Growing Your Own
@belindayhughes (1096)
United States
January 4, 2013 3:24pm CST
I'm trying to reduce food costs and ingest fewer chemicals by organically growing my own fruits. So far, we've bought fig, lemon and pear trees, a blueberry bush, a blackberry vine and two or three strawberry plants. In addition, I found some muscadine grapes and dewberries growing wild around our home. I'm enjoying eating things raw from the tree, bush or vine. I'm looking forward to having enough of a harvest to do some canning and dehydrating and share with friends and family. Peace! :-)
1 person likes this
8 responses
@marguicha (215441)
• Chile
10 Jan 13
I have my apricot tree and I have apricot juice and jam for the whole year. I don`t use pesticides and I know that what I am eating is perfectly clean. As my tree is big, my family and friends come to pick apricots to make their own preserves too.
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
10 Jan 13
Welcome, marguicha, and thanks for joining in on this thread. Apricots are so delicious! They're definitely on my wish list for my fruit arbor. How do you care for your apricot tree? Any tips? Cheers!
@marguicha (215441)
• Chile
10 Jan 13
Apricot trees are easy to care as they don`t get the usual pests. I just let it be, take pictures and tell it it`s beautiful.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
10 Jan 13
I use soaker hoses, loosen the soil sometimes, feed with fish fertilizer and Miracle Gro (armadillo eats my plant food spikes and pills), mulch well and yes, talk to them. Glad to hear your apricot's not high maintenance. Cheers!
@reddog25770 (212)
• United States
12 Jan 13
We grow a lot of our own fruits and veggies too. We have a rather large garden in the spring and summer months. Usually a couple types of squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, pepper and a few others. Also a few apple trees and blackberry and blueberry bushes. We tried a pumpkin patch last year. It did good until the wood chucks got in it. Between them and the deer they ate the pumpkins and the sunflowers. I think we will try them again this year just need to find a better deer deterient.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
14 Jan 13
Welcome, reddog, and thanks for joining this discussion. Congratulations on your garden achievements! I would love to see pictures, if you have them. I had no idea deer went for pumpkins and sunflowers. That's a rather well rounded diet for them. Peace!
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
9 Jan 13
Ever since a child we have grown our own vegetables in our vast garden, mum was the keen gardener and she passed the skill onto me, although I much prefer to grow flowers than vegetables. I remember fondly my mother growing every type of vegetable you can think of, and me being a child wanting to know when I could eat them, I would actually favour them raw than cooked, they tasted so much nicer. Nowadays the only vegetables I will grow are runner beans, tomatoes and strawberries plus the flowers of course.
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
10 Jan 13
Hello again, wolfie, That's so wonderful that you got to study under such a successful gardener as your mum and enjoy the veggies raw. In that way, you get many more nutrients, such as live enzymes and so on. It's nice to know that you're continuing in her tradition in your own way. Cheers!
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
12 Jan 13
I find my homegrown products last longer on the counter, then the store bought. Growing lots of produce has reduced my food bill and I am certain my family is eating better now. I'm planning to do some canning this year, as my freezer is well stocked still.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
12 Jan 13
Welcome, fishmomma, and thank you for your generous response. Congratulations on successfully reducing your grocery bill and improving your family's health by growing your own garden-fresh produce. What produce will you be canning this year? Cheers!
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
6 Jan 13
Welcome, samar, and thank you stopping by. Gardening is great fun, good exercise and peaceful, too. If you cannot put in a garden on the ground, maybe you could do a few plants on your patio. With the Topsy Turvy gardening bags that hang from hooks, you don't need much room to have a garden these days. Peace!
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
4 Jan 13
Heya edvc! Harvest time is wonderful fun. It will be nice when our crops are more plentiful and we can do more with them. And you're exactly right, fruittrees are beautiful when their branches are loaded. They make great subjects for works of art, as masters throughout time have shown us. Luckily, I have plenty of art supplies collected for when the mood strikes.
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
4 Jan 13
Great idea, I have an aunt in uncle in california usa who do that as well. Even after the give much away they say they 
save alot of money. Good luck to you there..
save alot of money. Good luck to you there..1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
4 Jan 13
Thanks for your lovely response, maria. My grandmother used to trade some of her produce with neighbors down the road who grew different things, sent home with us and still kept her own shelves well stocked.
@habibti320 (925)
• United States
4 Jan 13
That sounds like a great idea! I have several friends who grow much of their own food and it has definitely improved their lifestyle. The food tastes better and it is also a nice hobby for them.
The advice I have been given is to start small. Learning to care for so many plants and get them established takes time. Once you feel more comfortable taking care of your fruit trees, you can start experimenting with vegetables or livestock.
Good luck!
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
4 Jan 13
Hi habibti, nice to meet you. Homegrown food definitely has a supreme flavor over store-bought. I agree that small startups are called for. My family began with only two square foot raised beds a couple years ago. My mom and I bought the trees on our birthdays. Then my sister found the greenhouse for free, when someone had bought a new one. The toughest challenges have been the extreme weather, droughts, freezes and strong winds. I'm learning to improvise more to protect the plants. And thanks to a couple gardening books, gardening catalogs and the web, I'm learning more about specific plant needs, ways to deal with the challenges, different varieties and recipes. Each year brings new growth, both for the garden and myself.
