[SUTTY1]

Great idea and wish i could do it!!!!    But what  about a bad year (pest etc) and carrots unless you win the Lottery,lol.

[craggy]

Great idea and wish i could do it!!!!    But what  about a bad year (pest etc) and carrots unless you win the Lottery,lol.

no bad years,it,s called challenging in todays speak.

[Trikidiki]

Don't think I can manage red peppers and aubergines in mid January.

Its a great idea but if you have 'exotic' tastes then it can't be done. I love roast 'Mediterranean' vegetables and would not want to go six months of the year without them.

[Loubs]

Course you could manage. You'd just have to eat seasonal veg, or ones that store well. It's great that we can eat whatever we want whenever we want, but it's not that long ago that things were very different.

Supermarkets only really developed & spread in a big way from the late 70's onwards. Before that we could all only buy whatever was in season from the local greengrocer. Staples like carrots were available all year round, but just before the start of the new season you could only get the really old ropey stuff that'd been in storage all year.

 I do remember the excitement of strawberries or jersey royals first appearing. And they really did taste great - not like the tasteless pap you can buy all year round that's shipped in from all over the world. I had some asparagus over Christmas - they tasted of nothing at all. I've vowed never to buy them again till they're in season in the UK (only till I can start harvesting my own in a couple of years time).

Much as I love my mediterranean veg too, I'm interested in going back to eating seasonal veg - will force me to be inventive in the kitchen during the leaner months, finding ways to keep veg I don't eat that often interesting!

[DD.]

Spot on Loubs.

Does make you wonder how our forebears managed without shipping extra veg in and no computers to plan things out.

[goodegg]

they managed because they ate what they grew they werent so fossey as they are today they werent spoiled like what we are if it grew you ate it end of ,none of the rubbish that they sell in the shops today thats not ripe when you buy it and by the time it gets ripe it goes rotten cause its been in coolers for so long 

[Slowgrind]

I thought that the size of a traditional plot had been worked out to grow enough veg. for two adults and two children to be self sufficient?

[Loubs]

It's quite amazing when you think about it.

Asparagus, carefully nurtured & grown in Peru. Harvested at just the right moment, packed, I daresay sold for a pittance that will barely subsidise a Peruvians pickers living costs, flown halfway across the world, unpacked, driven & distributed to Supermarkets throughout the UK, unpacked onto shelves, overpriced, picked up and bought by me, taken home, lightly steamed, coated in butter (not a little salivating taking place at this point), artfully arranged on a plate, I take one bite, look down at my plate, and say, "What is the point of you?" 

[DD.]

At which point you get the swede out!

[diggerjoe]

I think with extra planning and extra time I could make a greater effort at being self sufficient - I just need to leave the day job to do it.

[bluelou]

I think with extra planning and extra time I could make a greater effort at being self sufficient - I just need to leave the day job to do it.

What a nice idea!

[craggy]

Fruit an easy start to S.S.

[Poolfield2]

I have a rhubarb crumble in the oven as I type, using up the end of last years supply just before the forced rhubarb for this year is ready, for once my planning worked.

I have summer puddings in the freezer that finished off last years raspberries and redcurrants and blackcurrant icecream. I still have LOADS of blackberries but I've run out of apple. Hey ho I'll have to buy some.

[davethespread]

I have a rhubarb crumble in the oven as I type, using up the end of last years supply just before the forced rhubarb for this year is ready, for once my planning worked.

I have summer puddings in the freezer that finished off last years raspberries and redcurrants and blackcurrant icecream. I still have LOADS of blackberries but I've run out of apple. Hey ho I'll have to buy some.

oooh rhubarb crumble,now thats making me salivate poofield2

[Poolfield2]

Shall I email you some I added preserved ginger but I didn't grow that