Gardening

[Pete]

So, with the economy being as fantastic as it is right now, a lot of people have turned to growing their own fruits and vegetables. So, my question is, who here grows their own produce? What do you grow, and how do you like it compared to what you find in the stores?

I used to grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplants. I always found them to taste much better than the store bought versions. Granted, this may be because I took the time to plant and grow everything myself, but I liked them a lot as well.

So what about you guys?

[Rocky]

I love homegrown tomatoes. They taste good. My dad grows them in the backyard. They are pretty tasty. My dad also makes salsa and chili with the tomatoes. My dad also grows homegrown cucumbers. They taste pretty good as well, but I dont like cucumbers that much but they still taste better then other storebought versions of cucumbers.

[GypsyElder]

I don't really grow veggies since, I dun like them that much I'm picky so I wouldn't be able to figure out what to grow. My neighbor grows sugar cane! I wanna do that haha.

I only have lame flowers that I can't eat

[Rocky]

I only have lame flowers that I can't eat

You've never eaten flowers before? I have. They taste ok. I've also tried to eat a sunflower before, but it was too big. And it didn't taste too good.

Anyone else tried to eat a flower before?

[Joe]

Never tried eating flowers, but I remember reading about some kids who were hallucinating and got really sick from eating Jimson Weed. Apparently you don't mess with that stuff.

I remember my dad used to grow peppers though, serranos IIRC. He still has a bunch of dried out peppers that he uses for chili and stews. It's amazing. I was thinking about starting a garden when I eventually move out, but I don't really eat any fruits or veggies. I could try growing Watermelon, though.

Also, as someone who works in a produce department, I can ascertain that the vegetables we order from local growers seems to look a lot more appetizing than those we order from the distribution centers.

[Pete]

The building down my block grew sunflowers once, but I never got the seeds.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a big fan of sunflower seeds. Pumpkin seeds are good too, if they're toasted and rubbed in cinnamon and sugar, but I much rather prefer sunflower seeds.

OH, my neighbor has a persimmons tree, but I can't stand them. They've gotta be almost rotten before they're good, and I hate the idea of eating almost spoiled fruit.

[GypsyElder]

You've never eaten flowers before?

The closest I've ever gotten to eating flowers is drinking Jamaica:




It's deliscious... almost as good as Kool Aid. My friend's mom made it for me the first time I had it and I was like, "why are there flower petals in my drink? lol

[loaf]

I like gardening. My parents used to do it a lot and they taught me some secrets. Currently I am growing my own tomatoes in my backyard. It's looking good so far. Still got a ways to go though.

[Rocky]

Moogable, that is really cool. Back when I was in jamaica there were small peppers that grew on trees. they were small but hot. I put one in my pocket and it burned a hole through it. thats pretty hot. kinda like me. haha.

Pete, that is really cool. I had some pumpkin seeds yesterday. My friend gave me some. They were pretty tasty. and yeah I know what you mean about spoiled fruit. Thats why i dont care for bananas. I would eat one if I had to but otherwise I wouldnt eat one ever.

Gypsy you are really silly lol, you can't drink a country jamaica! trust me I've been there before, its not possible because its not a drink. that pitcher of cool aid looks good though, yum.

loaf, its a long process, but thats cool that your parents teach you secrets. my parents made me learn the hard way.

are there any secrets that parents teach you that you want to share?

[GypsyElder]

It's Jamaica not Kool aid. silly Rocky.

Kool aid does not have flower petals in it.

Eventhough you can't see them in that pic, they probably took them all out.

and omg I just remembered thay have Jamaica flavored kool- aid! win win win

[loaf]

I keep the secrets in the fam.

[Rocky]

oh my gosh thank you for correcting me Gypsy Elder I had no idea that I read that wrong until I saw your post because I usually dont reread what I have to say because I would I I said it after all you know what I mean? Jamaica flavored kool aid sounds good though but I wonder if it tastes like Jamaica and in what way, does it taste like the people or something I don't know. Oh well maybe we should hang out and try it sometime?

and thats cool Loaf I know what you mean, I have some dark secrets too but I keep them in the family as well but I'll give you a small hint if you want Can you guess who I am?

[Sinister]

I do a little gardening... Or at least, I used to. I grew La Roma tomatoes for sauce and cukes for pickling. That and the whole Horticulture degree kind of...well...spoils the fun of it.

And, no, Joe...stay far away from the Jimson Weed. Datura is chock full of alkaline toxic hallucinogens, in the same way as Deadly Nightshade. Shit like Scopolamine and Atropine, while being useful drugs all the same, aren't for munching.

EDIT:
When I was twelve I did eat like seven Narcissus flowers on a 50$ bet. I didn't have a lot of ways of making money when I was twelve and I knew enough that I would probably just have a bad vomiting fit rather than paroxysms and death. So it was true...and so I earned 50 bucks.

-Sin

[Furore]

Only really grow two things myself, one edible, one likely inedible (though I have heard you can extract water from some.

Herbs - pretty much any I can get my hands on, the majority are fairly low upkeep and fresh herbs are great to have on hand for cooking.
And...
Succulents (Cacti) - low maintenance once again, well suited for Australian weather and some can look quite striking in the right setting.

[Unknown Entity]

We don't really have a place to grow anything. Because we live on the second floor, our garden isn't attached to the flat and is with the other gardens... which is all over grown with stingy nettles (Urtica dioica). We have our own private balcony, but we never got around to doing anything on it.

I do remember that we used to have a blackberry bush in the garden when I was little. I don't know if anyone actually planted it or if it just grew with the nettles, but they were safe to eat. Pretty tasty too, and they weren't as seedy as the store bought ones. I don't actually go down to the gardens, so I don't know if it's still there.

Speaking of those gardens full of nettles... one summer, nan noticed that the nettles had moved from the garden on the end all the way to our garden. So, she having nothing to do with her time, and me and my brother being home, decided we'd go on a mission to clean the gardens. I spent nearly two weeks of my summer being stung by nettles, chased away by bees and wasps, and being laughed at by some of the neighbourhood kids. Granted, some of the kids saw what we were doing and helped out, but they weren't the kids who I went to school with... -_-

Anywho, the gardens looked really good afterwards. The council said we'd done some good work, and that they'd come over to dig the soil up and replace it with newer soil and grass, but they never did. And now the gardens are full of nettles again. ><

[Josh_R]

Me and my roommate have a plot out on his families farm. We grow all types of things there: Greens, Tomato's, Cucumbers, Peppers, Canteloupe, Watermelon, Corn, Green Beans, Carrots. We have a deep freeze filled with bagged veggies. We grow gigantamongous watermelons.

[RamesesII]

I have a lemon,lime and orange tree out in the back yard as well as two different types of avocado, the avocados are great but one is massive and we never get to use them all and if you have never smelt them before rotten avocados don't smell to pretty.

I would love to get a vege garden going but I am afraid the dog would kill them all, not to mention the kids wouldn't be to forgiving.

[Xanatos]

Gardening's something I know great deal about, something I did for the most part of my life, and still do. I live on a small farm, we have a nice piece of land which we use mostly to grow vegetables on, though fruits are growing like crazy lately. We work on a large scale when it comes to some products, potatoes for instance, where amount is measured in tones. Green beans, onion, pumpkin, tomatoes are just few of products that also grow well in this area, products we're also interested in, though nothing serious.

Besides vegetables me and my father are putting a hard work into growing some fruits, for now peach, fig, cherry look really promising, I hope it will end like the pear trees we have. It can be a hard and tedious work, but most importantly rewarding, the conditions can be harsh sometimes so you really need to know what you're doing.

[norman]

I grow lettuce in my backyard and it is better and fresher than the ones in the store. The produce stores should really have a place where they are having different fruits and vegetables. This would garantee that the fruits abd vegetables are fresh.

[Dodie16]

Yeah, we're starting to grow our own veggies now. Our neighbors are doing it too, and we're sort of splitting what we grow. Have no idea what they're doing, but I know that we have tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Tomatoes and peppers I like, but eggplant should be done away with. Never had it before until a couple of days ago when my mom decided that she wanted to try Eggplant Parmesan. I took one bite and had to spit it out... Probably doesn't help that I'm not a big fan or Parmesan cheese and tomato sauce, but the eggplant was worse.

My other neighbors grow cabbage, but not to eat. It's more for a decorative purpose, and I gotta admit, their yard does look rather nice.