This year I’m on a mission to grow 4,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in my suburban backyard. In 2012 I was able to grow 2,028 pounds, and in 2013 I’m going double or nothing. I have absolutely no idea if I’ll be able to achieve my goal. But, as with any adventure, half the fun is getting there. ~Mavis
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This has been a bit of a wacky week around our house. It took a few days for us to recover from our trip to St. Jude, then there was the dental surgery, so really, we only had about 2 or 3 days of gardening this past week.
Somehow we still managed to harvest a little over 145 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from the backyard garden {mostly beets, potatoes and tomatoes}. Luckily we have great neighbors to share our bounty with so it hasn’t been to overwhelming, but to be totally honest, our counter tops are still covered in vegetables, I guess things could be worse.
Hopefully in a few more days things will be back to normal around here and I’ll be canning and preserving like crazy again.
I hope your harvest is going well,
~Mavis
Here is what I have harvested so far this year:
Basil – 11 ounces
I LOVE making fresh pesto.
Beets – 74 pounds 5 ounces
We’ve been beet bombing the neighbors porches lately because we have so many beets. Hopefully it won’t backfire on us. 😉
Bok Choy – 4 oz
Check out this Asian Noodle Salad with Bok Choy I made. It’s pretty awesome.
Broccoli – 13 ounces
We didn’t get much broccoli this sprint but I did plant more in my fall garden. If you haven’t tried it yet, this recipe for Broccoli Cranberry and Almond Salad with Feta is delicious.
Cabbage – 40 pounds 14 ounce
We are done harvesting cabbage until fall. There are more heads planted alongside the greenhouse and I started more cabbage seeds for a winter harvest so we should be cook for a while.Here is my recipe for homemade sauerkraut.
Carrots – 3 ounces
I need to get out there and pick some carrots!
Chives – 1 pound 4 ounces
We are picking about an ounce a week to use in recipes.
Cucumbers 1 pound 6 ounces
So far we’ve harvested 1 giant green cucumber and a bunch of little lemon cucumbers. Cucumbers are another crop that was damaged pretty early on by the slugs.
Egg Count – 1,769
We haven’t done a great job of keeping track of the egg count lately but we did write down 52 eggs. I’m sure there we more but we’ve turned into a bunch of slackers around here.
Garlic 9 pounds 2 ounces
Our garlic has been harvested for this year. If you’ve yet to harvest yours, I have a quick post on How to Harvest Garlic.
Garlic Scapes 11 ounces
We used these to make Garlic Scape Pesto. Yumm!
Green Beans 9 pounds 9 ounces
We are still picking handfuls of green beans every other day.
Kale – 15 pounds 14 ounces
The kale tree. 😉 I wonder how tall it will grow?
Kohlrabi 5 pounds 10 ounces
Lettuce – 35 pounds 3 ounces
Lettuce is sprouting once again in the pallet garden. I’ll try and snap some pictures this week.
Microgreens 5 ounces
My favorite way to eat microgreens is with egg salad sandwiches.
Mint 10 oz
I made some blueberry mint jam and also harvested some mint for tea.
Oregano – 13 ounces
Onion – 8 pounds 1 ounces
We’ve been pulling up fresh onions from the garden as we need them. Note to self: Plant about 10 times more next year.
Pears 46 pounds 3 ounces
Would you believe we still have pears sitting on the counter? I can’t believe they haven’t all been gobbled up yet.
Peas – 42 pounds 9 ounces
Pole peas have been planted in the greenhouse and bush peas in the garden boxes.
Potatoes – 45 pounds 9 ounces
The Girl had a friend over for dinner the other night and they dug up and ate potatoes for dinner. That’s it. just potatoes. What a bunch of weirdos! 😉
Radish – 22 pounds 2 ounces
I’ll be planting more radishes this week.
Raspberries – 21 pounds 7 ounces
Raspberry season is officially over in our backyard. 🙁
Rhubarb – 31 pounds 7 ounces
So far this year we’ve made rhubarb vanilla jam, rhubarb walnut muffins, and strawberry rhubarb pies.
Sage – 14 ounces
Spinach – 15 ounces
I’ll be planting more in the fall.
Sprouts –2 pounds 15 ounces
I grew some sprouts this past week for my vegan neighbor Francisco. I really need to show him how to grow them himself.
Here are instructions for growing your own sprouts.
Strawberries 16 pounds 5 ounce
The strawberries are producing again. We have them growing in the pallet garden, in the greenhouse and alongside the house. So far we have made strawberry kiwi jam, strawberry freezer jam, strawberry pie, and homemade strawberry shortcake.
Swiss Chard 20 pounds 1 ounces
It’s almost pretty enough to eat! Luckily the chickens LOVE Swiss chard. 🙂
Tomatoes 40 pounds 12 ounces
I have a feeling they’ll be a fresh pot of tomato sauce on the stove top by the end of the day.
Wheatgrass – 7 ounces
Zucchini – 12 pounds 2 ounces
Yep, I have a feeling zucchini bread is in our future.
Total Food Harvested in 2013: 569 pounds 2 ounces
Total Eggs Collected in 2013: 1,769
If you are new to gardening or just want to learn more on the topic of organic gardening, my #1 favorite book is The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food By Tanya L.K. Denckla.
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