Pick-Your-Own vs Grow-Your-Own

Working for your dinner is certainly back in fashion. Whether it be to own a pig on a farm which you eventually have for dinner, to pick-your-own organic veg from a public farm or to grow-your-own veg in your garden or allotment it is certainly all the rage.

R and I have been partaking in the Pick-Your-Own and Grow-Your-Own recently with various degrees of success. (Haven't attempted to piggy ownership, not sure how I feel about the idea really)

Pick-Your-Own

We tootled off to Garsons in Esher yesterday for some Pick-Your-Own action. I knew they had a large range of veg options but wasnt quite prepared for the rolling acres of cultivated land ripe for picking. We came away with some carrots and peas. Here is R with one of our harvest

Grow-Your-Own

Well I've never pretended to bee particularly green-fingered, in fact there is a joke in my house that anything which is brought in doors I kill whilst Mother Nature has a helping hand in keeping the garden alive which is why things survive a little longer

We have allsorts on the go...

Tomatoes are coming along well, my main concern is that they are all going to ripen soon and we are going to have to eat tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner for weeks on end

Rocket is growing nicely

My potatoes were a comical disappointment.

After planting then watering and feeding for a couple of months I decided that yesterday was the day to dig them up and enjoy a lovely potato salad. I was maybe a little ambitious with the size of bowl I got out collect my harvest, but I was expecting at least 5 decent size potatoes, after all I planted 5 so was expecting the harvest to be at least what I had put in the ground. Here is everything I found.....

No idea what I did wrong, but it is suffice to say I wont be giving up the day-job to become a potato farmer!

Given the apparent success (!) of the grown-your-own R has decided that we need a proper little veg patch, so yesterday afternoon he set about clearing a corner of the garden. We, unfortunately disturbed this little fellow.....you will be pleased to know he has now been re-homed at the other side of the garden and has been heard rustling this morning so hoping he is liking his new environment.