Help - pot gardening and fast growing to feed the fam!?

[clothmama]

Well you may have read my other post about what is going on here with a total lack of fresh fruit and veg for the moment and a huge price increase for the foreseeable future as most crops have been wiped out.

I have a heap of pots ready to go. What can anyone suggest that is quick growing and fairly foolproof? Have already killed 6 tomato plants this summer adn a bean plant and some rocket

I can't afford $4 a lettuce and more so really need to try to look after ourselves a bit.

$4 for a lettuce!!!!!!!!

[clothmama]

$4 for a lettuce!!!!!!!!

Yes - and from what I've heard it may get even worse I happily paid nearly $6 for the equiv of 'Basics' tomatoes

When you get over your shock you can give me some advice - I heard you say yesterday that you run 50 pots or something

Tomatoes need large pots, watered very well (I killed all mine by not enough watering ). Ettuce is probably the fastest growing thing though, beans and peas too maybe. I think cabbage is fairly quick growing too. If you have the space, a couple of dwarf fruit trees would provide plenty of fruit. Oh, what about grapes?? If I could half-neglect a vine during an Irish summer and it still produced fruit, then it should be possible in the Aussie sunshine!

Yup usually 15 pots of toms.. 3 of each variety to give us some colour on the plates.. at least 3 plants for plum toms cos I love them on toast LOL and to freeze all you have to do is chuck them in bags and dump them straight in the freezer, the skin comes off really easy when they defrost Mixed cut and come again leaves.. I don't grow big lettuces as such, I like salad greens that I just keep coming up, the more you pick the more they grow.. courgettes to really well in pots..bush beans.. mmm, strawberries, actually I cant think of much you cant put in a pot! They all grow nice and fast... oh spinach.. cos thats an expensive one! That takes just a few weeks till you can harvest the lot. I blanch then get the water out but pummelling it into cup cake trays..
I freeze the spinach in the holes of the tray and when all frozen the individual portions get put in a freezer bag and I have a baking tray back If you have some empty coke/lemonade bottle, put a hole in the top cap.. just enough so water drips slowly out when you turn it upside down.... when you plant out your pots.. plant an upside down bottle in filled with water

I have a couple of books en route form Amazon about growing veg in a pot so I'll have a look through when they arrive and see what's fast growing.

$4 for a measily lettuce (not even food according to my DH )

Radishes are very fast growing, although I don't think of them as very nutritious family-feeding food lol. Courgettes are good too, my mum got loads of giant fruits from one plant (one was bigger than Daragh at the time!)

I plan to go more overboard on the tomatoes this year as they can be frozen or dried and made into sauces to be frozen