The garden is finally winding down for the season...and I am sad to see it go! More sad than I normally am, because it didn't seem like it every really got going. I haven't ever expected to come out ahead in garden, where food cost is concerned. But I do always hope that we will come out even or close to it - and I felt like last year (our first year gardening here) we did that. But this year is a completely different story, I think we lost A LOT of money in the garden. Mostly in warm weather plants - tomatoes, corn and cucumbers being the most noticeable. I would say that the yields of those weren't even half of what we had last year...and we had twice as many plants this year! It has been a tough thing to swallow, but I just keep reminding myself that we don't garden to save money. We do it so that our food is free of pesticides and other nastiness, and so our kids grow up knowing where their food come from, and how to feed themselves from the earth. So even though we didn't come out ahead or even financially, I still consider it to be a win-win.
And honestly, we have gotten quite a bit of food from the garden, despite the dismal weather conditions. The potatoes have totally outdone themselves - we have them coming out of our ears and I am very pleased with them! We dug the last of the Yukon Gold's last week - this was about 2/3 of what we got from just 4 plants - we made a few meals before I got around to taking a picture.
I think we had about 12 pounds from those 4 plants - bringing our Yukon harvest to somewhere close to 30 pounds! And we still have a few hills of Russets left, and a whole bunch of blue potatoes that my friend Linda gave us. My plan is to dig those all out this week as almost all the vines have died back and the potatoes should all be ready for storage. This is my first year growing potatoes, so I wasn't really sure how to go about curing them for long term storage. A bunch of places online said to dig them up and leave them in the dirt for a few days to harden the skins. I did that...and the ants in my garden thanked me for the free picnic :( They got to about 1/4 of the potatoes, and chewed little holes in them:
We sorted the "anty" potatoes away from the rest, and just used those ones first (the holes were very shallow and easily peeled off). So for the rest of the Russets and Blues I am going to cure them in the garage, away from those hungry pests!
Besides the potatoes, the last of the struggling tomatoes (which are still ripening, just very slowly), the carrots and the peppers, the only thing left in the garden is my Musque De Provence squashes. I had such high hopes for this plant as I was really looking forward to canning up some pumpkin and making pies out of the big beautiful fruits. But after the first planting of seeds drown in the torrential rains, and with the cold weather hindering the second plantings growth...I don't think there is enough time for these to mature before we get a frost. Already the temps are down in the low 40's at night. I do have squash about the size of basketballs out there, and I keep watering and fertilizing and crossing my fingers. The plant itself is very healthy and big, which gives me hope for next years planting (as a size reference these plants take up a 5X5 foot bed):
Something that is doing much better than I expected is our mini bell pepper plants. I started these from seed, and they have thrived all year - I am really impressed. Even now in the beginning of October, they are still putting out ripe peppers nearly every day. This is a pretty typical harvest from the garden, after a few days of not picking anything:
We have even had enough to share, although not as much as in past years. That is really one of my very favorite things about gardening - sharing our bounty with others. My pseudo mom, Jeanne, has been receiving baskets from our garden every week or two - this is a typical of what we give her:
We also made up a box of veggies (and fresh bread!) to take to some neighbors that live at the end of our cul de sac:
They are a nice older couple, and although we haven't ever really talked to them I see the husband at the mailbox sometimes and he is always very friendly. I thought it would be a nice gesture to take them some extras from our garden, and the woman (I don't know her name!!) was so grateful - it was really sweet. She gave me a big hug and thanked the kids and I profusely. The kids and I left feeling so glad that we had taken the time to do something nice for them, its the best feeling every to share something that you have had a hand in growing or making.
The kids had a mini pumpkin plant that we stuck in the ground early in the season. It started off doing really well, and then something mysterious happened to it and it whithered away and died, leaving us with just two itty bitty pumpkins:
I still haven't figured out what went wrong. The only thing I could find was that both stems looked like someone had taken a razor blade to them - slicing a 2 inch section of each stem open. Whatever caused it, the plants never recovered. Next year we will plant 2 or 3 pumpkin varieties and keep a close watch on them!
I almost forgot about the onions and shallots! They did really well this year, and we have now harvested, dried and hung them all up for storage. We got a great harvest from our one pack of shallots we bought, but I made a mistake and lost about 1/3 during drying :( I rigged up our old screen door in the garage, balanced on a bucket on one end, and on an old entertainment stand at the other end. The shallots were drying just fine, but when it was time to move the onions in I shoved the shallots over to the end (actually a 2 foot section) that was on top of the entertainment stand. The airflow was non existent from the bottom for them, and a bunch ended up developing some sort of fungus. It was a hard lesson to learn, as we love shallots and use them instead of onions in most recipes. Next year we know to plants 3 times as much, and to make sure they have good air circulation while drying! The onions:
The shallots:
They are hanging in some reusable produce bags that I bought at Fred Meyer. They are the perfect size, and have a drawstring that makes hanging the bags up very easy. Lots of air flow and cool temps in the garage = perfect storage for our onions!
So all in all...I cant complain. Even though our garden wasn't spectacular, or all that we hoped it could be, it still fed us, our friends and family. We learned what not to grow next year, and what to grow more of. We dealt with new pests, and figured out ways to either live with them or gently nudge them away without using chemicals. We learned a lot this year, and that is what counts. As we wrap up this year, we are hoping for a very prolific 2011 gardening season for everyone!
And honestly, we have gotten quite a bit of food from the garden, despite the dismal weather conditions. The potatoes have totally outdone themselves - we have them coming out of our ears and I am very pleased with them! We dug the last of the Yukon Gold's last week - this was about 2/3 of what we got from just 4 plants - we made a few meals before I got around to taking a picture.
I think we had about 12 pounds from those 4 plants - bringing our Yukon harvest to somewhere close to 30 pounds! And we still have a few hills of Russets left, and a whole bunch of blue potatoes that my friend Linda gave us. My plan is to dig those all out this week as almost all the vines have died back and the potatoes should all be ready for storage. This is my first year growing potatoes, so I wasn't really sure how to go about curing them for long term storage. A bunch of places online said to dig them up and leave them in the dirt for a few days to harden the skins. I did that...and the ants in my garden thanked me for the free picnic :( They got to about 1/4 of the potatoes, and chewed little holes in them:
We sorted the "anty" potatoes away from the rest, and just used those ones first (the holes were very shallow and easily peeled off). So for the rest of the Russets and Blues I am going to cure them in the garage, away from those hungry pests!
Besides the potatoes, the last of the struggling tomatoes (which are still ripening, just very slowly), the carrots and the peppers, the only thing left in the garden is my Musque De Provence squashes. I had such high hopes for this plant as I was really looking forward to canning up some pumpkin and making pies out of the big beautiful fruits. But after the first planting of seeds drown in the torrential rains, and with the cold weather hindering the second plantings growth...I don't think there is enough time for these to mature before we get a frost. Already the temps are down in the low 40's at night. I do have squash about the size of basketballs out there, and I keep watering and fertilizing and crossing my fingers. The plant itself is very healthy and big, which gives me hope for next years planting (as a size reference these plants take up a 5X5 foot bed):
Something that is doing much better than I expected is our mini bell pepper plants. I started these from seed, and they have thrived all year - I am really impressed. Even now in the beginning of October, they are still putting out ripe peppers nearly every day. This is a pretty typical harvest from the garden, after a few days of not picking anything:
We have even had enough to share, although not as much as in past years. That is really one of my very favorite things about gardening - sharing our bounty with others. My pseudo mom, Jeanne, has been receiving baskets from our garden every week or two - this is a typical of what we give her:
We also made up a box of veggies (and fresh bread!) to take to some neighbors that live at the end of our cul de sac:
They are a nice older couple, and although we haven't ever really talked to them I see the husband at the mailbox sometimes and he is always very friendly. I thought it would be a nice gesture to take them some extras from our garden, and the woman (I don't know her name!!) was so grateful - it was really sweet. She gave me a big hug and thanked the kids and I profusely. The kids and I left feeling so glad that we had taken the time to do something nice for them, its the best feeling every to share something that you have had a hand in growing or making.
The kids had a mini pumpkin plant that we stuck in the ground early in the season. It started off doing really well, and then something mysterious happened to it and it whithered away and died, leaving us with just two itty bitty pumpkins:
I still haven't figured out what went wrong. The only thing I could find was that both stems looked like someone had taken a razor blade to them - slicing a 2 inch section of each stem open. Whatever caused it, the plants never recovered. Next year we will plant 2 or 3 pumpkin varieties and keep a close watch on them!
I almost forgot about the onions and shallots! They did really well this year, and we have now harvested, dried and hung them all up for storage. We got a great harvest from our one pack of shallots we bought, but I made a mistake and lost about 1/3 during drying :( I rigged up our old screen door in the garage, balanced on a bucket on one end, and on an old entertainment stand at the other end. The shallots were drying just fine, but when it was time to move the onions in I shoved the shallots over to the end (actually a 2 foot section) that was on top of the entertainment stand. The airflow was non existent from the bottom for them, and a bunch ended up developing some sort of fungus. It was a hard lesson to learn, as we love shallots and use them instead of onions in most recipes. Next year we know to plants 3 times as much, and to make sure they have good air circulation while drying! The onions:
The shallots:
They are hanging in some reusable produce bags that I bought at Fred Meyer. They are the perfect size, and have a drawstring that makes hanging the bags up very easy. Lots of air flow and cool temps in the garage = perfect storage for our onions!
So all in all...I cant complain. Even though our garden wasn't spectacular, or all that we hoped it could be, it still fed us, our friends and family. We learned what not to grow next year, and what to grow more of. We dealt with new pests, and figured out ways to either live with them or gently nudge them away without using chemicals. We learned a lot this year, and that is what counts. As we wrap up this year, we are hoping for a very prolific 2011 gardening season for everyone!