I have to confess. I'm starting to forget to weigh things. I forgot the garlic and some bunching onions. Once I forgot to weight the peas. Ack! Luckily I remembered before they were used. I hope I don't miss too much.
This week was a great week for greens. Lettuce, chard, tyfon, komatsuna, and cabbage were all picked. Sadly the mizuna bolted and got too sharp for me. I pulled it out. More was planted yesterday so in a couple of week I'll be picking that again.
The next biggest category was peas. I'm growing snow peas and two kinds of snap peas. The Super Sugar Snaps are by far the best producer so far. They are producing about 50% more than Cascadia even though I have two of the best Super Sugar Snaps marked to not pick so I can save seed. I don't know yet how many plants I'll have to keep out of production to get all the seed I need for the next year, but the two plants are an experiment.
I love weirdly growing carrots.
The alliums and carrots did a good job too. I've harvested two head of garlic and I will probably harvest the rest this coming week. I'm afraid to leave them in any later since with all the rain they will start rotting in the ground. A couple of the tropea (red torpedo) onions were picked. I didn't taste them because they went into pickled peas, but it is nice that some of them are finally getting bigger. I'm really not sure how big they will get in the end. I'm also picking bunching onions here and there when I need them.
The big storm we had knocked down the feverfew blossoms, so I elected to make my bouquet this week just from them. I find them very cheery, but I really can't wait for my black-eyed-susans to come in. They can really brighten up a room.
I did spend quite a bit this week. I bought more poles so all my beans are now supported. The corn is starting to flower (males only). I think the cold weather stunted it. I have a feeling that means no corn for me. Sigh. But at least the beans are growing well. I also spent money on peat moss and compost. I need to make some soil mix for my seedlings. I make a lot of compost, but mine just isn't finished enough to use. I really liked the potting soil from the Vermont Compost Company. The seedlings grew amazingly well in it. So I bought the compost from them. If I could find more of their Fort V mix I wouldn't make any myself, but I can't get it around here and it is too expensive to ship.
So here are the totals:
- Alliums 0.49 lbs
- Carrots 0.55
- Greens 3.96
- Herbs 0.28 lbs
- Peas 2.88 lbs
- Peppers 0.08
- Flowers 10
Weekly total: 8.23 lbs
Weekly spent: $32.74
Yearly total: 26.43 lbs
Yearly earned: -$57.63
Hey, you're closer to even than last week, and all that good food to eat to boot! You're also not figuring in transit costs to the environment, probably, but considering that if you ate all that stuff and bought it from a grocery store, it would put a lot of carbon in the air from the trucks and refrigeration to get it to you. So, you're probably out ahead already given all of that. Congrats! What ever happened to your potatoes, I have been following your saga with great interest?!
ReplyDeleteLooking good, Daphne! Another bountiful week! I'm cooking sugar snaps from the CSA with yellow-podded snow peas from our own garden right now, and adding as many garlic scapes as we can get from the CSA and local farmers' markets to anything and everything!
ReplyDeleteKaren, well I'm only doing a monetary tally. It would be another interesting tally to see how much carbon you save by having a veggie garden. The farmers market isn't bad either in regards to carbon and if I weren't growing my own, I'd be doing that. With three (two good ones) farmers markets within 10 minutes of me and on all different days, it makes it really easy to get fresh local produce. I already go to get my eggs and strawberries.
ReplyDeleteour friend Ben, I might have to try those yellow podded snow peas if I grow snow peas again next year. I have a devil of a time trying to find them in the foliage. I've finished my scapes up already. This week the garlic has to come out. It could use a bit more but a couple of the leaves are dead already and I'm afraid if I don't get them out they will rot out with all the rain.
ReplyDeleteKaren, whoops forgot to tell you about the potatoes. They are doing well. Anytime I see any spots, yellowing or whatnot, I clip the whole leaf stalk off. So the late blight seems not to be spreading, but the jury is still out. Right now they look healthy except for a huge amount of flea beetles. They are about 18" high.
ReplyDeleteYour chard is still looking so good. I am embarrassed to show mine with all the leaf miner damage. Those things have been very prevalent this year.
ReplyDeleteYour greens look great. I'm impressed that you're doing the dollar amount. I get distracted and forget to write down the amounts that the farmer's market charges, and then I'm lost. I can weigh things but that's it.
ReplyDeleteDaphne~
ReplyDeleteWhat a great harvest! Your weird looking carrot is so cute. Looks like the baby one's hugging the big one haha.
~Cynthia
Dan, yeah I hate those leaf miners. I've developed a routine for picking off the eggs when a wave starts to hit. Right now we are in a lull.
ReplyDeleteStefaneener, I've had issues with what things cost. Not everything I grow is actually sold at the farmers market. I just have to guess for those other crops. I have it all laid out in a spreadsheet. If I had to do the calculates I'd really mess up. Sadly I did mess up my spread sheet once. I had a couple of the groups of things (like greens or alliums) not having all the rows they were supposed to. I think I have them all fixed now.
Cynthia, Thanks, I love the weird carrots. They always make me smile. They aren't as fun in the kitchen, but no matter.