I am eating lots of humble pie

[MaureenHall]

French beans!! I used to actually like the supermarket ones even though they'd been grown in Kenya. Never ever again will I buy them, I've got a freezer full of the little beauties, bumper crop and gorgeous even eaten raw. And carrots - wonderful!!! I definitely haven't sown enough this year, daughters keep asking for them to feed their families That's what it's all about though isn't it - grow enough to share around

[kentvegplot]

I've even converted my picky teenaged step-son - he thought sweetcorn on the BBQ (yes, we managed one this year!) was fantastic.

[Two_Sheds]

I like the diversity of vegetables you can grow at home: purple carrots, blue potatoes, white beetroot, many different coloured beans ....

my friends are amazed and a bit suspicious ... why can't you get these in Tesco? I try to explain that supermarkets want conformity above all else - carrots the same size and length so they are easy to pack, and farmers want a crop that ripens all at the same time, whereas we gardeners like to have successional crops.

It's a lot of work, but I'd rather spend my time up the lotty in the mud than traipsing round the supermarket or watching TV.

[Flummery]

Hear Hear Two Sheds. I'm lucky in being early retired so I'm time rich. I don't mind how long the garden jobs take - what else would I be doing? Work was never this good! I've passed on loads of achochas to people recently who are dead suspicious of them but after having 14 people for a meal on Tuesday with achocha as one of the accompaniments, they love them. They're a bit like a cross between a courgette and a bean in flavour - and boy, are they a talking point. You can certainly grow stuff that you'd get sore eyes looking for in a supermarket!

[di]

We had our 1st purple haze carrots for tea last night~they really brightened the plate!!Also got my 1st harvest of ringed beetroot(seed packet missing so can't remember the name!),Will be trying that out tonight!

[T-lady]

Freshly pulled homegrown carrots are streets ahead of shop bought tasteless stuff in my view! One of my favourites!

My thoughts exactly. I hadn't tasted a carrot until I grew them for the first time. Apparently, I'd just been eating orange coloured tough stuff (possibly a type of rubber maybe?)

[T-lady]

So at least thats one thing for definite I will be growing next year, oh and as I said I will be having my cup of tea this evening with a big slice of humble pie .......... and in future I will listen to those who are more experienced in such things than I.

The question is ... is it home-grown humble pie or shop bought? Home grown is just SO much tastier! You'll never buy humble pie again once you've tasted a home-produced one.

[SlugLobber]

I couldn't believe how much parsnip is wasted in the supermarket version. I simply wash the spindly bits and cook them with the rest of it! And ohhhhh the spuds! I will ALWAYS grow my own spuds from now on!!!!

[bluemoon]

Sweetcorn, along with new potatoes, peas, runner and broad beans, and asparagus should definitely be banned from the shops. Unless they are homegrown and eaten immediately they are a travesty. Don't feel bad about not believing us though, no-one ever does.

[Snadger]

.....................!Also got my 1st harvest of ringed beetroot(seed packet missing so can't remember the name!),Will be trying that out tonight!

Choggia Barbietola..........now how could you forget a name like that, it just rolls off the tongue!

[sewer rat]

Sweetcorn, along with new potatoes, peas, runner and broad beans, and asparagus should definitely be banned from the shops. Unless they are homegrown and eaten immediately they are a travesty. Don't feel bad about not believing us though, no-one ever does.

All depends what shops you buy from !! Supermarkets - couldn't agree more. However, there are small shops out there who stock local produce which is picked fresh either daily or every other day - I know cause I supply one.
The "new potatoes" you quite often see in supermarkets have been in cold stores for betwen 6-8 months in some cases. A simple test for how new a tattie is if you can scrape the skin off it's new, if you can't, it's not.
Peas - tricky as frozen peas are generally speaking only 4 hours old when they are frozen.
Broad beans - don't need to be "just picked" - just need to be picked before the pods (and therefore the beans as well) get too big and tough. I would give them three days from picking.
Asparagus - I agree - needs to be eaten immediately.
Don't grow sweetcorn up here, so can't comment. My mate grows some in his tunnel but never enough to have any left for me !!