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 By Tanya L.K. Denckla.
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