Do you grow any of your own fruits and vegetables? Which ones do you especially like to grow?

Yes we grow tomatoes and peppers, I love the little red cherry tomatos and my husband loves the little yellow pear tomatoes. We also grow a couple of big ones, for slicing.
We grew zuchhini one year, but became overwhelmed! We had so many we were leaving them on our neighbors doorsteps! Just couldn’t eat them fast enough!
I grew basi last year, but this year I didn’t – my daughter has enough for both of us!

Tomatoes, basil, oregano, chives, sage – and I steal cukes, berries, dill, lettuce, beans from my sister’s gardens. Her zucchinis are now lethal weapons.. the size of an elephant’s haunch.

Tomato, green pepper, jalepeno pepper, cilantro, basil, cucumbers and lettuce we are really good at….

carrots, pumpkins, rhubarb, garlic, asparagus, corn and beans we have also tried…..and we are not so good at :(

Does this include my Avocado orchard (with avocados) I might add and peaches? Next year my Apricot tree will bear the fruits of my labor.

My husband and daughters do (I’ve got a brown thumb)...Tomatoes, onions and herbs have all done well, radishes were stunted and no good, the one pepper that matured was eaten by our resident groundhog.

I grow a lot of herbs. Rosemary, basil, chives, oregano, thyme, flat-leaf parsley. Very handy to have them right outside the kitchen door.

….I forgot mint (spearmint and regular mint both)....

I grow, well pretty much everything. My all time favorite thing to grow is watermelon. I love waiting for it to get ripe, they’re sort of magically. One day you’ll see a lemon size lump and the next it’ll be the size of a grapefruit. Also I like grow things like radishes and carrots. There’s a sort of miracle behind pulling up a weed and finding food on the bottom.

It is unconditionally miraculous. Pinky, where do you live? Do you have a long growing season, mild winters and few garden pests. both 4, 6 and 8 legged kinds?

@Snoopy; how could I have forgotten the omnipresent and rapidly-growning mint? I use it to try and strangle the poison ivy, which is also everywhere.

@gail: evil, that poison ivy!

@Snoopy: I also dump the contents of the litter box on the PI in my field. Pouring boiling water over an acre got to be too daunting.

@gail niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. So if you forget where it is, you step in cat poo AND poison ivy. LOL

I live in zone 3, so am limited in garden things, somewhat, to 70 days or less. I garden with my brother, who has a farm (I live in town) and we grow wonderful green beans (Derby is our favorite), sweet corn (Northern X-tra sweet bicolor), and several kinds of tomatoes. We grow cabbage (Stonehead) every other year to make sauerkraut. One of my favorite things is parsnips.

Heirloom Tomatoes are my favorite. I also grow cucumbers, squash, and lettuce. In the fruit department I grow oranges, figs, lemons, bananas, blueberries, and watermelons. Plus plenty of herbs.

@gooch. We have a fig. For decoration only. The figs get to be about the size of a walnut and are green. Are those appropriate size and color for eating?

@greylady; how do you get corn to ripen in such a short growing season?

@snoopy; True, I have senior moments now, but never about cat poop and poison ivy.

@gooch; you have about a 365 day growing season?

It depends on the variety. For some types they are ready green. Most types need to let them ripen up to a more brown or purple color. Size is right though!

@gooch I have no idea what the variety is….I received a “chunk” of it from someone’s garden.
(I just thought the leaves were very cool!)

@gail How can you be so sure?

@Gooch; isn’t S. Louisiana somewhere near the equator?

No. Gulf coast of Louisiana. The temp. is pretty stable due to the Gulf of Mexico. The warm waters hook us up with plenty of warmth and rain. I guess it’s like a tropical climate to some people. I live about 20 miles inland. It lies between the 29th and 33rd parallel north of the equator.

Just how long is the growing season? For me, Philadelphia is the tropics.

Well it depends on what you grow. I plant winter crops like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, then we have spring and summer crops (too many to mention). Then fruit trees that take like nine months to ripen the fruit from flowering. It does get cold sometimes down to freezing some years.

My sister (here in zone 4)is about to harvest her peaches. Some years she gets none; they are very small (about two bites per peach) but sweet and with just the right amount of dripping juices.

@gail: Sounds perfect for peach pie!

No. Must be eaten in the sun from the tree. It is like picking a warm fresh strawberry.

@Gooch; I was joking about Louisiana’s location. I am at about N lat. 43˚.

@gail. We have to read the seed catalog very carefully and choose the varieties that are less than 70 days (that means days from germination to harvest). There aren’t that many to choose from!

I don’t grow stuff, as I recently moved, but all my female relatives (mom, two aunts, grandma) and grandpa grow different things…the most delicious cucumbers come from my mom’s garden. They are almost a completely different species than those weird waxed-up things in the store. (I guess they’re organic??)

Peaches fresh from the tree are delish!

Home grown citrus is nice, too, especially lemons and limes. Oranges are hit-and-miss. Pomegranates are nice, but you get a lot and they’re a pain to do anything with.

Spices are great! My mom grows three (?) kinds of basil—lemon, cinnamon, sweet (regular). If you are veggie/vegan and miss sausage, grow thee some cinnamon basil! It tastes exactly like sausage. Mmmm…

My grandma has good luck growing Thai (?) chilies and eggplants.

My one aunt grows tiny yellow tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.

I live in the dry and hot southwest, so these answers may do nothing for you!