[rowlandwells]

we all like to call ourselves good gardeners but the proof of the pudding is truly in the eating    I'm not going to say to much about this topic till I get a few replies

I chuckle to myself when I read my garden magazines because they love to tell us how they produced this and that but none of them have actually said they can produce fresh veg on the table for say 11 or  12 months or as near as dam it some boast about there readers trials that may be on one particular veg 

but it takes a good gardener to actually put something on the table for 10 or 11 months of the year and I don't mean out the freezer   

can't wait to read your replies 

[mumofstig]

So not counting the frozen stuff? Erm...
I can usually put a bit of fresh veg on the plate from about late April (early mangetout and spinach,  grown in the greenhouse, some salad on the window ledges) then through the year 'til the leeks, swede and winter cabbages run out, usually end Feb/beg March.
But there's is no way I am implying that I could supply all the veg I would normally eat during all those months. Probably just enough to stop me getting scurvy 

Thing is, if we really had to for some reason (another world war?) - I think most of us could manage to grow more than we do now.

[8doubles]

Winter squash will keep from Oct to May so that is a big help !
Them and a few leeks are all i have left !

[mumofstig]

Winter squash will keep from Oct to May so that is a big help !

I'd forgotten about the squash 

[Christine]

I'd be putting more on the table but the second plot that I took on last January turned out to have a severe case of club root and of course all the brassicas went on the main area there.

We should have spuds till January/February from store and some apples for a bit longer. There's a few leeks (went out late, not the crop it should have been), parsnips and swedes for another month perhaps. Not exactly as planned but having sorted out what I can grow on the new plot and what can go on the old plot, there are high hopes for better next year.

The freezer is full mind but that doesn't count as fresh.   

[New shoot]

In the ground still I have swede, cabbage, perpetual spinach/various greens and I would normally have leeks, but leaf miner struck this year, so they have been used up fast.  I have a plan including a large mesh tunnel next year 

There are also lots of herbs at home, plus pots of parsley, chervil and salad leaves in the greenhouse.  I also sprout seeds over the winter for some added veg.  I'll start some more off in the greenhouse in very early spring to get some catch crops before the summer stuff takes over. 

In the shed I have squash, spuds, onions and garlic in store.

I reckon I could rustle up something year round, just not enough for every day.  With more land and the time to look after it all, I reckon I would have a fighting chance. 

It could get a little monotonous as well.  A girl can't live on cabbage and swede alone.  Well I guess I could if I had to, but luckily for me that is not the case

[jaydig]

Christine, I can sympathise with you about losing your brassicas. This year I planted mine in an area of the plot I hadn't used for them before, and lost everything except for the eight plants of club root resistant sprouts I put in. So - no purple sprouting, winter cabbage, winter cauli or kale.  I still have carrots, parsnips, swedes and sprouts, though, so all is not lost.

[Growster...]

Interesting post, this is...

I suppose that a winter staple here is leeks, as they make any soup proud, so it's also brussels, kale, PSB, spring greens and cabbage, with a few carrots and spring onions left too...

Plenty of dried black and also white beans to hand as well, and I wish I could use the old spare runner beans, but the colour just puts me off! If it was wartime, they'd be in the saucepan in no time at all!

Does a freezer-fiul of toms, squash and pumpkin count? Also several pounds of rasps and some bottled cucumber?

[Christine]

You don't know about club root till it gets you do you jaydig? And you won't get told if you take over an allotment - maybe the previous people didn't know what club root was and packed in when crops failed.

For both of us it's a learning curve and we know better next season don't we?

I fear the freezer doesn't count as fresh veg really does it Growster - it was fresh when it went in but not now.

[Growster...]

That's jolly well not fair, Christine - the toms were frozen as soon as they were picked, as were the peas and broad beans, so I think they do count..;0)

(Another post coming on, so you can answer there as well)!

;0)

[JayG]

There's a couple of winter squashes up in the shed, and the parsnips still to dig, and a few of the hardier lettuce/mizuna-type stuff and also rocket hanging on grimly, but apart from that very little come winter time (can't do brassicas - not enough room and very light soil.)

I'd like to ask the jury whether frozen tomato sauces can be made a special case given that they're supposed to be even better for you cooked than raw.   

(I did try making some runner bean puree to freeze this year - not sure what dish I can have it as an accompaniment to but it's got to be better than frozen runner beans themselves surely?) 

[snowdrops]

Try runner bean chutney next year it’s delicious, probably no good with roast beef & gravy but very acceptable in a roast beef sandwich, it’s become our favourite after I found it last year😊

[sunshineband]

A bit like New Shoot, I generally have something fresh all year round, made even more so now we have a polytunnel... mustard greens perpetual spinach, florence fennel, mixed salad leaves, parsley, lettuce, spring cabbage  and spring onions growing in there.

Out on the plot we have leeks, carrots, turnips, winter radish (China rose) lots of herbs, Brussel sprouts, PSB, savoy cabbage, two kinds of kale and an enormous quantity of rocket. Parsnips too

Do veg in store count? With potatoes, onions, shallots, winter squash, dried beans, yacon, frozen runners and french beans, frozen soft fruit and apples , plus apples in trays, dehydrated fruits and masses of preserved things such as cucumbers, fruit, tomato passata, pickles and chutneys etc we rarely buy any vegetables...maybe onions or potatoes by about the end of March, beginning of April.

My personal challenge this year has been to have lettuce every week of the year, and so far we are doing OK. They overwintered really well in the minitunnel last Winter as it was so mild

[Christine]

That's jolly well not fair, Christine - the toms were frozen as soon as they were picked, as were the peas and broad beans, so I think they do count..;0)

Ah but if you go back to the opening post, it says frozen doesn't count so ....................... 

[Urbanite]

JAH bless the freezer, the jam pan and...erm Garlic.