We are finally home from our travels and getting back into the swing of things.  Most everything survived while we were gone.  A few flowers look pretty weak, (maybe dying a slow death) but overall pretty good.

Outside…

Some bad news.  I checked some test radishes that we were growing in Miracle Grow at the house.  I had decided that the reason they wouldn’t bulb up had to be the lack of nitrogen or the lack of sunshine at the house.  The radishes in the Miracle Grow also grew nice greens but failed to bulb.  Clearly not a lack of nitrogen then.  Since I use the same packet of seeds at the church garden where they grow beautifully, we know that the seeds aren’t the problem.  My best guess is the amount of sunshine we get on the property has to be the issue.

Things don’t seem to grow very easily here at all.  Between the short season, the nitrogen loss from the forest, the slugs, and the low sunlight levels, I don’t think we will ever have a crazy productive garden at this house.  On the positive side, the herbs always grow well (even in the shady spots) and the peas do fairly well too.  We often get a few little chili type peppers and oddly enough, the tomatoes usually produce a decent number of cherry tomatoes.  We do have a little quintessential kitchen garden.  Handy for cooking with the herbs with a few veggies to add to the table.

The bulk of our produce comes from the sunshiny community garden.  It works for now.  I am grateful that we have the option of a beautiful, relatively inexpensive place to grow there.  🙂

                                                                      The cilantro is producing well.

 

The seedlings that remain are flower seedlings that need to be moved.  They are looking a bit yellow – they were waterlogged while we were gone – sitting in water so they wouldn’t dry up and die.  But I think they will make it.

 

Some of the herbs – Chocolate Mint, Parsley, and Dill – looking yummy and delicious.

This week…

 

Harvest…

Since our return we have harvested mostly a few herbs for cooking and tea.  Also a little bit of giant spinach to use as wraps for chicken salad.  The giant spinach leaves are literally the size of my face and so good with chicken salad.  And a handful of radishes.  And a couple of pea pods that were technically too small to pick, but we couldn’t wait to eat them.  Weighing the peas is going to be completely a hit and miss since many of them get eaten before we get to the house.  The kids will just sit in the garden and eat them right off the plants.  Not sure how to measure that exactly…

Total Home Garden so far this year: 

           ~ 3/4 oz. cilantro

           3 T. onion tops

           1 3/8 oz chives

           ~ 5/8 oz. chocolate mint (for tea)

           1 T. Rosemary

1/8 oz parsley

 

Total Community Garden Beds this year:

          20 3/4 ounces mixed Russian Red Kale and Giant Spinach

          19 1/4 oz. mixed radishes – Champion, French Breakfast, and Sparkler Tip

          1 1/8 oz. tatsoi

          7 oz. baby bok choy

(2 pea pods.  For testing of course.)

Total Pounds Harvested: 3 lbs. 3 3/8 oz (plus a few T. herbs)

Costs:

Nothing new to report this time.

*I have an extensive collection of seeds from prior years, seeds I saved from my own garden, and seeds that I am able to obtain for free every year at events hosted in our community and our community seed library, so my seed costs are pretty low.

Total:  $114.94 for the year.  The cost is slowly creeping down.  About $38 per pound of produce.  Still some pretty expensive organic goodness.

Go forth and grow!