How did I miss this thread! Last year we made some raised beds and we have discovered our priorities are root veg and salad veg. With one whole bed devoted to parsnips, as they don't eat them here and are therefore silly expensive (we live in Norway) and I like a good roast on a Sunday.
So this year we are growing:-
Roots - parsnips, carrots, potatoes and beetroot (love roast beetroot
)
Salad - spinach, 2 x lettuce, rocket, sugar snaps, radishes
Squash - summer squash (can't remember type of top of my head lol), pumpkin
Asparagus (from seed, so no crop for 3 years
)
Fruit - rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries (in hanging baskets), cherry tomatoes (in pots against the house)
Tomatoes didn't do too well last year in the veggie patch as it is quite exposed, so this year plan is to put them on our deck against the house - south facing and sheltered. Strawberries are on the same wall.
I have herb pots on my kitchen windowsill - basil (can't live without the smell, it is just 'how my kitchen smells'!), thyme, oregano, dill, parsley, sage, peppermint (for homemade tea, yum!). Baby tomato plants are also currently hanging out here until they're ready to go outside.
I also grow a limited number of salad plants (lettuce / spinach / rocket - 1 or 2 of each type) as with the veggie patch being just outside my door, I pick what I need and it keeps the size down (so they don't bolt), so no need to grow a lot of plants, as never pick the whole plant like is often recommended, I guess if you have an allotment (if that makes sense?).
This year we started a little late due to the crap winter, so everything went in around the same time - last year a freak, early frost on the 1st Oct killed our pumpkin plant (ripened the fruit on our heated bathroom floor
) so trying to grow ahead of schedule just in case this year.
We have parsnips stored in the basement and plan to store more roots this year. Also want to buy up cheap tomatoes in August and try some canning / preserving - really keen after reading this book
Animal, vegetable, miracle - highly recommend this to anyone interested in small holding / living off local produce.
We also have a fridge full of lush pumpkin soup, which SO made with last year's harvest - he's from NZ where they have pumpkins available in the supermarket all year, so he's obsessed with growing them and having them around. I leave him to deal with them, especially as he insists we have more than one plant (I put my foot down at 2) and we end up with loads of pumpkins all at once!
When we come back to the UK would love to have a small holding, as love the set up we have but would love to grow more and want an orchard (and also a bigger garden for children to run around in!). Not sure about animals but have a number of friends who have chickens - one couple has rescued battery farm chickens, whom I'm very proud of
- so may be brave enough to try one day.