Why do some foods become fashionable?

I love avocado and kiwi fruit but they need to be ripe. Avocado has good fats, kiwis are high in fibre and vitamin K but low in calories and I eat both regularly for breakfast.

Allira

Oh, perhaps I won't bother!

I remember growing runner beans in a jar with blotting paper.

Classic science experiment in both junior and comprehensive schools. IIRC we did irradiated seeds in Science 101 at the OU summer school.

Oh, perhaps I won't bother!

I remember growing runner beans in a jar with blotting paper.

for growing from avocado stone I used to use the stick 3 cocktail sticks in the stone near the base (for support) and put it over a jar of water, water up to about threequarters of an inch on the base. Once germinated pot up.

I grew a few avocados this way years ago but the resulting plants weren't particularly interesting as house plants. Straggly and boring

I grow rhubarb and gooseberries in my garden still
Love both

Do you crack the stone slightly before planting it, or just put it in the soil?

I use any old soil- some in potting compost, some just in the clay garden soil. They don’t like frost and extreme dryness but survive cold .

I just bury a stone in a pot on the window sill. Pot plant soil? I currently have 2 avocado trees about 3ft tall and don't know what to do with them.

May I ask anyone who has successfully grown a plant from an avocado stone what type of soil they have and what aspect they plant it in. Have thought of doing so in the past but never got round to it

My neighbour here in the UK grew some in pots but I don't know if they ever fruited.

Allira

nanna8

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

I have it on good authority from one who knows about this, that they might produce poor quality fruit after many years, but to produce good fruit, they need to be grafted.

Yes I think you are right. They look nice as small trees here. I did get some grown in Victoria , very small but nice enough, probably from Mildura where it is a lot warmer.

gillyjp

The humble homegrown conference pear is absolutely delicious and have been putting it in our breakfast fruit salad since Christmas. Here's hoping the pear tree we planted on the allotment comes to fruition this year. The only good thing about climate change is we may be able to grow the more exotic fruits in the UK. We had a bumper batch of peaches last year which was a pleasant surprise. Hoping for the same this year.

Our neighbours had a peach tree in their garden, that was very many years ago when I was a child and winters were bitterly cold. It was a large tree and produced a lot of fruit each year.

nanna8

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

I have it on good authority from one who knows about this, that they might produce poor quality fruit after many years, but to produce good fruit, they need to be grafted.

Gooseberries are available to buy, ready frozen, from a Scottish firm, but expensive. I planted 2 gooseberry plants in 2018, and for the first time, last year, after I said I was going to take them out, I had a bumper crop. Had the last slice of gooseberry pie a couple of weeks ago. I pick and freeze. My rhubarb supplies most of the neighbours as well as my freezer. Still got a few raspberries left. Have to start again with strawberries as putting in raised beds where I grew them.

Avocados are certainly run of the mill at DD’s house. GDs (9) routinely has one as part of his usual gargantuan breakfast.

I like one now and then, just halved, with French or other dressing (currently M&S honey and mustard).

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

The humble homegrown conference pear is absolutely delicious and have been putting it in our breakfast fruit salad since Christmas. Here's hoping the pear tree we planted on the allotment comes to fruition this year. The only good thing about climate change is we may be able to grow the more exotic fruits in the UK. We had a bumper batch of peaches last year which was a pleasant surprise. Hoping for the same this year.

Grandmabatty

Appletree21, my dad was not a gardener, to put it mildly. He did have about 8 blackcurrant bushes but they were stripped of ripe fruit every year when we went on holiday. We always suspected next door but could never prove it.

Pigeons?

Appletree21, my dad was not a gardener, to put it mildly. He did have about 8 blackcurrant bushes but they were stripped of ripe fruit every year when we went on holiday. We always suspected next door but could never prove it.

Grandmabatty

I love gooseberries.

We had a garden with an orchard and lots of different fruit bushes including gooseberries. My brother and I used to sit behind the gooseberry bushes, out of sight, and just eat them!!!! We loved them. We were only seven and nine years old!!!

Shepard avocados travel well, better than Hass but perhaps they would be more expensive than those from eg Chile or Mexico which are relatively cheap. The cost of production (wages etc) in Australia is higher, I think.

Allira

The best avocados are from Australia, but I've never seen any in this country even though we have a Trade Agreement with them.
They grow well in Queensland in a tropical or subtropical climate where there is abundant water but the soil drains well.

It could be that they are a variety which doesn't travel well.

AI told me about abundant avocados in the Caribbean but they ripen fast and bruise easily so are more difficult to export than the tough variety we get here in the UK.

The best avocados are from Australia, but I've never seen any in this country even though we have a Trade Agreement with them.
They grow well in Queensland in a tropical or subtropical climate where there is abundant water but the soil drains well.

A local biodynamic farmer told us that we "waste" a lot of land to pasture - sheep, cows, horses. There are even fields being used to exercise dogs
A market garden can cover far less ground and produce lots of nutritious food. It is labour intensive, true, but community groups could be given part of a public park if necessary and dig for victory or at least dig to feed.

Fashionable foods?

What about chilies? What is their attraction?

I really like spicy foods, but I also like traditional British plain cooked food where the flavour of the meat and vegetables are good and distinct. But for quite a while it seemed to be chilies with everything, which I found very annoying

As for avacados, I don't quite understand the ' they need too much water to grow them'. I was introduced to them by my Jamaican born grandmother, avocados grow in great abundance in Jamaica and make very big trees. She said they were called 'poor mans butter' there as they were so common. I can only assume that they need a great deal of water for cultivation if they are grown in countries which don't have sufficient rainfall. AI confirms this...

If you're worried about water usage AI says avoid avocados from Chile, Peru, Mexico and Morocco

With the onset of climate change there is a concern that water supplies could become very scarce in many countries. Perhaps we should be looking to grow foodstuffs in places where the conditions are right for them instead of trying to produce them where they are using a scarce resource which is essential for life.