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+--- Thread: Growing for PAPA or CACA (/showthread.php?tid=2346)
Growing for PAPA or CACA - Veggie - 12-05-2025
You may have noticed a theme to my seed sowing recently - or maybe not!
Most of you know what CACA is - Cut And Come Again - mostly used for greens like lettuce and salad leaves. Pick some leaves and leave the plant to grow on.
PAPA is similar but its Pick And Pick Again. (I've just made this up, unlike CACA which has been around for yonks).
PAPA crops include peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, squash etc . Also perennials like rhubarb, asparagus, fruit bushes and strawberries.
PAPA crops are less hassle, in my mind, than the roots like carrots & turnips and the heading greens like cabbage & cauli.
So, I'm concentrating my seed sowing efforts on PAPA crops - which, by coincidence are also the veg I enjoy eating the most. OK, I accept that, if they all grow I will look like a cucumber by the end of the season but I'm willing to risk that!
PAPA crops are also the ones that I enjoy picking the most - wandering around with my little basket, picking a bit of this and a bit of that and returning to the house to work them into the day's menu. Its a bit like foraging without leaving the garden.
Waddya think?
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Small chilli - 12-05-2025
Sounds good to me. Are you going to add strawberries to your PAPA list? Asparagus maybe?
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Veggie - 12-05-2025
They're already on there.
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Small chilli - 12-05-2025
(12-05-2025, 02:46 PM)Veggie Wrote: They're already on there.So they are if I read properly
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - JJB - 12-05-2025
Totally agree. Your PAPA idea is generally what I grow and enjoy too, with the exception of carrots and onions. I even experimented with the tenderstem broccoli last year quite successfully, which could be in the PAPA group too. Sweetcorn probably isn't but nonetheless I like it (if I get any to grow this year!)
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Vinny - 12-05-2025
I usually tell Kato to have a caca or papa when he's out!
His nickname is 'Katy two poo's'
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Veggie - 12-05-2025
So that'll be Pick it up and Pick it up again.
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Vinny - 12-05-2025
(12-05-2025, 04:47 PM)Veggie Wrote: So that'll be Pick it up and Pick it up again.Always carry at least two poo bags with me!
But usually it's one poo for each or his two walks! Nothing like being regular!
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Veggie - 10-03-2026
Remember this (and I don't mean Kato's poo habits)!!
Its Roots and Shoots week but I can't find any enthusiasm for sowing roots and shoots. In fact, I'm not sure that I ever will! I've never grown a worthwhile swede, parsnip or a decent sized carrot or beetroot in my life! At least, beetroot have edible leaves. As for Shoots, the leeks are OK but onions from seed are pathetic. I don't like celery so don't grow that.
So, I've decided to concentrate on the PAPA and CACA veg and ignore the Roots apart from a couple of pots of carrots and beetroot. I'm going to scatter all the swede, parsnip, turnip etc seeds and leave them to their own devices - and I shall do it with an easy conscience. If I can't grow them, why keep them?
Having decided to give up on Roots I feel as if a dark cloud has lifted. A cloud of conscience, the need to grow everything as if I am a proper gardener who is self sufficient in everything edible. It was never going to happen so I'm going to move on and be a PAPA & CACA gardener. These crops tend to be the most expensive to buy and lose quality on the shop shelves whilst basic roots are available all year round. Win, Win!!
Since Fruits week is the busiest I'm going to move beans and peas into Roots and Shoots week, leaving tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes in Fruits week. Its good to have a plan.
RE: Growing for PAPA or CACA - Vinny - 11-03-2026
Clear as mud!