Monday Harvest Tally

Tally time! I thought last week that I wouldn't have much of a harvest. Well I was wrong. You would think I would know when certain harvests start. I do it year after year, but nope. I'm always shocked when I go out and it is time to pick this or that.

The greens were no surprise. I harvested 1.7lbs of them last week. Next weeks harvest will be even smaller, but they are still producing. I have a little block of six seedlings for a succession crop. It should go in today or tomorrow.

The herbs were a complete surprise. Sometimes I feels so clueless. On 6/1 I saw that the lemon balm needed to be picked; on 6/2 the chamomile and oregano; on 6/5 it was thyme; on 6/6 the garlic scapes (though those are recorded under alliums); on 6/7 there was dill. Most of these herbs were dehydrated. The dill had little eggs on them. Sadly I picked them off when I harvested. I'm sure my black swallowtail caterpillars are on their way. Though I picked dill, I still have plenty left for my caterpillars. Never fear the ones left will be well fed.

Then I noticed my marguerite daisies had started to bloom. In force too. If I don't keep them picked, they won't keep blooming. So I started chopping off their blooms keeping their stems long to put a vase. Wow, they have really spread. Last year I had just a few plants. Now there are tons. I let them grow in the no mans land near the house under the eaves. This is a spot that gets no water. Weeds have trouble growing here. The daisies seem to thrive. I may have to rip up some that are near the garden gate. If the plants get much bigger, I won't be able to open it anymore.

Since I picked some daisies that are the core of my spring bouquets, I had to add some more stunning flowers. I picked some peonies, iris, chives and false indigo. I'm not much of a flower arranger. I'm more into wild unkempt bouquets. When one flower starts to fade, it gets pulled out of the vase and more go in its place. I have now picked a total of 91 flower! Wow! 70 of them were daisies. These daisies are small. They don't add much to the tally individually. They are only $0.15 flowers - about as cheap as they come. But when you have 70 of them that is $10.50. Hmm. It really seems cheating to add flowers to my monetary total. I'm going to still do it mind you, but I would never buy them in the store. The herbs and greens I would buy, but not flowers. Maybe at the end of the year I'll look at the total without the flowers too. I mean really $43.40 in flowers this week? It's just wrong.

I hadn't spent anything for a while, so I was due. I bought myself a rosemary plant. It was only $2.99 and well worth it.

A major change this week is getting some real numbers for my herbs. I had issues with using the price of the herbs in the little plastic packets. They hold less than one ounce and cost around $2-$3. This would put the herb price over $30/lbs which is ridiculous. I found a farm on the web that had most of the herbs that I grow. They sell in 4oz bags. I used their prices. The prices may change yet again if I can find a more local price list for herbs. My flower prices were also take off the web. But who sells chive and false indigo flowers? No one. So there are guesstimates.

So here are the totals:

• Greens 1.73 lbs
  
• Herbs 0.88 lbs
  
• Alliums 0.25 lbs
  
• Flowers 91

Weekly total: 2.87 lbs
Weekly spent: $2.99
Yearly total: 12.87 lbs
Yearly earned: -$126.15