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Growing Your Own Fruit and Vegetables

We grow our own fruit and vegetables for our meals for as much of the year as we can. Without a greenhouse we have to buy shop food in the winter months but in the spring, summer and autumn we often have enough to share with family and friends.

Read about growing your fruit and vegetables here on my growing your own food pages.

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Our Home Grown Salad Leaves are Saving us Money.

Salad Leaves.

Salads leaves that you cut and which grow again a couple of times are really worth while. The little bit of time and effort it takes to sprinkle the seeds over the surface of a flower pot full of compost is just five minutes or so. In return you can pick leaves that would cost £'s if bought bagged,ready picked, ready washed salad leaves.

  You can stand the flower pot with the salad leaves growing in it, near the kitchen door. That way you have a handy source of salad leaves ready to prepare for a quick meal or a snack.

If youu wish you can sow and grow these leaves in raised bead, containers or directly into prepared soil. Prepare as a seed bed and sow as per instructions on seed packets.

There are lots of different types of cut and grow again salad leaf seeds for sale. Which ones you decide  to grow depends on you and your salad eating preference. There are some leaves that are spicy and peppery but most are a pretty mix of leaf shapes and colours. My favourite types come in a mix of red and green salad leaf colours.


The above are links to a UK site that sells seeds and plants.

Pick the leaves gently as and when you want them and they should re-grow two or three times. 

Let the kids have a go at growing their own salad all it takes is a few seeds sprinkled over the surface of a container filled with seed compost.

Gently cover over as per packet directions and the children will love watching the seeds grow.  Use one of the milder tasting salad leaf seed mixes for this as they will enjoy eating the lettuce better than some of the spicy tasting ones like rocket.

a healthy potato plant in flower

a healthy potato plant in flower
photo of potatoes in flower

home grown carrots.. grown from seed

home grown carrots.. grown from seed
photo of my first bunch of carrots 2009

Even a small batch of mixed fruit can be useful

Even a small batch of mixed fruit can be useful
Home Grown Fruit can be made into delicious compote