Growing your own to lower food costs - 2023

[Trev62]

I certainly do not have the confidence or knowledge to pick wild mushrooms, looking at the links you posted I could be tempted in to trying out one the kits.

[lancashire lass]

Tried shaggy ink caps but they seemed tasteless.

I used to sometimes cross paths with an elderly man out on his bicycle when I took my dog out for her early (6.00 am) walk, and we often had a little chat. He once had a bag of freshly picked shaggy ink caps and offered some to me and said they are best cooked in a little bacon fat (I think the salt and bacon juices is crucial to giving them flavour) And they do cook down to almost nothingness so I only ever seemed to get enough to put on a slice of toast (with the bacon)

The other thing about shaggy ink caps is the need to pick them before the cap starts to open, hence the early morning harvest ... and if there are any knowledgeable foragers also out at the same time, too often the more obvious spots have been picked cleaned. I think if you do know where there is a patch, it is not usually shared with anyone else. I do remember being on one of my early morning dog walks in a more remote place (it must have been a Sunday when I used to go for a much longer walk through the woodland and fields) when I suddenly spotted an isolated little clump coming up - considering I wasn't even looking for mushrooms or anything in particular, it was as though my brain had sent an alarm off which made me stop in my tracks to look twice to double check I hadn't imagined it. And I even had a look round to see if anyone had seen me LOL

I certainly do not have the confidence or knowledge to pick wild mushrooms, looking at the links you posted I could be tempted in to trying out one the kits.

As I said in my post, I would only ever limit myself to the obviously more easily identifiable mushrooms (and I had been shown by experienced people) I did buy some foraging books including identifying mushrooms but like you, I really don't have the confidence considering how deadly some are if I got it wrong.

Regarding the kits, I am seriously thinking of trying the sawdust / straw methods. Apparently growing oyster or shitake mushrooms are the easiest (and most productive) I wouldn't mind trying the log method as well but it's the need to use the freshly cut logs (and tree specie) which might be the problem for me.

[lancashire lass]

Not a GYO to lower food costs post, but foraging if you are able, is one way to add foods to the dinner table. Like the mushroom post, if you have no knowledge of local plants and what is edible (or poisonous), it is not something I'd advise without expert advice and help with identification. There are several books published that are very useful - Wild Food by Roger Philips is perhaps one of the most well known.

Mid-late summer is the time to forage the fruits growing wild. Sloes (for sloe gin), rose hips, blackberries and elderberries are perhaps the most foraged. The most toxic berry to avoid is the Deadly Nightshade / Belladonna - they really do look edible but can be fatal if eaten.

The Elder tree provides not only the berries in late summer, but the flowers are prized too. You can use elderflower to make wine or cordial, or added to other foods (link to BBC Good Food for ideas) Easiest to make is Elderflower champagne which I can highly recommend. Flowers are not poisonous (do make sure you have identified the elder tree as the flower looks remarkably like other flowers that come out about the same time which are poisonous - including Hogweed, Hemlock, Cow Parsley to name a few) and be aware that all other parts of the elder contain cyanide-inducing glycosides so should not be eaten. Even elderberries are poisonous too although you are more likely to have a really bad tummy if eaten raw. Once cooked to destroy the glycosides, the berries are often used for making wine (I make a Elderberry port using the basic wine recipe and raisins added to the fermenting bin which gives it a rich flavour) or syrup (to drizzle over foods or to make cordials. Adding spices like ginger and cloves to the basic recipe makes a lovely hot drink) Both wine and syrups have health benefits - as well as high in vitamin C (like all berries) but are high in flavonoids (fruits with red or purple colours) which helps to reduce inflammation and to fight off colds (highly recommended) To be fair, I inherited 5 cultivated elders when I bought my house so don't need to go and forage (and the berries are much bigger than the hedgerow elders)

Sloes are the fruits of blackthorn trees (they are one of the first trees to blossom in early spring) to make Sloe Gin (easy recipe) I can tell you from experience that sloes are one of the most foraged of fruits so don't be surprised if the trees have been stripped of the more accessible fruits. Very much a case of who gets there first.

I think most people would recognise rose bushes (whether the garden variety or the wild Dog rose in hedgerows) I have to confess I did not like the rosehip syrup I made (it had an aftertaste) but rather than throw it away, I diluted the batch with water and added some wine yeast to make Rosehip wine ... it tasted so different and one of the best wines I've ever made. Rose hips do need a bit of preparation before using - the hips contain not only the seeds but hairs which need to be removed.

Blackberries from hedgerows are better picked as soon as they start ripening rather than later in the season. For one, you are likely to have fierce competition from other foragers, but as the late summer / early autumn weather cools, the berries are less appealing. Be aware of eating raw straight off the bramble - too often they have bugs and grubs that are not that obvious to see. Soak them in salted water before cooking / freezing (and when you see what ends up at the bottom of the basin, you'll never eat one straight off the bramble ever again!)

I haven't seen any where I live now (the link indicates it doesn't grow here in the East Midlands so that explains a lot) but I used to go out on the moors (northern Greater Manchester) to pick bilberries (aka wimberries or whimberries) I can tell you right now that it is back breaking and takes a long time to pick enough to make it worthwhile. My mother used to make an Apple & Bilberry pie which went down well.

The Hawthorn berry is edible - if you bite into one straight off the tree, the flesh is quite dry, almost like a nut, but surprisingly fruity flavoured. My only attempt to make a jelly turned into a solid (almost boiled sweet) consistency. Use the Haw (which is the name of the berry) to make flavoured vodka, or dried to make a herbal tea.

Meanwhile, consider edible leaves and roots - Fat hen, stinging nettle, garlic mustard (also known as Jack by the hedge) and even the common Dandelion are just some of the things that can be foraged. Dandelion flowers for wine (I confess I find flower wines too dry for my palate), leaves for salad and roots can be roasted to make a substitute coffee (well, it has a taste of its own which I have tried)

I found this website useful if interested in learning more about edible (and poisonous) plants in the UK: Wild Food UK

[lancashire lass]

Following on from the foraging post, it seemed right to include cultivated varieties. The Elder is available to grow in the garden and are really quite easy to grow. Once established, they are very productive and require no attention other than a harsh trim every 2 or 3 years.

There are purple leaved (with pink flowers) as well as the standard green leaved trees available.

Once established and mature, the trees grow tall very quickly so from a cultivation point of view, some of the flowers and fruits can quickly get out of reach. I also noticed that cutting them right back (to about 3-4 foot tall stumps) and letting them grow branches and foliage in the first year, that they produced higher yields of flowers (and consequently berries) in the second year. The trick is to harvest the flowers from the highest branches (which will continue to grow during the season) and leaving the lower flowers to develop into the cluster of berries which are easier to harvest.

Some people find elderflowers smell strongly of cat pee - it may be the tree itself although I did read somewhere that the smell is usually from older flowers, so pick them when they have just opened. Pick first thing on a dry morning and don't wash - the natural yeasts are vital for fermenting (wine or champagne) - but you may want to give them a little shake to knock off any bugs.

The berries themselves are ripe when they turn dark purple and can be squashed between your fingers. On this occasion, giving the berries a rinse is advisable as they are full of bugs and spiders as well as dirt and dust (accumulated during a dry summer). Don't feel you have to harvest every year as the berries attract many different birds which they feed on. The only birds that I didn't enjoy seeing were flocks of starlings that would descend on the trees and strip them clean of all the berries in one go. And you can usually tell when birds, especially pigeons have been feasting on the berries as their purple poo in the garden are unmistakable!

Removing berries from the stalks can be a lot of work - I found using the fork to strip them was the easiest way.

[Mo]

If you like a spicy taste in your salad, Nasturtium leaves can be picked. And if you plant them once they self seed for ever.

[Mo]

I did try nettles during lockdown. There is a reason most people prefer other greens.

[Trev62]

Before moving here we used to do a lot of forging (at present what with renovating and taming the field we no longer have the time) but the main things we gathered were:

Rose hips for syrup, wine, tea
Hawthorn haws for a tincture, syrup, fruit leather, tea
Drenki berries for syrup, jam
Mulberries for wine, Kompot, jam
Blackberries for jam, Kompot, cooking
Walnuts just for the joy of eating them!
Dandelions for dandelion honey
Linden tree leaves for tea
Wild/Sour cherries for wine, jam, Kompot
Apples for vinegar, sauce, syrup, drying, cooking, Kompot
Yarrow to stop wounds from bleeding
Chicory for repelling flies and the lovely aroma it gives when heated on the wood stove

A selection of our Kompots are made with rakia for pouring over porridge during the cold winter months here. It warms the old cockles (as they say) before venturing out.

[lancashire lass]

Anyone new to growing your own food probably don't want to hear about blight as they start their new adventure, but sadly it can be a problem and decimate all your hard work. Once signs of blight appear, outdoor grown tomato plants collapse within 2 weeks, and potato plants soon after. Potatoes and tomatoes are in the same Solanaceae family so vulnerable to the same diseases - bear this in mind when following a crop rotation, and try to avoid growing potatoes and tomatoes next to each other.

Blight is a generic term for a group of fungus that affect lots of different plant species but the pathogen most associated with potatoes and tomatoes is Phytophthora infestans (commonly referred to as "Late Blight") This disease was introduced to Europe in 1845 resulting in the Irish potato famine. During dry weather, blight is less likely but warmth and high humidity are warning signals to start keeping an eye out for signs. A "Smith Period" is a forecasting tool when the temperature is over 10oC and humidity levels are 90% or higher for at least 48 hours which are ideal conditions for blight. Once blight is detected in your area, the spores are carried in the wind and spreads quickly affecting both potato and tomato plants.

Farmers and potato specialists use fungicides to control the spread but unfortunately home growers do not have access to these. So what can you do? Do a google search for home remedies and they all sound like cures but unfortunately their efficacy is limited (and using some of them are probably not a good idea) Some suggestions include spraying crops with milk or a mix of oil (or diluted washing up liquid) and baking soda, or spraying liquid compost on to the leaves. Using diluted milk is often used to prevent powdery mildew on some plants (in particular, cucumbers and squash / courgette) because it has natural anti-fungal and bacterial properties. Baking soda is alkali whereas fungus prefer more acidic conditions (the oil or dilute washing up prevents the solution from washing off easily). Aerated compost tea is made from compost and aerated water to encourage growth of beneficial microorganisms which will compete with fungus. The ultimate in fungicides contain copper solutions which are very effective. (Bordeaux Mixture is a combination of copper sulfate, lime, and water that was accidentally discovered in the 1880s and initially used to control vine downy mildew)

Personally I'd avoid the use of copper which is a powerful pollutant - obviously home growers wouldn't be using the quantities to have a significant environmental impact but it will kill many beneficial soil microorganisms which allow pathogens to take over. Some of the other suggestions may have some effect in mild cases but basically they are limited. You could try and nip off the affected leaves (which resemble sun scorch) as they appear but be aware that after handling infected material that you may accidentally introduce the disease to unaffected foliage and plants.

When it is obvious that blight has struck, the only thing you really can do is try to rescue your crop (harvest the green tomatoes and try to ripen them on a sunny windowsill) and destroy the plant material (do not compost but preferably burn it if you are allowed) Cutting back potato foliage to ground level and earthing up the soil may protect the tubers until the weather conditions improve before digging up. However, if the disease has already spread throughout the plant, both fruit and potatoes may already be infected and at risk of rotting so remove any that are showing signs of the disease to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the crop. There is more information from the RHS site

When it comes to green tomatoes, rather than try and ripen them, you could try and preserve them such as making something like a green tomato chutney.

If you are unfortunate to have had blight hit your plants, the good news is that it is not likely to affect your crops the following year (weather conditions permitting of course) as the spores that land on soil are short lived when there is no plant material to infect. Crop rotation (that is, grow a different crop the following in those beds) will help to reduce build up of pathogens to those crops.

What other options are available to prevent blight? Growing blight resistant strains such as the Sarpo range of potatoes is one - you could grow it as a guarantee of at least harvesting some potatoes while also growing one of the other more interesting and tasty varieties. There are blight resistant tomato varieties but some of the older naturally resistant varieties can be still be susceptible to blight in particularly bad years, and many of the new variety seeds can be expensive. Growing tomatoes under cover (such as a greenhouse or polytunnel) are also still vulnerable if spores enter but from experience, I found growing an indoor crop was my back-up plan at the same time as growing outdoor varieties.

Before posting this topic, it should be noted that the signs of blight on plants can look a lot like magnesium deficiency. Magnesium in soil is usually in the form of a soluble compound and during times of water shortage or excessive water (rain), plants either cannot take up magnesium due to lack of water, or is soluble in water and washed out. During dry weather, consider whether the scorched leaves normally associated with blight are actually down to lack of water (plants often sacrifice older leaves to protect the rest of the plant) or possibly magnesium deficiency. Watering in a dilute solution of magnesium sulphate (aka Epsom salt) will do no harm to the plants and may have a beneficial effect.

[Trev62]

a mix of oil (or diluted washing up liquid) and baking soda, or spraying liquid compost on to the leaves.

Baking soda is alkali whereas fungus prefer more acidic conditions (the oil or dilute washing up prevents the solution from washing off easily).

This is our preferred method of dealing with blight, nice and simple and it has an immediate effect on the plant.

You could try and nip off the affected leaves (which resemble sun scorch) as they appear but be aware that after handling infected material that you may accidentally introduce the disease to unaffected foliage and plants.

We have also used this method which has then allowed us to get the plants to survive until we harvest the tomatoes.

Two years ago we got hit by a tornado (well, it ripped through the field next to us), everything we had planted was flattened. We re sited the tomato plants but the time spent laying in the flooded field made blight a serious issue but by cutting back the plants and leaves we still managed to get a crop from them.

[Mo]

When it is obvious that blight has struck, the only thing you really can do is try to rescue your crop (harvest the green tomatoes and try to ripen them on a sunny windowsill) and destroy the plant material (do not compost but preferably burn it if you are allowed

I read that potato blight does not come from composted foliage, but any small potatoes left in the soil could be a source if they grow as volunteers next year.
When storing my potatoes I sort any that look at all dodgy and use them first, and use bags (flour or sugar bags) for the rest so that there is less chance of rot spreading if I've missed any. Horrid smell and slimy spuds. Uggh

[lancashire lass]

When storing my potatoes I sort any that look at all dodgy and use them first, and use bags (flour or sugar bags) for the rest so that there is less chance of rot spreading if I've missed any.

When storing potatoes generally (nothing to do with blight), it is usually recommended to dry them on the soil surface immediately after lifting up, and then storing the dried potatoes (with dirt still on) in whichever manner (some use the paper potato sacks, I used the big fruit boxes from the supermarket lined with the thick brown paper often found in the boxes to exclude light (and the boxes also came with a lid ... some supermarkets used to leave the cardboard boxes in big trolleys by the tills so that people could help themselves) After a couple of years of some potato rotting in store, my friend and I decided on (gently) washing off the dirt from the potatoes in a bucket of water containing some bleach (kills off fungus spores and washes off soil bacteria / bugs) then air drying them well before putting into storage. I have to confess that this method reduced some of the nasty rots quite considerably but it did shorten the storage period (I think the dirt coating may have had something to do with that)

[lancashire lass]

Two years ago we got hit by a tornado (well, it ripped through the field next to us), everything we had planted was flattened. We re sited the tomato plants but the time spent laying in the flooded field made blight a serious issue but by cutting back the plants and leaves we still managed to get a crop from them.

that must have been not only frightening but devastating to find all your crops flattened.

Regards cutting back plants (generally), I agree that this method can bring on a fresh cluster of flowers and fruit. I once left it too late planting my tomato plants in the polytunnel and they were unmanageable to handle, so I cut them back quite harshly. The only problem (perhaps being in the UK) is that the fruit were slow to ripen as they neared maturity just as it was getting cooler at the end of summer / early autumn.

[Mo]

Yes, I do dry the potatoes, either on the surface or in the kitchen on a bin-liner. Make sure they are dry both sides. I leave them dirty. My small bags go into a paper sack or big cardboard box in a shady place under the shelf unit in the porch (cool but frost-free)
Important to keep light away both when they are growing and in store to stop them going green as this is slightly poisonous. At this time of year stored potatoes and shop bought spuds may have 'eyes', where they have started to grow. The flesh immediately below the shoot doesn't soften when cooking, so I cut a little bit out.

[Trev62]

At this time of year stored potatoes and shop bought spuds may have 'eyes', where they have started to grow. The flesh immediately below the shoot doesn't soften when cooking, so I cut a little bit out.

I was never aware of this, goes to show you learn something new everyday

We have planted three times the amount of potatoes that we normally do, we pressure can them mainly, tried dehydrating them with no great results but being more in tune with the dehydrating/rehydrating process now we will try again this year.

If the yield is good we want to store them in one of the cellars so there are some useful tips here. Thanks.

[lancashire lass]

Peas so have a place in the vegetable plot but for the amount of peas you actually harvest and the time spent removing them from the pods (especially when you keep eating them before the peas get to the saucepan), then in my case, the frozen supermarket peas actually worked out more cost effective than home grown. If you do grow your own, then you are in for a delight - the summer pea varieties are so lovely, sweet and tender ... and as already mentioned, you can't help eat them straight from the pod.

Like potatoes, there are different maturing pea varieties from early varieties (in areas of mild winter, some are sown in late autumn throughout winter for flowering in spring for an early harvest), to mid-season (sow from March for later harvest) and then maincrop (which produce larger pods with more peas per pod) The later maturing varieties are more like the frozen peas (more starchy than sweet) which are harvested in late summer / autumn. Apart from maincrop, most pea varieties can be started off in mid-late March in successional sowings every 2 weeks to spread the harvest out for longer. A popular successional sowing pea is the Kelvedon Wonder but there are so many other varieties to choose. Be aware that later sowings may actually catch up with earlier sowings as the spring weather warms up so be prepared for an unexpected lot of pod picking.

There are many ways to grow peas but they all have the same climbing habit. Unlike beans where the growing tip winds round poles like a vine, peas have grasping tendrils which instantly coil round anything they come into contact, including each other. When that happens, the sheer weight of top growth can pull plants over. Pea netting strung and securely tied to upright canes is advisable - sow seeds either side of the netting. I would prepare a bed for sowing (dug over, some Growmore fertilizer raked in), then dig a shallow (about an inch deep) trench row (about 3-4 inches wide) and sow the seeds in a zig zag fashion, roughly 2 inches apart, before covering the seeds with soil. As soon as the seedlings started to appear, I would then erect the netting down the middle of the zig zag (you could do this immediately on sowing but before covering the seeds so that you can see the 2 rows of the zig zag more clearly) If growing multiple rows, space them about 18 inches apart (and anticipate how you will be able to pick the pods and if you have enough space to move between rows)

Most pea varieties can give 2 crops in a season, providing you remove the first crop. Nipping off the pods will trigger the second flush of the flowers but when pods are left on the pod, the plants have no incentive to produce more. Knowing when to pick the pods takes a little experience but you soon learn when the peas are big enough and when the pods look full. And for confirmation, taste the peas straight from the pod - the texture and the sweetness are a good indicator of when they are ready to harvest (but knowing when to stop tasting and to actually harvest may be more difficult than you think ....)

If you are lucky to have a surplus of peas, the pods can be temporarily stored in the fridge until ready for taking the peas out for cooking. However, the sweetness of the peas will soon turn to starches after the pods have been picked, so don't leave them there too long. Or you can freeze the peas to use later. All pea varieties can be preserved by freezing. Nearly all of them can be stored dried to use later but usually specific varieties are grown specifically for this purpose. Seeds from practically all pea varieties, particularly heirloom, can be saved from home grown sowings. I used to enjoy the first crop of the season and then leave some pods in the second crop to fully mature. When the plants die back and the pods are dried, the seeds can be removed and stored somewhere dry for sowing the following year (don't forget to label the envelope with the pea variety and year of harvest)

Many pea varieties only grow about 2 to 3 feet tall - when you are harvesting, it can be back breaking hand picking the pods (and trying not to tug too hard and uproot the plant) Short pea varieties really only started to appear when harvesting was done by machine. During the Victorian period, tall varieties were the norm growing up to about 6 or so feet. Some of these heritage varieties are still popular and available, including the Alderman

An alternate to peas has to be the Sugar snap or Mangetout - the pods are tender and sweet and not only lovely in whatever cooking method (stir fry, boiled) but can be lovely, sweet and crunchy raw (as a lunch box treat) Many years ago I signed up to growing a couple of varieties in an RHS seed trial and although my experience is limited to these 2 only, I can highly recommend the Oregon Sugar Pod and Sugar Ann. Another favourite of mine was Golden Sweet (the pods are bright yellow so easy to spot when harvesting) for ease of growth and harvesting (and because the pods are harvested before the seeds develop, like all pea plants, they will produce another crop) Alternatively, there are purple podded varieties including the Snow Pea Shiraz (and if you are lucky to grow heritage variety Kent Blue)

What about pests and diseases? I was perhaps lucky and only ever had to contend with protecting the seedlings from hungry slugs and snails, but once established, were fine and needed no more intervention. Unfortunately, the Pea Moth can be a problem in some areas - the advice is to grow quick or early maturing (or sugar snap / mange tout) to avoid infestation. Peas can suffer powdery mildew at certain times of year (too dry or too humid) and affects the foliage and stems. Again, this is not too much of a problem when growing early maturing varieties (the first crop will be fine but you may lose the second crop) My biggest problem was unexpected warm spells of dry weather - pea plants have shallow roots and if the soil gets too dry, the plants will put all their efforts into seed production and sacrifice itself. No amount of watering will help recovery of the plant as it dies back. The sowing season can stretch right through to July / early August (depending on your local weather conditions) so you can always try sowing another crop.

At the end of the season, cut off the top growth and compost, leaving the roots still in the soil. These will eventually rot down releasing nitrogen (stored from the activity of nitrogen fixing bacteria that grow on the roots of legumes) into the soil. Alternatively you could compost the entire plant. My heavy clay soil benefitted from leaving the roots in the soil to prevent it from becoming compacted over winter and was easier to dig over in spring.