Hey there! How is your garden doing these days? Have you harvested all of your winter squash yet? We harvested the rest of our New England pie pumpkins {for using in pies and also to use as chicken treats} but we’ve still got a few more mini Jack Be Little pumpkins growing along the fence. They’re so cute I don’t want to pick them!
Plans for a garden filled with oodles of winter squash didn’t pan out this year, but I feel like I’ll have a better handle on things now that we are settled into our home and things are beginning to slow down a bit. Moving to a new home at the beginning of spring can be tricky, especially for a gardener. Luckily though, I have a solid plan in place for next year {along with a big change to the blog} which I think will help me get to where I really want to be priority wise.
Change, can be a good thing. Especially if you know it will make you HAPPY. 😉
Have you pulled up all your tomato plants yet? The bumble bee tomatoes are still hanging in there…. kinda. The remaining plants still out there keep on splitting, but still, it’s nice to know they are trying. Maybe next year I’ll start a few plants in the mini greenhouse alongside our little barn and see just how long into the season I can get them to grow.
French breakfast radishes. Perfect for snacking!
Here we are almost the middle of October and we are STILL harvesting peppers!
Do you have chickens?
Have you ever baked them a pumpkin?
No? Well you should.
Because happy chickens = HAPPY EGGS!
Take a look at those beauties! Only three of our 7 hens are laying {our day old chicks arrived in early April} but man oh man their eggs are gorgeous.
Mystery plant of the day: I’M JOKING!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 If you have this growing in your yard. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT touch it. Trust me on this.
A killing frost and cooler temps are in the forecast, I guess this means I’ll finally have to dig up all those sweet potatoes and find out if it will be enough to push us past the 500 pounds of homegrown goodness mark. Eeek!
Gardening, I tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Have a great day everyone, enjoy the sunshine.
~Mavis
The backyard vegetable garden tally of 2018:
Beets 23 pounds 2 ounces
Blueberries 32 pounds 2 ounces Done!
Corn 14 pounds 9 ounces Done!
Cucumbers 63 pounds 6 ounces Done!
Green Beans 1 pound 13 ounces Done!
Green Onion/Scallions 13 ounces
Lettuce 1 pound 1 ounce
Onions 8 pounds 14 ounces Done!
Peppers 4 pound 9 ounces
Potatoes 9 pound 6 ounces
Radishes 10 ounces
Sugar Snap Peas 1 pound 2 ounces Done!
Swiss Chard 11 pounds 15 ounces
Tomatoes 181 pounds 15 ounces {AWESOME!} Done!
Turnips 9 pounds 3 ounces Done!
Winter Squash/Pumpkins 85 pounds 15 ounces
Zucchini 7 pounds 11 ounces Done!
Herbs
- Basil 1 pound 13 ounces
- Chives 1 ounces
- Mint 4 ounce
- Oregano 13 ounces
Total Food Harvested in 2018 458 Pounds 4 Ounces
Total Eggs Collected in 2018 47 eggs!!! {with 7 hens} 3 {the ladies are laying and they are just 22 weeks old}
Money Collected at the Vegetable Stand in 2018 $264.76
Total spent growing 458 pounds 4 ounces of food this year $811.00 {about $1.77 a pound so far!} My goal every year is to get this down to $1.00 a pound or less by the end of the season. This year though, because of the move and some higher than normal start up costs, it’s a bit higher. What did I spend my garden money on this year you ask? Well, $399 on Manny and the rest on seeds, compost, grow light bulbs and small garden tools/supplies.
If you are new to gardening or just want to learn more about organic gardening, my #1 favorite garden book is The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
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Em says
Oh, Mavis! I was scrolling down, reading, and got to the pic with the tree and froze. And then I read your first sentence. OMG, you hooked me! 🙂
My tomatoes are just now getting started! I did not get many tomatoes because the spring got so hot very quickly. Next year I may switch to a variety that does better with heat.
Mavis Butterfield says
When I first saw it I was like…. Oh that’s so pretty…. and then I was like…. UM NO. NO IT’S NOT. 😉 Not going to touch that stuff again!
Mama Cook says
I’m looking at your temps, and see the 36 degree night, is this the “killing frost” temperature? I’m trying to figure out when I’ll know the first frost is imminent! (Don’t laugh!☺️)
On another note, the poison ivy looks pretty in it’s fall colors Like a Femme Fatale!!!
Mavis Butterfield says
I have a sheet of row cover fabric in the garage that I think I’m going to put out over the sweet potatoes tomorrow…. Maybe I can eek another week of growing out if I do that. What do you think?
Teresa says
What temp is a killing frost? I would think 36 won’t kill, not sure. I think the row cover might be good since you are still going to have some fairly warm days.
Mavis Butterfield says
Freezing. 32. But because the forecast says 36 that is close enough for me! 🙂 I wouldn’t want to loose my spuds.
Mama Cook says
Personally I would do row covers, but only if it’s just frost and not a hard freeze!
Nancy D says
Such BEAUTIFUL eggs!!! For me, collecting eggs is such a treat….especially when they first start laying. Its fun to figure out who is laying which color egg. Also, I was wondering how your indigo rose tomato plant worked out…I had a difficult time figuring out picking ripeness with mine. Fun to plant something different though!
Mavis Butterfield says
I think this was the second time we’ve grown an India Rose plant and I think that is enough. 🙂 Most of the tomatoes split before they had that deep red underbelly and I wasn’t as impressed with the plant in general this time around.
Holley says
Those eggs are amazingly beautiful!!!! Lucy’s babies look like they are VERY happy!!! I can’t imagine how many eggs you’re going to have when they all start laying!
Heather says
First years are always hard! I consider myself a very experienced gardener but this is our first year in a completely different zone and area (Rocky Mountains for us) and it was a steep learning curve! Especially after the very plant friendly PNW weather! My garden is completely done and cleaned out for the year (I turned 1200lbs of food this year, pretty good for my first year) and snow is falling but my family farm in the PNW is still cranking out the produce. ♀️
Bec says
Holy Moses, Heather! 1200 pounds of food! This was my first year successfully gardening (third year trying – guess I’m a slow learner!) and I was thrilled with about 40 pounds of produce.
We’re in the PNW. I still have some cherry tomato plants going that I haven’t pulled yet. I planted some fall crops (different lettuces, beets, etc.) a few weeks ago, but think I may have gotten them in the ground too late. They’re sprouting but I’m not sure if they’ll reach maturity in time for the first frost. Fingers crossed!
Mavis Butterfield says
That is crazy awesome! 1200 pounds, well done.
Maria Zannini says
Now I’m sorry I didn’t grow pumpkins this year.
What do you feed your chickens for their regular diet?
bobbi says
yes, I was wondering that too. And did you take the seeds out of the pumpkins and then feed it to them? I am baking some small ones now for my girls. 🙂
Lisa says
my garden’s done for the season. Just pulled out the carrots. We’ve had frosts since last month. Our leaves have peaked. The colors are not so bright now and are falling. My season is usually short since I’m in zone 3. We had a late start since we had frost on the first day of spring. My root vegetables all did well as usual since my ground tends to be sandy (beets/carrots/onions). Lettuce did not do well this year–only one harvest from the black seeded simpson before it bolted (I usually can harvest it 3 times), Green and wax beans had a great harvest–the best in years and cucumbers had a slow start but eventually had a big harvest.
Carrie C says
I had a bad year with pests. Squash bugs, vine borers, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles. I don’t want to use any pesticide on my plants because I love my pollinators (I am a beekeeper). I tried spraying with soap and water and hand picking but I just couldn’t keep up. I even left two wasp nests in hopes they would eat the pests. Hubby is ready to pull up the raised beds and go back to grass because the garden did so poorly and he doesn’t like weed-eating around my beds.
I am still getting peppers but I can’t eat them fast enough or give them away before they go bad. I picked the last tomatoes over the weekend and I had some lettuce to harvest for a salad. I didn’t get to resow spinach seeds but because fall has been so hot I may try anyway.
I am feeling so defeated from this summer. Not sure what I’ll do next year. I bought a greenhouse too but haven’t built the foundation yet or assembled it. I may just throw in the towel, sell the greenhouse and go back to my CSA box.
Mel says
I know the feeling–we have awful squash pests. I have the best luck with resistant varieties. Seminole pumpkin is an heirloom that’s very resistant to borers, so you just have to keep squash bugs at bay. I’ve had the squash bugs take it out early when I wasn’t watching, but if you get it going, it tolerates them better. I paint the squash bug eggs with nail polish to prevent hatching. County fair pickling cucumber is a hybrid (only hybrid we grow) that is resistant to cucumber beetles. Partenon zucchini is self-pollinating, so you may be able to grow it in the greenhouse away from pests, or grow a different variety and hand pollinate.
I’ve also just been focusing on things that do grow well. For us, that’s tomatoes, beans, garlic, herbs, onions, carrots, radishes, peas, chard, kale, etc. I’m still figuring out if brassicas work for us. We normally get awful cabbage moths, but they seem rare (knock on wood) this year.
Carrie C says
Thanks Mel. I did have a good carrot harvest. My cabbage seedlings are being devoured. You win some you lose some. I’ll look for resistant heirlooms next year.
Julie K Whitmore says
You don’t have to bake the pumpkins for the chickens. Mine prefer them raw.
Karen says
Correct, Julie! Chickens will eat the pumpkins raw and love having them.
We look for tree lawn pumpkins after Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns and done and give them to our son.
He cuts them up, bags them and keeps them in his chicken food deep freezer. That way they can have pumpkin to snack on all year.
Mama Cook says
Thanks Karen! I’m totally doing that!!!
Linda says
Mavis I’m wondering -are you subtracting out the profit from your farm stand when you calculate the cost of your garden? I’m still thinking you’ll have 500 lbs.
Oh and I keep wanting to say when your tomatoes split, they often need more calcium in the soil. Egg shells?
Mavis Butterfield says
No I haven’t subtracted the farm stand money but I do plan on using that money as next years “seed money”.
tia in boise says
Am I the only one that noticed a change coming to the blog?
Noooooooo……..
Carrie C says
Change is good. 😉
Cheryl says
No I saw it as well Tia. Once she moved I had to get used to the minimal posts…
Jude DeWitt says
My husband finished a terrace wall in front of the house in September and joked that it was now time to plant a garden — so I did! I planted spinach, dill, peas and radishes. Today I checked the peas and they are in bloom! Nothing else is really flourishing, but my peas are in bloom! I’m happy, happy, happy!
I don’t think you have to worry about a frost for your sweet potatoes — they are buried and the ground stays “warm” even after a “killing frost” — it’s the longer lasting hard frost – several days & nights of below 32 degrees when they should be pulled. The cover will help keep them comfy longer too. I’m believing for your 500 lbs.!
Mavis, I love your blog…you are just so real! And I have taken your goal setting to heart. I’m working on a list for 2019, earnestly. It’s hard to put my wants and needs on paper — but that’s the only way to be accountable to anyone, even if it’s just for my eyes and spirit to know. You are an inspiration! Thanks.
Mavis Butterfield says
I don’t know why, but I think pea blossoms are one of the prettiest too. Maybe it’s because they are some of the first {or last} blooms of the season. And Judy, setting goals is AWESOME, I too am working on mine for 2019. 🙂
Diane says
What will you do with all the eggs once all seven hens start laying? You can’t eat seven eggs a day! I imagine you can sell them at your farm stand during nice weather but what about during the winter?
Melinda W says
Once they are past the one year old mark and become hens instead of pullets, eggs become seasonal. My chickens and quail laid through the winter their first year, because they’d just started laying late summer, but the last 2 winters they’ve taken off. They need around 14 hours of daylight to produce eggs, and they molt/shed their feathers in the fall and regrown them so they’re ready for winter, and all that work takes so much protein and calcium they stop the egg factory.
My quail quit laying a month ago, and the chickens stopped around last week. One day you have eggs, and the next there’s so many loose feathers in the coop it looks like a chicken exploded. lol Many farmers rotate out their flocks so that they have new chickens to lay over winter and they process the older ones for meat, but mine are pets and I gladly give them the winter off. They’ll start up again once the days start getting longer, usually around late March/early April.
Mavis Butterfield says
When we have extras I’ll put them at the farm stand. 🙂
Marybeth says
If you deduct what you made from your farm stand from the cost of your garden you are just over a dollar a pound .