Sunday, April 10, 2011

Days 242 - 283 Garden Rebirth

Phew, six weeks is a long time between postings. Each week I had great intentions of writing the next post, only to have something come up that was just a bit more pressing...like my job, my family, or my class that I am taking!! We have now harvested 283 days in a row and on my way to make then entire year. I am amazed that we have made it this far...that is a long time!! I hope we can make it all year. We have lemons and are just starting to get veggies from the garden plots. All other fruit is gone. This is a difficult time for fruit and we will not get anything until late-May (Cherries) or early June (berries).

Anyhow, we had a great deal of rain in since last time. The beets that I planted hardly moved at all and are just starting to show some growth now that the sun is coming out in earnest. This may be one of those change of seasons that occur in a day...winter one day, summer the next. Not so great for the spring veggies, but I have planted some and we are reaping the rewards of last year's chard as well as this year's kale. Before I know it I should start thinking about tomato starts and one of my favorites, cucumbers.

On the fruit side, we have finally harvested all of our oranges. We made it through the end of March this year and I believe that we should be able to make it an extra month if we have a larger crop next year. Last year we had rain during the bloom and we had a small crop. The citrus bloom is still yet to get underway. There are a few orange blossoms, but that rain really slowed things down on the citrus trees. The peaches, nectarines, apricots, and apriums got hit by the rain. We will still have a decent peach and nectarine crop. The pear, apple, and cherry trees are looking like they got snowed on...they have so many blossoms. Looks like my work will be cut out for me when it comes to thinning this year!! The avocado is about to flower after getting many of its buds frozen off in late February. It is my experiment tree.

Looks like we will have a decent blueberry crop and I will have raspberries in June this year because I pruned them for two crops. Grapes are budding out and I already see little clusters forming on the Interlaken vine.

Right now we are getting lemons. Almost 100 in the past six weeks!! Nice to have them around.

A six-week summary if you do not want to read the details:
Oranges: 54 ($27.00)
Lemons: 99 ($24.75)
Grapefruit: 11 ($11.00)
Chard: 10 bunches ($30.00)
Kale: 5 bunches ($10.00)

Day 242
1) 2 lemons

Day 243
1) 2 lemons
2) 1 orange
3) 1 grapefruit

Day 244
1) 1 lemon
2) 5 orange
3) 1 grapefruit

Day 245
1) 1 orange
2) 2 lemons

Day 246
1) 3 oranges
2) 3 lemons
3) 2 grapefruit

Day 247
1) 3 oranges
2) 1 grapefruit

Day 248
1) 1 orange
2) 5 lemons

Day 249
1) 1 orange
2) 2 grapefruit
3) 2 lemons

Day 250
1) 2 oranges
2) 6 lemons
3) 1 bunch kale

Day 251
1) 3 oranges
2) 4 lemons
3) 1 bunch kale

Day 252
1) 3 oranges
2) 2 lemons
3) 1 bunch chard

Day 253
1) 3 oranges
2) 1 grapefruit
3) 4 lemons
4) 1 bunch chard

Day 254
1) 3 oranges
2) 3 lemons
3) 1 bunch chard

Day 255
1) 1 orange
2) 2 lemons

Day 256
1) 6 lemons
2) 2 oranges

Day 257
1) 2 oranges
2) 2 grapefruit

Day 258
1) 2 oranges
2) 4 lemons

Day 259
1) 3 oranges

Day 260
1) 2 oranges
2) 10 lemons

Day 261
Gone

Day 262
Gone

Day 263
1) 2 lemons

Day 264
1) 2 oranges
2) 1 lemon

Day 265
1) 3 oranges

Day 266
1) 3 oranges
2) 2 lemons

Day 267
1) 3 oranges
2) 1 grapefruit

Day 268
1) 2 oranges

Day 269
1) 3 lemons

Day 270
1) 2 lemons

Day 271
1) 2 lemons

Day 272
1) 2 lemons

Day 273
1) 2 lemons
2) 2 bunches chard
3) 1 bunch kale

Day 274
1) 2 lemons

Day 275
1) 3 lemons
2) 1 bunch chard
3) 1 bunch kale

Day 276
1) 6 lemons
2) 1 garlic green

Day 277
1) 2 lemons

Day 278
1) 2 lemons

Day 279
1) 2 lemons

Day 280
1) 3 lemons
2) 1 bunch kale

Day 281
1) 2 bunches chard

Day 282
1) 2 lemons

Day 283
1) 3 lemons
2) 2 bunches chard

Six-Week harvest: $102.75

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $1287.75
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $360.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $150.00