Grow Your Own Magazine

Having grown a limited amount of veg in the garden the last two years it`s going to be so nice having my first years allotment crops to be able to go to neighbors,family and friends and say here you go enjoy some fresh veg/fruit.
And when you consider most kids around our way(including my own)will not eat anything that does not begin with "Mc" , it may make a change.
Even if it does not then i will still get a happy feeling from giving it to others.
Sorry if it sounds self slap on the back time but i am sure you have experienced the giving away to neighbors thing.......Haven`t you ???.
Minty

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" If it tastes like chicken THEN EAT CHICKEN " :- Kermit The Frog


http://mohicans-allotment.blogspot.com/

It is a great part of GYO, isn't it? I remember I was so proud of my first crop of garlic I gave almost all of it away, and ran out about a month later

Anybody want a box of eggs by the way?

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Resistance is fertile

And when you get an allotment your neighbouring growers share out their abundance too - you give them your spares and they give you theirs - so you've got even more to give away!

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

I really got a buzz from giving away the small amount of excess produce I grew last year I hope it'll be lots more this year

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http://thankyouforthedays.blogspot.com/

In the woods there grew a tree
And a fine fine tree was he

Folk have got to be able to recognise the veggies you're growing though!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

All part of their learning curve Manda. I've educated a few people with me yin yang beans - usually I have to give them a meal with them first - then send them away with a few seeds.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

Nah, yon seacreature's growing som reet odd veg-a-tables!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

If it's edible and free, the good people of Lincolnshire don't need much persuading

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http://thankyouforthedays.blogspot.com/

In the woods there grew a tree
And a fine fine tree was he

I'm alright thanks, got more than i know what to do with myself!

It's lovely giving stuff to friends and family. Makes you feel good.

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I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

http://hollandsroadparadise.blogspot.com
updated 14 May 2008

www.bradleyroundtwo.blogspot.com

this year i'll be giving "sets" of 1 cherry tom, 1 normal tom, 1 pepper to several friends and neighbours
my sons best friend's parents are brilliant, we share school runs and looking after the boys etc - they'll be getting all sorts fresh every week or so
the old boy over the road, lovely bloke, he's in his 80's, and i'll be giving him (and his girlfriend) loads of fresh veg this year
bumped into one of the ladies from my french class in the garden centre today - she's in her 70s - she wanted to grow a few bits but didn't know what - i'll sort out a set of seedlings for her over the next couple of weeks
and yes, it does feel good to do that

wish i had room for some chickens of my own - my son's football pitch must come first tho .........

Yes please Paul, bring them over and I will do you a good lunch and you can take some plants home for your lottie.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

Even though I didn't get huge amounts last year, it was so nice to give one aunt and uncle a bag of brocolli and onions, another a bag of onions, and my grandparents some freshly dug new potatoes - enough for them for one really nice dinner like they used to have "down home" (they're in the city for over 60 years, but still talk of the new potatoes they'd have growing up). And when we went on hols down to our own home place, I brought a few different bags of things and was feeding and giving away fresh veg to loads of our family. It felt really satisfying I must admit.

Hoping for greater gluts this year to give more away (and for storage too!!).

With people really catching onto proper food, when we now go to friends for dinner, as well as a bottle of wine (or even single estate olive oil for posh mates) we take either a jar of preserves or a trug of produce. Its a real talking point and moves conversation to a grapes fav subject, growing your own.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

Took a savoy, some PSB and some shimonitas round to a friends yesterday, yep it's a great feeling!
I'm saving my biggested and bestest savoy for my grandad coz he's always been a mega brilliant gardener and he thinks my methods are debatable! Just want him to be proud!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

I heard yesterday that my daughter and son-in-law (and 3 year old GD) are going to share an allotment in their village - a couple of miles from here. So instead of the fresh produce I shared last year, they and son will get home raised toms, peppers and other surplus seedlings to grow on for themselves. I also like to give jams and chutneys - like PW I find they are very gratefully received when visiting, as are small bottles of sloe gin, damson vodka and wild plum brandy. As several people have said, it makes you feel good.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

How can he NOT be Lainey?

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

I grow veg in the garden, and where we live.. well.. lets just say a lot of the people locally probably wouldn't recognise a tomato plant, spud plant, beans or cucumber plants (etc) if it walked up and bit them on the leg.. a lot of the local children (4-10 years or so) have been fascinated with what i've been growing, asking what the various plants are, quite politely, just hanging over the garden fence (which is quite low), and trying various samples that i've passed to them. Their moms have benefited from a few tomatoes grown by me. Its been great cos i feel good that i've educated them, its given them a chance to get to know us (we're very different to a lot of the people who live round here and i think they think of us as being a bit wierd, but that's okay..as long as its nice wierd!), and hopefully, when they get into their teens and join the grunting-destruction-on-legs-football-sex-obsessed group, they'll remember what i taught them and leave my garden alone!

[says a lot about the locals that the first bed i dug, 3 meters long by 1 meter wide, they all reckoned was a grave. In fact, one lad went back to his dad, saying it was a grave and his dad went "don't be so daft, i know XXX (my OH), if he'd killed someone he wouldn't be so stupid as to bury them in the garden!". I'm not saying another word.... (other than that my OH wouldn't kill anyone!)]

but yes, it is a nice feeling, giving back to the community with fresh fruit and veg, i've even baked cupcakes for community events before now too. it all helps

keth
xx

Cor, yer on! Haven't got much space left for plants though - Jeannine keeps planting flowers in me beds, if you can imagine such a thing.

Loved your post Kethry - it reminded me of my last garden. The neighbours were a horrible bunch, the worst kind of ignorant scum, but you could see that all the kids wanted was a bit of affection and attention and they'd turn out well. They were really interested in my veg plot and the oldest lad even planted his own broad bean (just one!) in their front garden. I'd have loved to have taken him and his sister with me when I moved, but what hope have they got?

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Resistance is fertile

I think it's a shame too when kids don't have parents who can show them how to grow things but luckily a lot of schools are getting into scemes where they can teach the children where their food comes from & they have little veg.patches in the school grounds, unfortunately one or two near me have been vandalised by older children who couldn't care less who they upset but it seems to be getting better as more schools join in.
I only grow fruit & veg. in my garden but luckily have had the odd glut which I've been able to share. I've given courgettes & tomatoes to my mum-in-law which I love to do as it was her late husband who was one of the people who got me interested in growing by giving me homegrown tomatoes & tiny plants to grow on.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

When I first started I found we would give all the good stuff away and end up cutting the edible bits out of the rubbish for ourselves!! Fortunately I grow on a larger scale now and am, dare I say, a bit better at warding of the pests and harvesting when it is at its best rather than admiring the crop till it goes over!

Of course it is a joy to give your produce to friends, family and few of the elderly in the village. I think recently with rising food prices and people being so much more tuned into what they eat having been produced without loads of chemicals they really appreciate it. Often I find the favour returned in some other way. makes the world go round eh.

I am sure our shortcomings are more overlooked when I arrive with a fresh cut bunch of asparagus to say thank you for letting the kids come to play for the afternoon or something.:

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Advertising is the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket. George Orwell
Paul