Monday, May 4, 2009

Monday Seedling Update and Harvest Tally

I harvested twice this week. The first one was my second thinning of spinach, some chives and some lettuce.

The second was much larger. Clockwise around from the upper left: lettuce, mizuna, radish, Fun Jen, tatsoi, mustard spinach, typhon, spinach, chives, chard, dill, and lemon balm. The poundage for the week: 1.2lbs. Yes! I harvested over a pound of greens.

Sadly I also spent $31.48 on soil amendments, mostly for my tomato pails. Will the pails be worth the money spent on them? I'm not sure, but it means I'm still spending more than I'm bringing in. The total outlay is now at $242.03. The total worth of my veggies harvested is $5.99. I swear I'll catch up at some point. Luckily there isn't much to buy anymore. Maybe a rosemary plant and I might need mulch before the end of the summer.

There are few seedlings left in the garden. Tomorrow I'll show off some of my larger plants, but for now I'll stick to just the little seedlings. The outside seedlings are popping up all over. My carrots have come up. Sadly my self seeded dill came up all through the carrot patch. Carrots and dill are antagonists in the garden. Anti-companion plants. Since they are both in the umbelliferea family their seedlings start out looking exactly alike. The other day they had grown enough that I could finally tell them apart. Dill is a little more blue green and a bit more frilly than the carrots. So the dill was weeded out of that area. Most of the carrots are doing well. The Sugar Snax germinated the best and are growing quite well. The Atomic Red has had damping off issues so is very spotty. Too bad. I was looking forward to lots of weird red carrots. The other two varieties are Danvers and Big Top.

The other seedlings in the garden are my self sown herbs. I have chamomile, dill, parsley (flat leaved) and cilantro. Parsley and cilantro are look alikes as seedlings too. It takes a couple of true leaves to form before I can tell them apart - that or I smell them. Their scents are very different. Last year I had a plethora of cilantro and barely any parsely, this year parsley seems to have the upper hand. Dill is just everywhere. In all my beds. I have even found it growing on the other side of the house in the fruit garden. It is one of my biggest weeds, but luckily I can eat it after I weed it out of a bed. My chamomile is doing well too. Weirdly I had two of last years plants survive. I thought they were self seeding annuals.

I have one more self seeding plant that hadn't self seeded ever before. My feverfew is self seeding. It is a perennial and I really don't need more feverfew plants so they will all get weeded out and tossed.

Inside there is little left. I potted up the few plants that still need planting in the garden when I get back. My pineapple tomatillos are in the front, then my lemon basil and eggplant. I figured the tomatillos needed to be potted up and the rest were safer in larger pots. It is much harder to kill the plants by not watering if they are in big pots than if they are in small ones. I showed DH how to water everything and told him when. Luckily the lights are all on a timer, though frankly my husband would be better at remembering to do that kind of thing than I would. I forget things.

The last of the indoor seedlings are the leftovers from planting. I have marigolds, basil, cabbage (that I think a friend will take today), tithonia, peppers, and tomatoes. I'm keeping them just in case something happens to the ones in the garden. You never know. Last year the cutworms came out on May 8th. I won't be back by then. I've protected some of my seedlings, hopefully well enough. And just to let you know, since the garden has been so busy recently I have a few posts saved up for when I'm gone. I'll catch up that way. Heck this post was written yesterday since I'm flying out this morning.

7 comments:

  1. You have a lot of stuff growing. I like that you are counting your expensive versus your harvest. I have a good veggie garden too and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is so rewarding to see the plants mature into something we can see on our table. Nice blog. I'll be back for more. Happy gardening... Becca

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  2. Wow, a pound of greens already? You are having a great start to the gardening season. I am curious as to how your cost/savings analysis will end up.

    Things are looking good!

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  3. Daphne, all those lovely green you have harvested. I am still waiting for my first harvest.

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  4. You have been busy harvesting greens. I have only harvested 2oz so far but there is lots out in the soil, maybe not 1.2lbs though!

    I will be transplanting out your tatsoi and chard once I get the new beds filled. Can't wait to try them.

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  5. Those greens look delicious. I really need to start planting greens in my garden. I bet you'll be eating very delicious salads this week!

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  6. I really need to start keeping track of my harvest vs. expenses. Now it's May, so I suppose I could just start and go to next May. It would be hard to decide when to start because I garden all 4 seasons. No time like the present! You've inspired me once again, Daphne!

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  7. Becca, Thanks. Yes I counting expenses vs harvest. It is a little forced however. Would I really buy quarts of raspberries if I didn't get them from my garden? I would for strawberries. I know because I bought gallons of the things last year, but I probably wouldn't for strawberries. But regardless I'll see how it adds up.

    Jennifer, Yup the season has finally started, just as I'm off somewhere else. I'll have lots to pick when I get home.

    keewee, Thanks,

    Dan, You are farther north than I am so you probably have to wait a couple of weeks to catch up. I'm sure you will.

    DP Nguyen, Thanks. It is nice to see you back blogging again :>

    Tessa, I don't have 4 seasons so my expenses are really easier to track that way. Do May to May or just start now for the year unless you have a ton of expenses in the winter.

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