The harvest is starting to come in for this garden update.  Hopefully my cost per pound of organic produce will drop drastically over the next few weeks.

Outside…

Everything is growing fairly well.  The peas and tomatoes are getting quite tall.

 

 

The deer unfortunately found my flower beds and had a nice snack.  They didn’t kill the flowers, but they did quite a bit of damage to the Salvia and the Dianthus. Fortunately, they do not seem to have a craving for marigolds.

 

Out at the community garden, things are looking very good, though a bit crowded.  Two of these beds are beds my kiddos planted.  They tend to over plant, but they sure have a good time of it.

This week…

 

Harvest…

The harvest is starting to come in better.  I haven’t been able to weigh everything as the kids and I eat almost as many peas right in the garden as we put in the bag to bring home 😉  I dropped off a half gallon bag of spinach at a friend’s house, because I took out all of the spinach that was bolting at the community garden and we couldn’t eat it all.  We munch on herbs while we are in the garden and grab bunches that I forget to record for recipes.  But most of it is tallied here.

Total Home Garden so far this year: 

           ~ 1 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

           14 1/8 oz. mixed sugar and snap peas

 

Total Community Garden Beds this year:

          2 lb. 1 3/4 ounces mixed Russian Red Kale and Giant Spinach

          1 lb. 7 5/8 oz. mixed radishes – Champion, French Breakfast, and Sparkler Tip

          1 1/8 oz. tatsoi

          7 oz. baby bok choy

         14 1/8 oz. cucumbers

          1 lb. 14 1/8 oz. peas (mixed snow and sugar snap)

 

Total Pounds Harvested: 6 lb. 15 oz. total (plus a few T. herbs, a bunch of peas we ate before weighing, and a half gallon bag of spinach to a friend)

Costs:

            $13.89 – for some more organic fertilizer for the house garden

*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:  $128.83 for the year.  About $18.50 per pound of produce.  That’s getting better!  It’s getting closer to what I want to pay every time I post.  The heavy produce is just starting to come in.  It takes quite a bit of spinach to make a pound, but only a couple of cucumbers!

Take care of yourself as you garden – make sure and drink your water and wear your sunscreen as you garden in the hot summer sun.  Go forth and grow!