I get hugely excited when I hear there’s a veg patch, a greenhouse, or apple trees. And other people’s herbs in plant pots taste so much better than my own ever did. I don’t know why, but everything feels much more wholesome with this way of life.
Great topic @Rhe
This weeks house sit has a bounteous supply of blackberries and windfall apples . We are having crumble every day and also freezing some for the hosts who will make jam on their return . We are regular sitters and as in previous years on our return we will receiving jars of blackberry jam and their home made blackberry liquor.
Our friends are house sitting nearby . We have a surplus of apples and they are taking care of hens and have a surplus of eggs so we have swapped apples for eggs .
We were on a 3 week sit in southern CA with a wonderful garden. Didn’t buy cuccumbers, tomatoes, onions, etc etc the whole time.
Currently on a sit with fresh figs in the trees, grapefruits falling off the branches, lemons, limes. No orange tree.
We once did a garden sit and there were so.many raspberries to pick and eat everyday we were in heaven.
LESS delightful…. They wanted me to eat up the asparagus in the large garden so it didn’t all go to seed.
There was a lot of it. Asparagus is not my favourite thing.
I love asparagus ! We also enjoyed strawberries and raspberries in a huge garden with netted fruits and veg patch. My grandchildren visited and loved the foraging!
I did mow the 4 acre grounds before they got back so they were very grateful! Not sure if I would want a huge garden full time!
It was lovely for 3 weeks with great weather!
I’ve picked tomatoes and peppers and cut asparagus, but usually avoid sits with gardening.
My favorites have been limes and mint, for cocktails. That sit had a regular gardener and lovely backyard to hang out in.
I prefer to buy produce and other food. At home, we can drive in one direction out of our neighborhood and are within 10 minutes from restaurants and shops, and if we turn the other direction, there are farm stands within five minutes.
There’s farmland right next to our neighborhood. And within 15 minutes, some of the best scenic beauty in our state — forests, river, waterfalls. It’s unusual location wise. That’s why I picked our latest home and we plan to retire there.
We did a housesit with 2 apple trees in the garden. The dogs were labradors and would eat large quantities of apples, plucking them off the tree. We did trim the lower branches, thinking the fruit would then be out of the dogs reach, but it turned out that the older, greying lab could balance really well on his back legs while plucking whole small branches off the trees! A neighbour told us they were Bramley apples (cooking apples), so we made apple crumble for us, and then for the hosts when they returned!
LOVE this topic @Rhe - I’ve added it to our “Featured Topics” on the Forum homepage to get some more visibility!
I have wild raspberries and wild strawberries in the garden, which I’m often tempted to try, but I prefer to leave them for the birds wherever I can 
I have a raucous family of jackdaws who visit, along with some sweet blackbirds and dunnocks.
We’ve just finished a sit @Debbie where the Labrador cross has saved the owner from picking the lower growing apples .
The more you pick, the more they’ll grow!
Looks like me AND the birds will get some garden snacks then 
One of our previous homes had loads of flowers and other plants grown by the former owners. That included blackberries, which attracted a fox, who squeezed through the wrought iron fence. 
My husband had to restrain our dog before he chased the fox out.
