's a member of the cabbage family so watch out for caterpillars. The GPs love the leaves and 'root' and I love the 'root'. It's often likened to a turnip taste, but I think it's nothing like (I don't like turnip!). It seems easy to grow.
Other root vegetables
I love salsify (or scorzonera) which are two unusual roots which need to be in the ground a long time - sow in March and eat in winter. I offered the GPs some leaves last week and they loved it! I'll try them on the roots in about December. My GPs don't like parsnips so I'm not growing them this year, and with the warning about not feeding beetroot leaves I don't know whether beetroot are worth growing again. They seem easy to grow here, but may be better in pots if you have stony or clay soil. I'm trying celeriac, which is a root vegetable tasting like celery as celery seems a bit fiddly to grow and its not expensive in the shops. The seeds came up nicely but they seem to be taking forever to get bigger (but they are a winter vegetable, so time is on my side). The GPs have enjoyed the thinnings (taking out seedlings that are too close together to give the other plants space to grow).
If you've got this far and think, wow, how many acres of land has she got? Well, I'm growing my veg in four 1 metre square blocks, with a couple of troughs and pots by the back door! I'm using the crowd together method, where you never step of the soil so you don't have to use the traditional spacings. If you have got space for more, go for it.
And I probably don't need to warn you to grow organically to make sure your GPs aren't poisoned by insecticides or fungicides.....
Reason for Editing: typos
and extremely informative. Thank you for taking the time............
It's fantastic, well done, have an extra big carrot. 
Thank you! I think F&G are probably Gourmet Guineas - and they are really fussy these days too - no four day old cauli leaves from the supermarket for us, please! 
