[Tigerhair]

I start on my brand new allotment on the 20th Feb along with my OH and son, and two great friends who will all be helping and reaping the benefits.

My question is - is it worth growing the "cheap stuff" - carrots, main crop potatos, onions.  Shouldn't we stick to the asparagus, courgettes, mange touts of the world?

[arugula]

We've had this type of discussion before and it really is up to you what you want to grow, but the concensus usually is that "cheap" crops like carrots are so much better in flavour, than shop bought, that it is worthwhile growing them.

[lucywil]

for me its all about the challenge with carrots, beating the carrot fly, pulling the perfect carrot is a great feeling and off course they taste so much better.

i think there is a certain satisfaction knowing where your food has come from and how it has been grown regardless of how cheaply you could have bought them.

[Azazello]

I think it's worth it. Even with the cheap stuff, you grow what you like, not what someone wants you to have. There's nothing like fresh veg.

My allotment neighbours share things between two couples but predictably it's only one person who does any work down there! My OH helps me too, about once a year. Be warned

[Kristen]

If you are new to growing veg (rather than just new to having an allotment) I would suggest you grow what you like to eat.  no sense growing something "high value" that you are not mad about because if it fails its doubly disheartening for a newcomer; equally I would not grow "fancy" things. Home grown carrots taste great (my kids would say they are much better than shop-bought, and I just chuck seed in and leave it be, so I'm definitely not doing anything fancy)

Next up for me would be Value and Flavour.  Main-crop potatoes are a nuisance to store, often "sprout" in store, are cheap-as-chips (sorry!) to buy in bulk from a farm shop - where they have been in climate control storage so are in good condition. So personally I would give Main-crop Potatoes a miss - but First Early New Potatoes are a treat, and at a time when they are relatively expensive in the shops.

But Sweetcorn, straight from plant-to-pot is a flavour you cannot get from the supermarket - the Sugar starts turning to Starch the moment you pick it ... our Summer house-guests rave about my Sweetcorn, I happily let them believe that it takes years to acquire the skill etc etc etc ... whereas all you have to do is pick it and put it promptly in the pan

Asparagus is a high value crop, but it takes 3 years before you get your first crop, the ground needs to be well prepared (the crop will be there for 20+ years), so worth not rushing into.  Having said that, the fact that it takes 3 years means that it is worth considering early on, similarly with soft fruit which may give you a little in Year 1 but will not really crop heavily until Year 2.

Next up for me is provenance. I like that fact that I know exactly what has gone onto the food we grow. In my case we don't use any chemicals (but only because we have not needed to, rather than because we are totally organic).

And lastly variety. I can grow varieties that aren't available in the supermarket. The supermarket produce tends to be bred to be easy to harvest (all comes at once), looks good on the shelves, and often that is at the expense of flavour.  For example, supermarket Tomatoes tend to have thicker skins so they damage less easily.

What sort of state is the plot in? If its covered in brambles or pernicious weeds then that suggests a different Year 1 strategy compared to a fertile, lovingly cared-for, weed-free plot that has been handed to you on a plate!

[potatogrower]

I guess you can grow what ever you fancy. i do believe that home grown is a lot better than supermarket. potato's boil quick and taste excellent, garlic has a strong smell and peel easily, sweetcorn juicy as anything and very sweet. peas very sweet when eaten raw.  carrots if they grow very sweet and crunchy.

As long as you grow things and it makes you happy, if it doesn't grow then i make it a challenge to grow it better next time with help from here and local fellow allotement owners. my challenge this year is to try and grow some massive onions (always ended up with small ones  ), and tackle growing broccoli and cauliflower  :happy:, if not then there is always next year 

good luck

[JayG]

I suppose everyone will have their own take on this; mine is that growing your own food is very satisfying in itself, home-grown is always going to be fresher than shop bought (and sometimes much tastier) but I must admit I tend not to bother with crops which either take up space which I haven't got to spare, or are difficult to grow but cheap in the shops.

I don't grow maincrop potatoes (space) or brassicas (space and unsuitable soil) but I do like to experiment and am having a go at growing onions from seed this year even though they are cheap to buy and I'm unlikely to match the supermarket versions (the seeds were free though!) 

[Salmo]

Grow crops that you cannot buy. Freshness and flavour is you aim.

Asparagus and mange tout are good examples.
New potatoes freshly lifted.
Salad potatoes for flavour.
Peas newly picked, if they get as far as the kitchen?
Young sweet carrots straight from the soil.
Salad crops of all sorts. Walk around the plot and pick what you fancy.
Tiny french beans.
Sweetcorn cooked within minutes of picking.
The first purple sprouters of Spring.

These will not fill every space on your plot so you might as well include some easy to grow staples such as leeks, cabbage, calabrese, onions, shallots. You will need to grow some of these to maintain a proper crop rotation and fertile soil.

[Junie]

I like to grow vegetables in more unusual colours - which tend to cost a premium in the shops.  Like the golden or black french beans, stripy tomatoes, yellow courgettes.  But I would go with grow what you and your family like to eat. 

[compostqueen]

I'm with you Junie on that one.  You can grow stunningly beautiful veg but they're so easy such as Romanesco courgettes or borlotti beans, or the little golf ball yellow courgettes, Chioggia pink stripey beetroots that you don't see in the shops 

I'd forego maincrop spuds to grow more of these 

Er, second thoughts I probably won't 

[digalotty]

most things have been covered already but for the fact that if you like carrots then you will want to grow them to see what the difference is,   i grow them as i like to have a bit of veriety along the way and for the challenge .
i wasn,t to fussy last year i just tried things out to see what would grow, the asked for beetroot and to be honest i wasn't going to grow any so to please her i put some in and it turned out to be one of my best crops .
so my advise is even if its a small row grow some because they might turn out better than you expected where other crops may fail ,   i now have a new love for beetroot and i still have some pickled from last year 

[JohnB47]

Not much to add but I've run out of my own onions recently and the ones I'm buying at the supermarket are definately inferior by comparison. It was my first time growing over-wintering types and I'm well chuffed, even though quite a few bolted and some went off before I could eat them.

[Kristen]

am having a go at growing onions from seed this year even though they are cheap to buy and I'm unlikely to match the supermarket versions (the seeds were free though!) 

I'll take you a bet that you will surprise yourself!

I've only ever grown Onions from Sets until last year.  My crop was always so-so,a nd I had an opinion that Onions from seed were more trouble than they were worth.

My onions from last year were really superb. We are still using them from store. I'm really surprised!

The only thing I did (in case it is important) was grow the seedlings in tiny cells (they are about an inch square) and then when planting out uncoil the roots and plant them vertically (so to speak).

Doing it again this year and, unless it was a fluke, will be doing it from now onwards

[Kristen]

My question is - is it worth growing the "cheap stuff" - carrots, main crop potatos, onions. 

I think there are two aspects to freshness (or lack of) when buying from the Supermarket. Even if it only takes a day to get to the supermarket shelf, if you then do a "weekly" shop there is then the additional time that it will sit in your fridge before you use it.

The later may also be true if you visit your Allotment infrequently but I am lucky that my Veg Patch is at home, so we pick our veg "just in time" for a meal, so it is as fresh as it can be.

[aelf]

two reasons for me:

The taste

The challenge