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Post by daylilydude on Dec 21, 2017 7:33:22 GMT -5
Are there just some vegetables you don't grow and prefer just to buy them at the grocery store?
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Post by brownrexx on Dec 21, 2017 7:46:50 GMT -5
I don't grow broccoli and buy it at the store. I do grow some cauliflower in the Spring but don't really care for it frozen so I usually buy a couple of supermarket heads over the winter.
I buy salad green at the store over the winter but grow them over the summer.
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Post by paulf on Dec 21, 2017 11:10:04 GMT -5
Broccoli and cauliflower here, too. During the long winter months we purchase salad makings: lettuce, peppers and yes, even store bought tomatoes.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Dec 21, 2017 11:12:20 GMT -5
Not really a vegetable, but cilantro for sure. I have not figured out the knack to keep it growing. It goes from barely growing to seed head in no time, and succession planting doesn't seem to work for me either. I can buy huge bunches for anywhere from 59-99 cents, so I don't grow it any more.
Bell Peppers would be my actual vegetable choice. I must always choose the wrong varieties, because I'll have scads of hot peppers, while my assorted bell pepper plants really struggle. I've devoted so much space in the past to hoping for a bumper crop for fresh eating, using in salsa, etc. I finally stopped two years ago. I buy bell peppers from the farmstands near me if they have them, but if they don't it's not a big deal. My favorite grocery store regularly has green peppers at 3/$1.00 and the red/yellow/orange ones are often just 59 cents each.
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Post by september on Dec 21, 2017 11:18:52 GMT -5
Like Paul, we buy all fresh salad fixings during the winter when we can't grow our own. In the summer, there is not much I buy, probably cooking onions and carrots and celery when I've used up my own supplies. I do grow and use my own fresh and frozen broccoli. Buy broccoli in the winter for adding fresh to salads. I buy potatoes, since I don't grow my own.
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Post by meandtk on Dec 21, 2017 11:37:09 GMT -5
Lettuce I seldom have success due to the vicissitudes of our weather.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Dec 21, 2017 11:58:57 GMT -5
There are several things that don't grow well in an almost zone 9 humid climate. Lettuce, bell peppers, spinach, and beets come to mind. Carrots can grow but they are difficult.
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Post by spike on Dec 21, 2017 13:07:12 GMT -5
Mostly I grow and put up everything myself. What I don't grow, I am lucky enough to live near Amish farmers and can buy straight from the fields. But sadly in the winter all bets are off for salad greens. My favorite are baby spinach and baby kale green salads.
OH I know! I do buy mushrooms from the store! That is the one thing I do not grow and regularly buy from the grocer.
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Post by paquebot on Dec 21, 2017 13:08:29 GMT -5
Gave up trying to grow head lettuce years ago. Other than that, there;s nothing that we need that we can't grow. We do buy things which are not in season such as cauliflower and celery and tomatoes. ladymarmalade, cilantro is often cheaper and more convenient to buy since it is always at the stage where you want it. But it can be grown without worrying about timing. When it is at the peak of being cilantro, pull all of it and cut the roots off. Make a big bundle and put that into a bread wrapper and into the freezer. When needed, just shave off what's needed. Martin The truth is more important than the facts.
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poppopt
Junior Member
Posts: 89
Joined: May 2017
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Post by poppopt on Dec 21, 2017 15:30:42 GMT -5
The grocery store is usually my last choice rather than my first. If I can't grow it, I want to find someone local who does. There are some pretty good gardeners around these parts if you seek them out. But if none of them have it, then it's the grocery store.
Of course, here in north central Tennessee, there aren't any local growers growing avocados. I wish there were. Or lemons, we use some of those.
Our diets have changed some since our last large garden so the next one is going to be a little different. We don't eat a lot of beans except green beans so we'll be growing those. And we pretty much quit eating potatoes so we won't be growing those, or just a few if we do. We don't eat that many sweet potatoes, either, so won't go nuts with those. Since we do eat a good many eggs, I'm giving some serious thought to getting a flock of chickens going.
Our biggies that I hope to get going are cauliflower, broccoli, squash (zucchini and yellow, mostly), greens (turnip, mustard, and beet, mostly, and some spinach), tomatoes, onions, carrots, and I need to get an asparagus bed going. There are a few others but those would go a long way.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2017 16:52:25 GMT -5
Kohlrabi, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms and celery. Last year and for now, most everything as my garden had a hard time. hopefully this next spring will be better.
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Post by paulf on Dec 21, 2017 17:19:30 GMT -5
Add carrots and potatoes to my list.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 21, 2017 18:41:25 GMT -5
Obviously, there are many more things that I buy than I grow, simply because I don't have the room, and there is a lot of off season. Many things are so cheap that I don't waste space growing them. Onions, carrots, celery, and cabbage are in this group, and not really much better grown myself (ecept the carrots, though some varieties were spitters). Potatoes are delicious home grown, but attracted so many bugs that annihilated my eggplants, that I dropped them, and buy them. Broccoli and bell peppers just don't grow that well for me; same with cauliflower, but I keep trying, and have a green variety for this season. I have tried kale - many varieties - but (sorry ladymarmalade) I haven't found any that I like as much as chard and all those Asian greens I grow, and it is much slower, and not as productive. Many things I buy when I'm not growing them - cukes, lettuce, some greens, as well as some herbs, though some herbs I have to have fresh, so they are in my hydroponics, as well as some greens. I also buy my cilantro - I simply can't get it to grow outside without bolting prematurely. I keep trying, however! Funny related story - my sister called recently, asking me if I needed anything from the store, since I can't (easily) get out. I had only one thing : CILANTRO!
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Dec 21, 2017 19:31:10 GMT -5
Onions, beets and cauliflower. Inexpensive to buy and onions and beets in quantity take up too much space in my little garden. Oh and Cardboard tomatoes in winter.
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Post by Gianna on Dec 22, 2017 0:02:27 GMT -5
There is no particular pattern to what I buy, it's just whatever I want to use and am not currently growing. Celery, jicama, usually broccoli and cauliflower I buy, though currently I have all but the jicama planted. I grow a lot of lettuce, but sometimes there is a gap in production, sometimes short, sometimes long, and I'll buy that. Always buy nuts, rarely buy fruits.
It's hard to describe my buying pattern ...because there isn't much of one.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
Joined: March 2012
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Post by aqua on Dec 22, 2017 7:37:13 GMT -5
I love the term "cardboard tomatoes" - ain't that the truth ~
Believe it or not, I buy zukes and squash. Never grew them successfully. I also buy onions, same reason.
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Post by brownrexx on Dec 22, 2017 8:52:37 GMT -5
I love the term "cardboard tomatoes" - ain't that the truth ~ We call them that too. They LOOK like tomatoes but no taste...... We don't bother because they are expensive too and it bugs me to spend that much for something that tastes like cardboard.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Dec 22, 2017 12:22:00 GMT -5
Husband "needs" tomatoes even in winter. I agree, they are tasteless, but bacon and tomato sammies just aren't the same without a hint of red, LOL We used to live near a greenhouse that grew good quality hydroponic tomatoes. They were about twice the price of regular grocery store winter stock, but they were worth every penny! The general store used to order a tray a week, and they almost flew out the door the same day as they were delivered. We are about 4 hours from there now so not worth the drive, but now you have me wondering what they cost ten years later??
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Post by paquebot on Dec 22, 2017 17:17:39 GMT -5
There's one thing about store tomatoes. There are varieties with the same qualities when grown outside. With the new food laws where country of origin must be noted, we get beefsteak tomatoes either grown here in Wisconsin or Canada during the winter. Thus we do have a chance to buy tomatoes locally all year long. We do buy a couple tomatoes every month during the off season. That's how often we have tacos and there must be a solid tomato involved.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Dec 22, 2017 22:23:30 GMT -5
I wonder if you get ones from Niagara during the winter? When Hubs was still driving transport, I know he delivered tomatoes, eggplant and peppers from a greenhouse here as far west as Chicago?
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Post by paquebot on Dec 22, 2017 23:13:01 GMT -5
Country of Origin doesn't always give the name of the company but I'll keep an eye out for any that do when the greenhouse tomatoes start showing up. There's a big greenhouse complex about 40 miles from here so transportation costs are minimal. The few times that I've bought one from there was as good as some that I've grown in the gardens. Haven't tried any from Canada yet.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 22, 2017 23:13:54 GMT -5
They can grow good tasting tomatoes in greenhouses and hydroponics; problem is, most of us don't have access to them. Those flavorless tomatoes that most of us know are varietes bred for shipping, with harldly any juice or flavor.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Dec 25, 2017 12:08:31 GMT -5
The Sunset brand of tomatoes grown in Canada are WAY better than your average grocery store tomato. There are a few varieties that I have not been a fan of, but they have really worked hard to produce greenhouse tomatoes that actually taste like something. www.sunsetgrown.com/I regularly buy Flavor Bombs and Kumato tomatoes from them.
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Post by tomike on Dec 25, 2017 16:24:27 GMT -5
The Sunset brand of tomatoes grown in Canada are WAY better than your average grocery store tomato. There are a few varieties that I have not been a fan of, but they have really worked hard to produce greenhouse tomatoes that actually taste like something. www.sunsetgrown.com/I regularly buy Flavor Bombs and Kumato tomatoes from them. Kumato from Canada..... in the winter time has got to be the best.... of course not like the summer garden tomatoes.....
BUT.... It sure beats the cardboard tasting winter tomatoes sold in grocery stores........
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Post by Gianna on Dec 25, 2017 21:17:56 GMT -5
Our Trader Joe's sells kumato tomatoes. Quite good for store-bought in winter. I collected the seed a few years ago, and if I recall, about half of the resulting tomatoes were brownish too. In ground they were OK, but not as good as the regular summer tomatoes I regularly grow.
Just a couple days ago Trader Joe's had some tomatoes vine ripened and still 'on the stem'. They looked very good, but I didn't buy any since I still have some in the yard. It's been a warm fall.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 25, 2017 22:33:10 GMT -5
Maybe the tomatoes I have gotten at Trader Joe's were something by Sunshine. The ones that I got there were very good - the only really good tomatoes that I have ever bought in a store. They were a large, black cherry, about 1 1/4". I'll keep these names in my mind, to look for in the future.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
Joined: March 2012
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Post by aqua on Dec 26, 2017 8:51:00 GMT -5
I have a Trader Joe's very near me- but I never shop there. Maybe I ought to give it another look, if they actually have edible tomatoes at this time of year.
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Post by octave1 on Dec 26, 2017 22:35:22 GMT -5
I buy garlic, celery and potatoes--all vegetables I don't grow. I never buy tomatoes, and seldom lettuce.
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Post by paquebot on Dec 27, 2017 15:37:12 GMT -5
Just a couple days ago Trader Joe's had some tomatoes vine ripened and still 'on the stem'. They looked very good, but I didn't buy any since I still have some in the yard. It's been a warm fall. That is a specific variety, Cluster. It's a hybrid that's been around probably 15 years. For a time, many seed companies carried it but now only commercial growers have it. Reason for it losing favor is that it didn't taste much better in August as it did in January. I know as I've grown it! Martin The truth is more important than the facts.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2017 2:26:16 GMT -5
Oh, I shall have to buy parsnips as I have never eaten them and want to try them before giving them garden space, LOL!!!!
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