Monday, December 27, 2010

Harvest Monday - 27 December 2010

I've got nothing. I didn't harvest. I barely cooked anything from my stores. I did finished up the onions and I made fried rice with some of my Asian greens. I used a bit of salsa. But I didn't bother to make anything for Christmas from my stores or greens.

So what I figure I should do today is my yearly overview of what I harvested. 2010 was a fabulous year in the garden. This was mainly because I was growing mostly warm weather crops over the summer, and the weather cooperated by having record heat. If I had had the 2009 record cold weather then I wouldn't have fared quite as well.

Alliums: 8.85lbs. The breakdown is 3.5lbs of garlic, 1.4lbs of green onions, and only 3.9lbs of storage onions. I really need to do better with storage onions next year. I had to pick them early because of the move, but honestly they wouldn't have been that much bigger if I waited longer.

Beans: 8.8lbs. With 3.8lbs of them being green beans and 5lbs being dried or shelling beans. Next year I really need more dried beans. I eat way more than that during the year.

Cucurbits: 48.6lbs. 32.9lbs of that was cucumbers, 11.7lbs was zucchini, and only 4lbs was butternut squash. I need more squash for the winter next year. I would have had plenty except for the evil groundhog. Next year I have a good fence. I haven't a clue if it will keep him out. I really hope so or I'll have to cover it somehow.

Greens 47.68lbs. About 11lbs of chard, 0.6lbs of kale, 8.2lbs of lettuce, a tiny bit of mizuna, 1.4lbs of komatsuna, 0.9lbs of Senposai, 7.9lbs of various bok choy, 1.55lbs of Chinese broccoli, 4.4lbs of Fun Jen, 2.4lbs of spinach, 1.8lbs of Yakatta-Na, 4.1lbs of tatsoi, and 0.3lbs of Tyfon. The greens were a pretty good match. Though the fall greens I just couldn't keep up with. They grew too well without the massive quantity of slugs that I usually have.

Herbs 9.63lbs. 5.4lbs of basil. 1lbs of dill, 3.2lbs of parsley. With the move I really didn't have the normal range of herbs. I only had my must haves. I'm sure next year I'll get those perennials and other annuals in.

Peas 8.37lbs. With 5.2lbs of Cascadia snap, and 3.2lbs of Blizzard snowpeas. I had a good amount of peas for the spring. It was all in my old garden though.

Peppers 8.31lbs. 2.1lbs were sweet peppers and the rest were chili peppers. I really didn't have enough of any of the peppers. I would love to make my own chili powder, but I really need a lot of chilis for that. I want paprika peppers too. And I'd love more sweet peppers. Basically, more, more, more.

Radishes and Turnips 6.2lbs. Which is really plenty for me unless I do storage turnips, but I've never been a fan.

Tomatillos 17.26lbs. Which is way more than I really needed, but it is only two plants worth. I don't want to grow just one as if it fails I have nothing. Too much is better than none.

Tomatoes 186.38lbs. This was a good amount for me. It gave me enough to can for sauce and salsa. It is probably enough for the year. Next year I'd like to can some BBQ sauce and ketchup if I can find recipes I like.

You will notice some staples that aren't on the list. I had no potatoes this year. I expect to next year. And I had no carrots. The spring carrots didn't germinate at all and I was too busy with the house to deal with them like I usually do. I had only the barest touch of broccoli this year and next year I want a lot. I ought to have plenty of room for it.

So the year end tally is:

  • 350.90lbs of produce
  • $1434.77 incoming
  • $501.72 outgoing
  • $910.03 total

This year I had a lot of money going out. $300 is pretty normal for me, but with a new house, more things get bought. Next year will be even higher I'm sure. Some things will get amortized, but a lot will just go into the year.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

14 comments:

  1. It's been a very productive year :) I hope this year brings you even more produce in your new garden!!

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  2. A very good harvest, I'm looking forward to seeing next years garden. I had a rough time with certain varieties of my carrots this past spring as well and had to replant quite a few...many more than usual.

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  3. I've got nothing new this week either but I did put together a collage of harvest photos from the year.

    Congrats on a productive year in your new garden!

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  4. Your harvest is very impressive - especially the tomatoes and greens! It is even more impressive when you consider that you moving and at one point managing a garden area at both the old and new houses! You are amazing!

    My costs were up this year as well because I invested in a new overflow light set up last January and I had to invest in new potato seed stock (blight the prior year) which both stacked up the costs for me. I expect to do much better on the garden economics in 2011.

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  5. Great harvest for 2010 Daphne!

    I was reading along then came to your greens section. Wow... Daphne... 47.68lbs of GREENS! That's a LOT of greens!

    Then I came to your tomato section... wow wow wow! 186.38 pounds... how awesome! I didn't harvest enough tomatoes. We use tons of tomato sauce every year... especially since I've begun making homemade pizza every week.

    You are such an inspiration to me! Heck.. I may even break down and buy a scale to weigh my 2011 harvest!

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  6. Pretty descent harvest in transition. I'm sure next year will be even more fun.

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  7. A very productive year for moving to a new garden. I'm impressed at the detail tally of your harvests.

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  8. Your harvest totals are amazing considering your move. 5 lbs of dry beans - I'm impressed! The first time I grew dry beans I couldn't believe how many pods it took to yield a pound of beans. Now I think they're a bargain at the market. I'll send your seeds this week. Happy New Year!

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  9. I'm so impressed by the photos of your new garden beds. That's a lot of work for the first year! Happy seed hunting and may your garden be delightful this coming year!

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  10. You did a great job gardening while transitioning between two sites! I think tracking our individual garden's progress makes it so interesting! You can really evaluate what you have done in order to make informed choices for the future. Even with all this information though, Mother Nature will have her way.

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  11. Annanas, thanks. I'm sure it will as I have so much more space next year. I was hoping it would all get done by this year, but projects always take longer than you expect.

    Mr. H, Last year I didn't use my trusty burlap. It was a huge mistake. It works for me to get those hard to germinate carrots up. And watering twice a day. Which seems like a lot. I don't do this for anything else except carrots. They are just so hard to start.

    Emily, A collage. Now that would have been a good idea for me this week as I didn't put up any photo.

    Laura, I bought more lights too. I'm hoping it is enough, but not sure. It is hard to tell with a new garden. Though I'd love to have a set up to grow some early tomatoes, I don't think that is going to happen.

    Toni, it is a lot of greens. I could have picked more too, but am trying to overwinter them to see if it works. lol It was a lot of tomatoes this year. I was really happy. I think I have enough preserved for the whole year. I hope so.

    Ottawa Gardener, I'm worried about how much work the larger garden will be. It will be a lot of work to get all the perennials in plus the huge annual garden. I'm sure I'll manage though.

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  12. Mac, thanks

    Jane, I need way more than 5 lbs to get through the year. But next year I'll have about three times the space for them. That ought to give me plenty. Well I hope. I eat a lot of beans.

    Tricie and Conor, thanks. I can't wait to start planting those beds up.

    Veggie Pak, lol yes she will have her way. I always lose something every year. I just hope it isn't too much. Though the more I have them better chance I have of not having to buy things.

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  13. How much space do you have to devote in your garden in order to get 5 lbs of dried beans? I get frustrated every spring when I'm left with only a handful of shelled peas.

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  14. Thomas, I'm not really sure. Maybe 8sqft/pound. Last year they were more productive. Last year I got 4.5lbs of dried beans out of about 16sqft. So 4sqft/pound. Last year where they were planted was in better sun. The Trail of Tears really only had about 3-4 hours of sun per day during parts of the year.

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