I can't take credit for the idea of tracking the time and money spent on my garden. That goes to Get Rich Slowly's Garden Project. The idea is this: Does a garden save you money? It's a simple question, but a difficult answer.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
September Details
The wet cool summer really showed it's effect in September. What should have been a month filled with tomato harvest, turned into a balancing act of picking what few tomatoes there were while not yet ripe, or leaving them on the vine and hoping they didn't rot. Unfortunately many of them did rot on the vines and even those that were picked rotted on the counter before ripening. Even though the dreaded late blight did not strike our garden, the season still turned out to be a huge let down. Although we planted twice as many tomatoes, we managed to put up less frozen sauce than last year.
The black beans finally finished drying and have been put away for storage. 3-3/4 cup all told. Can't wait to try some beans & rice!
Although not tallied in the summary, some work has been put toward sunflower harvest. Unfortunately, some sort of worm/maggot took hold on the flowers and has rendered a good portion of them useless. Had I known, I would have sprayed with Bt to attempt management of the problem. Some may be salvageable, however and they can still be of some use as bird food.
The watermelon was a mildly pleasant surprise, while at the same time being a letdown yet again. I had given up on getting any watermelon again this year, but at the last minute the plants put out a few very small fruits. They were decent enough, but I may give up on them for next year.
Showing posts with label tracking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tracking. Show all posts
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Time Spent Summary - August '09
I can't take credit for the idea of tracking the time and money spent on my garden. That goes to Get Rich Slowly's Garden Project. The idea is this: Does a garden save you money? It's a simple question, but a difficult answer.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
August Details
August is harvest time! Makes you wonder why Thanksgiving isn't in August instead of November, other than I suppose the Pilgrims wouldn't have had time to party during the middle of the harvest...
The big hitters are coming in fast and furious. The roma tomatoes are about halfway through the harvest. I don't think they're doing nearly as good as last year, but they're doing alright given the poor growing season. The potato experiment went well and I will likely expand the planting next year.
The onions gave a much improved showing over last year. I'm tempted to plant more, but I want to see how the long term storage in non-ideal conditions goes first. We don't have a root cellar and our basement stays fairly warm in the winter due to the furnace. So I'm not certain how well the onions (or potatoes for that matter) will hold up. I would not want to plant more if they can't be used.
Likewise the black bean experiment went well. Don't know how a better growing year might produce, but I wasn't too disappointed with what I got.
Going forward there isn't much left growing. The peppers are still producing, as are the tomatoes, the beans are pretty much done, the corn never produced anything. There are a few softball sized watermelon, but I'm not sure if they'll be edible.
The pumpkins have died for a second straight year before being able to produce anything. I am strongly considering replacing them with potatoes next year. The community garden harbors whichever disease has been killing the pumpkins (bacterial wilt potentially) perpetually and it just doesn't make sense to fight it.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
August Details
August is harvest time! Makes you wonder why Thanksgiving isn't in August instead of November, other than I suppose the Pilgrims wouldn't have had time to party during the middle of the harvest...
The big hitters are coming in fast and furious. The roma tomatoes are about halfway through the harvest. I don't think they're doing nearly as good as last year, but they're doing alright given the poor growing season. The potato experiment went well and I will likely expand the planting next year.
The onions gave a much improved showing over last year. I'm tempted to plant more, but I want to see how the long term storage in non-ideal conditions goes first. We don't have a root cellar and our basement stays fairly warm in the winter due to the furnace. So I'm not certain how well the onions (or potatoes for that matter) will hold up. I would not want to plant more if they can't be used.
Likewise the black bean experiment went well. Don't know how a better growing year might produce, but I wasn't too disappointed with what I got.
Going forward there isn't much left growing. The peppers are still producing, as are the tomatoes, the beans are pretty much done, the corn never produced anything. There are a few softball sized watermelon, but I'm not sure if they'll be edible.
The pumpkins have died for a second straight year before being able to produce anything. I am strongly considering replacing them with potatoes next year. The community garden harbors whichever disease has been killing the pumpkins (bacterial wilt potentially) perpetually and it just doesn't make sense to fight it.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Time Spent Summary - July '09
I can't take credit for the idea of tracking the time and money spent on my garden. That goes to Get Rich Slowly's Garden Project. The idea is this: Does a garden save you money? It's a simple question, but a difficult answer.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
June Details
I didn't really think it was possible, but July brought even more rain and cool weather to New England. As a result, many of the warm weather vegetables are way behind where they would normally be. The harvest value is not looking very good compared to the amount spent on equipment and supplies at this point. There's still the majority of the harvest to come, but I am a bit concerned that breaking even may not be possible for this year.
One of the biggest concerns is the potential for late blight to ruin the tomato harvest. If there's any chance at all of breaking even, it would come with the large amount of green tomatoes hanging on the vines currently. If late blight finds my garden, it will take out the fruit as well as the vines. Unfortunately, I've still got a few weeks before the tomatoes are ready.
I do not have store values for several of the vegetables at this time. We don't go shopping very often so I have not been able to search out values. In the meantime I have substituted similar items from grocery store weekly circulars.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
June Details
I didn't really think it was possible, but July brought even more rain and cool weather to New England. As a result, many of the warm weather vegetables are way behind where they would normally be. The harvest value is not looking very good compared to the amount spent on equipment and supplies at this point. There's still the majority of the harvest to come, but I am a bit concerned that breaking even may not be possible for this year.
One of the biggest concerns is the potential for late blight to ruin the tomato harvest. If there's any chance at all of breaking even, it would come with the large amount of green tomatoes hanging on the vines currently. If late blight finds my garden, it will take out the fruit as well as the vines. Unfortunately, I've still got a few weeks before the tomatoes are ready.
I do not have store values for several of the vegetables at this time. We don't go shopping very often so I have not been able to search out values. In the meantime I have substituted similar items from grocery store weekly circulars.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Time Spent Summary - June '09
I can't take credit for the idea of tracking the time and money spent on my garden. That goes to Get Rich Slowly's Garden Project. The idea is this: Does a garden save you money? It's a simple question, but a difficult answer.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
June Details
June brings weeds. Weeds bring lots of time spent in the garden. It also brings the first crop, snow peas. This is my first time planting snow peas, I've been pleasantly surprised by their growth and production. Although that said, this year is a bit of an anomaly given the cooler and wetter than normal conditions. Still, from a 6' long twin row planting, I've yielded 3 3/4lb of snow peas thus far.
The peas are about done now, however and I'll soon be pulling them to make way for more beans (yellow most likely).
The fungicide is being put to good use attempting to limit the spread of early blight among the tomatoes. This is the downside of wet weather. Although I do try to limit the application of pesticides and such, I am also not ready to lose complete crops as I did last year.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
2009 Summary
June Details
June brings weeds. Weeds bring lots of time spent in the garden. It also brings the first crop, snow peas. This is my first time planting snow peas, I've been pleasantly surprised by their growth and production. Although that said, this year is a bit of an anomaly given the cooler and wetter than normal conditions. Still, from a 6' long twin row planting, I've yielded 3 3/4lb of snow peas thus far.
The peas are about done now, however and I'll soon be pulling them to make way for more beans (yellow most likely).
The fungicide is being put to good use attempting to limit the spread of early blight among the tomatoes. This is the downside of wet weather. Although I do try to limit the application of pesticides and such, I am also not ready to lose complete crops as I did last year.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Time Spent Summary - May '09
I can't take credit for the idea of tracking the time and money spent on my garden. That goes to Get Rich Slowly's Garden Project. The idea is this: Does a garden save you money? It's a simple question, but a difficult answer.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
April Details
2009 Summary
Not having the plot tilled this year has allowed me to get a much earlier start than last year. Of course it also means more hours hand digging the garden. But, it will save me from a repeat of last year where I spent two or three weekends in a row spending all day both days working on garden prep and planting. So, hopefully the labor will all average out in the end.
Most people who garden will say even if the financial benefit isn't there, the quality improvement over supermarket produce is worth the price. I postulate that if you only look at the money spent vs the value of the produce, that you will come out ahead. If you include the time spent, however, I am pretty certain you will not come out ahead. And that's ok, so long as you look at the time as an investment in an enjoyable, healthful activity.
April Details
2009 Summary
Not having the plot tilled this year has allowed me to get a much earlier start than last year. Of course it also means more hours hand digging the garden. But, it will save me from a repeat of last year where I spent two or three weekends in a row spending all day both days working on garden prep and planting. So, hopefully the labor will all average out in the end.
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