Days 151 - 171 Dead of Winter...what to do?

The weather has turned grey, rainy and you do not feel like being outside. Our forecast is now calling for 10 days of rain without a sunny day. Surprisingly the mandarins are just getting better and better as they ripen to perfection. Over the past three weeks we harvested over 200 mandarins!! I did miss a post last weekend...kind of a time crunch with giving final exams last week.

Well, what feels like the dead of winter does not last very long around here. The Daffodils are already popping their heads up and will be in bloom within a couple of weeks. January often has a warm spell and the bees will be out in force on sunny days. I have been keeping a record of the blooming of my fruit trees over the years and it is a pretty regular occurance for the first peach blossoms to be out on February 20th. Will it be summertime...no way. But there are things to do in the garden for sure!!

I take the opportunity to do a little pruning around Christmas if there is a dry spell and try to get all of my pruning done by the middle of January. I have quite a few trees to prune. You can look back at my second post to see the job that I have ahead of me. I do have a good time with it though and it makes for a sense of renewal...cleaning out the old and preparing for the re-birth of spring. You say, "how do you prune?" I have a wonderful book that I found from The American Horticultural Society called quite simply "Pruning and Training". Here is a link on Amazon but you can probably find it at your local bookstore (I did). Take the time to read about your trees, fruiting or non-fruiting, and you will learn a bunch!!

Harvested over the past 3 weeks:

Day 151
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)

Day 152
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)

Day 153
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 154
1) 5 mandarins ($1.25)

Day 155
1) 5 mandarins ($1.25)

Day 156
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)

Day 157
1) 13 mandarins ($3.25)

Day 158
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)

Day 159
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)

Day 160
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 161
1) 6 mandarins ($1.50)
2) 4 lemons ($2.00)

Day 162
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 163
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 164
1) 19 mandarins ($4.75)

Day 165
1) 15 mandarins ($3.75)

Day 166
1) 12 mandarins ($3.00)
2) 2 lemons ($1.00)

Day 167
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)

Day 168
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)

Day 169
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)

Day 170
1) 12 mandarins ($3.00)

Day 171
1) 25 mandarins ($1.25)

Two-Week harvest: $44.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $904.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $360.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $105.00

Days 137 - 150 Citrus, Citrus, Citrus!!!

Where the weeks prior had apples in the mix...we are now in the citrus-only time of the year. With 135 mandarins harvested in th epast two weeks (those that I counted...I am sure there were more!!) we are in the middle of citrus season. It is a bumper crop for the mandarin trees this year and I forsee harvesting mandarins well past Christmas...with the fruit getting sweeter along the way.

One nice thing about a variety of fruit trees is that while one tree may have a bumper crop, others will have a low year. Our orange tree and grapefruit tree are just having a normal year so having 2 - 3 months of mandarins will help us get through the winter. The size of the crop seems to really depend on what is happening during the flowering time of the year. If your trees flower during a warm spell, the bees can get out there and do their polination. If the trees flower during a rainy period the crop will be small or non-existant. Looks like my goal of daily harvests will make it through the 1/2 year target!! Need to make sure that I have something ready to harvest beyond March from the veggie garden when there is very little fruit.

Speaking of the veggie garden, the eight beds look like this:
Hot zone
1) Cover crop
2) Kale (starting to get bigger!!)

Medium-hot zone
3) Cover crop
4) Garlic (4 rows)

Medium-cool zone
5) Cover crop
6) Cover crop

Cool zone
7) Cover crop
8) Cover crop and the venerable Chard!!

We also had a frost scare this past week. Temperatures were supposed to get into the mid-20's which raises the alarms for me. I covered the trees the first night but the temperatures only droped to about 30 degrees. I left the covers off the remaining nights and I saw the temperature drop to 29 degrees. I do not worry about that. My rule of thumb is only to worry if the temps drop below 28.

Here is a link about citrus varieties and their harvest times/cold tolerance. Great list!!

Harvested over the past 2 weeks:

Day 137
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)

Day 138
1) 11 mandarins ($3.75)
2) 3 lemons ($1.50)

Day 139
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)

Day 140
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 141
1) 5 mandarins ($1.25)

Day 142
1) 12 mandarins ($3.00)

Day 143
1) 5 mandarins ($1.25)

Day 144
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)

Day 145
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)
2) 4 lemons ($2.00)
3) 1 lime ($0.25)

Day 146
1) 5 mandarins ($1.25)

Day 147
1) 17 mandarins ($4.25)

Day 148
1) 6 mandarins ($1.50)

Day 149
1) 27 mandarins ($6.75)

Day 150
1) 13 mandarins ($3.25)
2) Two bunches chard ($6.00)

Two-Week harvest: $43.50

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $860.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $360.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $105.00

Days 123 - 136 The Clock Starts Ticking

I have known a colleague at work for many year now and all this time we have been talking about planting fruit trees at his house, particularly some kind of citrus. Well, it is citrus season now and he has missed the opportunity once again. If he had only planted those citrus trees when we first started talking about it, he could have been harvesting some beautiful citrus right now. This is a typical problem though...you think about it and say to yourself, "it will take so long to get any fruit if I plant a tree this year." Well, the clock starts ticking and time does pass. Three years is typical for the time between planting and first harvest and it may seem like a long time, but it really comes pretty quick. If you do not plant soon, you just delay the start of the clock. One of the first things I did when we moved into this house was to plant some citrus: an orange and two satsuma mandarins.

We have been enjoying the fruits of the two mandarin trees for over two weeks now. As I have said in past, fresh picked citrus is hard to beat and it surely cannot be replicated from store-bought citrus. Was at the local produce store yesterday and saw some organic mandarins...and you could tell that they had been harvested a while ago. The vim and vigor of the fruit had been lost...and they were still charging $3.50 per pound!! We have been harvesting between 5 - 10 mandarins a day over the past couple of weeks. Count them up. 90 mandarins and that does not include the ones that I do not know about as our kids harvest at will!!

Bees. I felt like I needed to shrink my hives down a level for winter and this was the weekend to do it. Warm weather!! Well, I took down the hives a box or two. Along with it came a harvest of about 2 gallons of honey. One of my hives is doing great, the other may not make it though the winter. Have to say that it is probably my fault because I did not set them up correctly when I picked them up this Spring. Did not have the time to spare at the time and of course when you do a poor job at something, you get poor results. Lesson learned.

Harvested over the past 2 weeks:

Day 123
1) 6 mandarins ($1.50)
2) 1 apple ($0.50)

Day 124
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)
2) 2 apples ($1.00)

Day 125
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)
2) 3 apples ($1.50)

Day 126
1) 8 mandarins ($2.00)

Day 127
1) 9 mandarins ($2.25)
2) 2 apples ($1.00)

Day 128
1) 7 mandarins ($1.75)

Day 129
1) 3 mandarins ($0.75)

Day 130
1) 11 mandarins ($2.75)

Day 131
1) 3 mandarins ($0.75)
2) 1 apple ($0.50)

Day 132
1) 3 mandarins ($0.75)
2) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
3) 1 apple ($0.50)

Day 133
1) 13 mandarins ($3.25)

Day 134
1) 3 mandarins ($0.75)

Day 135
1) 6 mandarins ($1.50)

Day 136
1) 6 mandarins ($1.50)
2) 7 quarts honey ($140.00)

Two-Week harvest: $33.00
Honey Harvested: 7 quarts ($140)

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $816.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $360.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $105.00

Days 109 - 122 Change of Seasons

Well, late in writing this posting...skipped last week but still harvesting each day. Since last posting we have had some serious rain. The rain and cold pretty much halt the fruit from getting much sun and ripening. The figs are done after a good soaking and the grapes that are remaining have taken on some mold.

The garden continues though with Satsuma Mandarins being the current harvest. A little green on the outside but open it up and the bright orange citrus is wonderful!! If you have not grown your own citrus, you are missing out! The only problem with growing your own citrus is that once you have your own fresh citrus you will NEVER be able to eat store-bought citrus ever again. I have been spoiled because I grew up eating fresh oranges in S. California and now I have Mandarins, Oranges, Grapefruits, Lemons, and Limes all in the yard.

The garlic is in the ground and plan on planting the cover crop this week with moist soil and warm weather predicted through the middle of the week. I did buy a few supplies since last posting. Some organic fruit tree fertalizer and some chicken manure for the garlic patch.

Harvested over the past 2 weeks:

Day 109
1) 1 fig ($0.25)
2) 3/4 pounds tomatoes ($1.50)
3) 1 mandarin ($0.25)
4) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)

Day 110
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 3/4 pounds tomatoes ($1.50)
3) 8 figs ($2.00)

Day 111
1) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)

Day 112
1) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
2) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)

Day 113
1) 6 figs ($1.50)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)

Day 114
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)

Day 115
1) 3 mandarins ($0.75)
2) 1/4 pound grapes ($0.50)

Day 116
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 3 mandarins ($0.75)

Day 117
1) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)

Day 118
1) 1 mandarin ($0.25)
2) 1 tomato ($0.50)

Day 119
1) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)

Day 120
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) 3 mandarins ($0.75)

Day 121
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)

Day 122
1) 4 mandarins ($1.00)

Two-Week harvest: $35.00
Expense: $35.00 (Fertilizer, water)

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $783.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $105.00

Days 102 - 108 Winter Planting

Winter is a time of lots of rain. This means that you do not need to do any watering...but it also measn that it is a time when the snails, slugs, and weeds thrive.

For this reason I like to plant a cover crop to keep the weeds down. Just ordered some seed and hope to plant by next weekend. With the nice rain shower today it makes the soil ready for the new seed to sprout. I really do not like to have to water the seed...call me lazy.

I also like to plant garlic. It grows with little care, the slugs and snails do not touch it, and we get enough garlic by May to pretty much have garlic for the year. All for very little work...and don't forget, the garlic that you get out of your own garden is truly amazing!! If you want to make sure that the garlic does not sprout after harvesting, keep it in a cool, dark place.

What is happening in the garden right now? The figs are the real star of the garden with a plentiful supply of the sweetest fruit you can imagine. We have a "white" fig that becomes a beautiful red inside and green outside. Still getting grapes, tomatoes, and of course chard (the plants are 6 months old now!!)

Day 102
1) Two tomatoes ($1.00)
2) Handful of grapes
3) One fig

Day 103
1) 1 pound grapes ($2.00)
2) Three mandarins ($1.00)

Day 104
1) One tomato ($0.50)
2) Two bunches of chard ($6.00)
3) 1 1/2 pounds grapes ($3.00)
4) Six figs ($1.50)

Day 105
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 1/2 pound apples ($1.00)
3) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)

Day 106
1) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
2) Eight figs ($2.00)
3) 3/4 pound apples ($1.50)

Day 107
1) 1 1/2 poounds tomatoes ($3.00)
2) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)

Day 108
1) 3/4 pound strawberries ($1.50)
2) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
3) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
4) Eight figs ($2.00)

Weekly harvest: $33.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $748.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $70.00

Days 95 - 101 What have we done with our food?

I was having lunch with a colleague the other day and we often talk about food...for we are eating of course!! Anyhow, I have been bringing tomatoes to share at lunch and he has been getting kind of used to having fresh garden tomatoes for lunch. He had gotten so used to it that he went out to buy some tomatoes when I was not supplying quite enough for him.

Well, he was not happy with what he got. He bought an heirloom variety from the local Whole Foods Market and what did he get? A tomato that looked great but tasted like nothing he had gotten used to. You might say...of course. Nothing compares to a home-grown tomato. What was he thinking? My response is that this tomato was from Whole Foods and it was an heirloom variety. Seems to me that that should have come from a farmer who nurtured that tomato from seed to fruit and would pick it only when it was the exact right time...for it was an heirloom... But not. He then had some figs that he bought too. Figs are expensive in the store and for the price you pay you would hope that you get something good. Nope. I tried one and could not finish it. Tasted like nothing. Not sweet at all. No hints of strawberries that we get in our figs. Not even close to a fig as I know it.

What will it be like when this is what we think food tastes like? I was down at Google this summer for a computer science symposium and they had some fruit plates out for people to snack on. A guy from Indiana picked up a fig and asked me what it was. He had never eaten one before...and I am sure I would have not either if I was from Indiana. I told him that it was a fig, he took a bite, and it was just awful. I told him that is not what a real fig tastes like...and he should try again when he can pick one off of a tree when it is ripe... I hope he does.

Day 95
1) 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes ($3.00)

Day 96
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
3) Five figs ($1.00)

Day 97
1) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
2) 3/4 pound tomatoes ($1.50)
3) Four figs ($1.00)

Day 98
1) One fig ($0.50)
2) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
3) One basket of strawberries ($2.00)

Day 99
1) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
2) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)

Day 100
1) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)

Day 101
1) 1/4 pound tomatoes ($0.50)
2) Five figs ($1.00)

Weekly harvest: $23.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $715.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $70.00 (water)

Days 88 - 94 Three months and counting!!

Well, we have made the daily harvest for 1/4 of the year. I have to believe that a difficult time is coming in the next month. Our Sierra Beauty apple tree is light on the fruit this year and our family is eating more fruit than ever. Seems like the trees barely keep up with the family consumption...

I know that we can make it for the next couple of weeks. We still have a good supply of chard, apples, tomatos, figs, and grapes. The problem comes in late October and early November. If we can make it to mid-November, we will start the citrus harvest (can't wait!!) with the Satsumas coming in. We have a bumper crop of satsumas this year so that will take us well into 2011.

This has made me think about what is needed this time of the year. I have been trying to fill in the early fruit trees (planted Apricot, Aprium, and White Nectarine) to have some June fruit. I think that I will replace our Red Delicious apple tree (that nobody really likes anyhow...but was here when we bought the house) with a Granny Smith. My friend has a Granny Smith and it holds apples well and we have had apples from him well into November. Seems like the longer on the tree the better too!!

Well, the harvest is lighter this week.

Day 88
1) Four apples ($2.00)
2) One tomato ($0.50)
3) 1/4 pound grapes ($0.50)

Day 89
1) Two tomatoes ($1.00)
2) Three apples ($2.00)

Day 90
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) One pound grapes ($2.00)
3) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
4) 3/4 pound apples ($1.50)

Day 91
1) 1/4 pound grapes ($0.50)
2) 3/4 pound apples ($1.50)
3) One pound apples ($2.00)
4) Basket raspberries ($2.00)
5) Two figs ($0.50)

Day 92
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 1/2 pound apples ($1.00)
3) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
4) One basket of strawberries ($2.00)
5) Seven figs ($2.00)

Day 93
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 1/2pound apples ($1.00)

Day 94 (gone much of the day)
1) a few grapes

Weekly harvest: $33.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $692.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $70.00 (water)

Days 81 - 87 Potatoes

Well, I planted some sprouting potatoes awhile back and dug them up yesterday. From what was going to be just trash (or compost) became part of tonight's dinner!! Being my first try,I was curious as to how the potatoes were looking so I dug them up. They were small but we will have almost two pounds of potatoes to go with the dinner tonight.

John Jeavons is a real believer in potatoes as a basis for a sustainable garden. Seem really easy to grow...perhaps it is why so many varieties grow all around the world.

What else has happened over the past week? Planted my Kale starts in the ground and they are looking happy. Looking forward to having greens through the winter. Bees are still buzzing about. Do not know what they are getting right now but they are as busy as they were in the spring. I also did a little slideshow for a class that I am taking at the Junior College. Here is a link.

Weekly harvest:

Day 81
1) 2 baskets of Strawberries ($4.00)
2) Three apples ($1.50)
3) 1/2 basket of raspberries ($1.50)

Day 82
1) Three tomatoes ($2.00)
2) Three apples ($2.00)
3) 1 lb grapes ($2.00)

Day 83
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) 3/4 pound apples ($1.50)
3) 2 1/2 pounds tomatoes ($5.00)
4) 1 lb. grapes ($2.00)
5) Four figs ($0.50)

Day 84
1) Three apples ($2.00)
2) Four tomatoes ($3.00)
3) 1 1/4 lb Grapes ($2.50)
4) Handful of green beans

Day 85
1) 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes ($3.00)
2) 1 1/4 pound apples ($2.50)
3) 1 lb grapes ($2.00)

Day 86
1) 1/2 lb grapes ($1.00)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
3) 1/2 pound apples ($1.00)

Day 87
1) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
2) 1 3/4 pound potatoes ($2.00)

Weekly harvest: $49.50

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $659.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $50.00

Days 74 - 80 Omnivore's Dilemna

I have been reading Omnivore's Dilemna off and on and I am about half way through the book. As I read the first part it really made me wonder what the heck we are doing with our meat production in the US (and the world). We have joined a local meat CSA and enjoying locally raised and grass-fed meat. Yes, we do pay more for our meat, but just as anything,you get what you pay for!!

I am now on Part 2 and Michael Pollan is discussing organic food. Phew, you think that you are doing a good job when you go to the store and buy organic...and he blew that away. For example, the locally raised organic Rosie Chicken is not much better than the typical "chicken" raised the "chicken farm". Most organic produce is grown in huge monoculture farms using production techniques that are similar to conventional...but making sure that it follows the organic rules...barely.

What to do? Local Farmer's Markets are a great solution. Or, of course you can do what we are trying to do...do it yourself!! We do not, and can not, raise enough produce for all of our needs, but we sure make a dent in the stuff that we do have to buy from "Big Organic" (BTW, as the Cascadian Farm founder pointed out, at least there are large swaths of land that are not having chemicals poured on them!!). Somebody asked me this week, "Do you just eat the same stuff all the time?" I hope you see that we do not. We do eat "in season", so when grapes are ready, we do eat grapes, and "eating seasonally" is a whole other discussion.

Well, what did we harvest this week?

Day 74
1) Two apples ($1.00)
2) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
3) Four pounds tomatoes ($8.00)

Day 75
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) One pound grapes ($2.00)
3) Three apples ($2.00)
4) One basket raspberries ($2.00)
5) Two figs ($0.50)

Day 76
1) 3 1/4 pounds tomatoes ($6.50)
2) 3/4 pounds grapes ($1.50)
3) 1/2 pound apples ($1.00)

Day 77
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) Two tomatoes ($1.50)
3) 1 1/2 pounds grapes ($3.00)
4) Three apples ($1.50)
5) Handful of green beens

Day 78
1) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
2) Three apples ($1.50)
3) 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes ($3.00)

Day 79
1) Three apples ($2.00)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
3) 1 pound grapes ($2.00)

Day 80
1) 1/2 pound figs ($2.00)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
3) 2 pounds zuchini ($4.00)

Weekly harvest: $61.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $610.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $50.00

Days 67 - 73 Winter Planting Begins

The light is changing and the temperatures are dropping. Still harvesting quite a bit from the garden, especially fruit. Grapes and apples every day. Tomatoes are beautiful. Figs just beginning. Kids eating all of the raspberries before I get home from work!! Strawberries have had a stellar year and still going strong in mid-September!!

Winter planting. Just planted seeds for Dino Kale and spicy salad greens. I generally start my seeds in started pots to give them a good start without snails. I have a set-up that allows me to hang the starter flats just below a section of opaque roof. Gives the starts a place to sprout in a great light and nice and warm. Also keeps any sneaky slugs and snails out until I get them in the ground...and by then they have a good advantage over the pesky critters.

I will plant garlic later this fall after the tomatoes are gone...

Harvested the past week.

Day 67
1) One pound Fantasy grapes ($2.00)

Day 68
1) One apple ($0.50)
2) Three pounds tomatoes ($6.00)

Day 69
1) 1 1/4 pounds apples ($2.50)
2) Basket of Raspberries ($2.00)

Day 70
1) Cucumber ($1.00)
2) Three tomatoes ($1.50)
3) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)

Day 71
1) Cucumber ($0.50)
2) Two tomatoes ($1.50)
3) Two bunches Chard ($6.00)
4) 3/4 pound grapes ($1.50)
5) Three apples ($2.00)

Day 72
1) One pound cucumbers ($2.00)
2) 1 1/2 pound tomatoes ($3.00)
3) 1 1/4 pound grapes ($2.50)
4) One apple ($0.50)

Day 73
1) One tomato ($1.00)
2) One apple ($0.50)
3) Basket Strawberries ($2.00)
4) Two figs ($0.50)
5) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
6) Basket Raspberries ($2.00)

Weekly harvest: $43.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $549.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $50.00 (water and seeds)

Days 60 - 66 Transitions

As I documented last week, the three day heat blast really took its toll on the cucumbers and zuchinni. I plan on taking out the cucumbers soon and was going to just let the soil rest...but as we were eating dinner last night, my 4-year old daughter said that she wanted some dino kale. That is a great choice for a winter green since kale can produce through the coldest of months and according to my sources can even be better if it gets some frost. I may also plant some spinach now since it grows so quickly and is quite versatile. Oh yes...cannot forget the garlic!! We have been using garlic at an incredible pace, for I planted enough and harvested enough for a years worth of consumption. Easy to grow and it really makes a difference.

Now is also the time to start thinking about some cover crop and should either order some seed for winter cover crop.

We are two months into the year and we have already recorded over $500 worth of produce from our small garden. Anybody who says a garden is not worth it should be sent to this blog!!

Harvested the past week.

Day 60
1) Two pounds tomatoes ($4.00)

Day 61
1) One pound apples ($2.00)
2) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
3) 1/4 pound tomatoes ($0.50)
4) 3 1/2 pounds cukes ($7.00)

Day 62
1) Two tomatoes ($1.50)
2) One apple ($1.00)
3) 1/2 pound Fantasy grapes ($1.00)
4) One meyer lemon ($0.50)
5) Two zuchinni ($1.50)

Day 63
1) One pound Fantasy Grapes ($2.00)
2) One apple ($0.50)
3) One tomato ($0.50)

Day 64
1) 3/4 pound green grapes ($1.50)
2) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
3) One apple ($0.50)

Day 65
1) Three tomatoes ($1.00)
2) One apple ($0.50)

Day 66
1) Two baskets of Strawberries ($4.00)
2) Five poound of green grapes (for freezing...great summer treat!!) ($7.50)
3) One tomato ($0.50)

Weekly harvest: $49.50

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $506.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 53 - 59 Crazy Weather!!

First of all I want to say that while during the summer months I was able to post daily or every other day, now that my son is in Kindergarten and I have started teaching again, I am going to start posting on a weekly basis. My goal of harvesting something for the table each and every day has not changed and I will continue to keep tabs on the daily harvests. I really want to show that this can be done in our fine climate!!

The title...it has been a crazy weather week. All summer it has been the summer that never happened...or perhaps the best summer weather that anybody could ever ask for! Cool mornings, sunny afternoons in the 80's, then cooling in the evenings. Never a need for the energy sucking air conditioner for we have had the perfect cooling each evening. This all ended on Monday and for 3 days we had sunny mornings and temperatures in the mid-100's. What a shock for the garden. I can see the effect on the cucumbers, zuchinni, and the citrus trees. It might mark the end of the cukes and zukes and time will tell whether the citrus will be affected.

Something that I have done since 2005 is keep a spreadsheet about the fruit trees in the yard. I keep tabs on when the tree was planted and the following on a yearly basis:
1) Date of pruning
2) Date of bud break
3) Date of first harvest
4) Amount of fruit (light, medium, heavy)
5) Quality of fruit

I also keep tabs on any weather pattern that defined the year.

It is amazing how regular trees are in their bud break. I can almost predict to the day when our trees will start budding out and I am curious if this will change with the predicted climate change coming to a neighborhood near you!!

Harvested over the past week:

Day 53
1) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)
2) Basket of cherry tomatoes ($2.00)

Day 54
1) Nine cucumbers ($11.00)
2) One apple (Red delicious) ($1.00)
3) 1 pound pickling cukes ($2.00)

Day 55
1) 2 1/2 pounds green grapes ($5.00)
2) One apple ($1.00)
3) One pound tomatoes ($2.00)
4) Two zuchinni ($2.50)

Day 56
1) 1 3/4 pounds green grapes ($3.50)
2) one apple ($0.50)

Day 57
1) 1 pound tomatoes ($2.00)
2) Two zuchinni ($2.00)
3) Five cucumbers ($4.50)
4) 3/4 pounds pickling cucumbers ($1.50)
5) Basket of Strawberries ($2.00)

Day 58
1) Two apples ($1.00)
2) Two bunches of chard ($6.00)

Day 59
1) Two tomatoes ($1.00)
2) One pound green grapes ($2.00)

Weekly harvest: $58.50

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $456.50
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 - Honey Harvest

Although I have not posting as often, I continue to do my daily harvests. Being a teacher makes for less free time once school starts...

Well, it has been 6 weeks since I broke my shoulder blade. Been waiting for the time so I could harvest honey and today was the day!! I was expecting around 5 gallons from the two hives, but one hive had a lot of brood in the upper super...so I left them be. The harvest was still very good with 11 quarts to make it through next year.

Harvested over the past few days

Day 48
1) Two zuchinni ($4.00)
2) Two bunches of chard ($6.00)

Day 49
1) Two cucumbers ($1.00)
2) 1 pound Tomatoes ($2.00)

Day 50
1) 4 1/2 pounds cucumbers ($9.00)
2) 2 pounds zuchinni ($4.00)
3) Baste of cherry tomatoes ($2.00)
4) 1 pound green grapes ($2.00)

Day 51
1) Two tomatos ($1.00)
2) Two baskets of strawberries ($4.00)

Day 52
1) 1 pound tomatoes ($2.00)
2) One zuchinni ($0.50)
3) 1/2 pound green grapes ($1.00)

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $398.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 - Pruning in the Summer

What? Pruning now? Well, if you have an Apricot tree you should be pruning it 6 weeks before the first rains so that it gives the tree some time to heal the pruning cuts...since Apricots are susceptible to diseases.

Been busy lately...so six days here.

Day 42
1) 1 1/2 lbs pickling cucumbers ($3.00)
2) Two cucumbers ($2.00)
3) Three zuchini ($4.00)
4) 21 pears ($18.00)

Day 43
1) One zuchini ($1.50)
2) 1/2 lb pickling cucumbers ($1.00)
3) Two cucumbers ($1.00)
4) 1 1/2 lbs green grapes ($3.00)
5) 10 Peaches ($8.00)
6) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)

Day 44, 45 - Gone

Day 46
1) Two tomatoes (Celebrity) ($1.00)
2) Eleven peaches ($8.00)

Day 47
1) 2 1/2 lbs pickling cucumbers ($5.00)
2) Four cucumbers ($4.00)
3) Four zuchini ($7.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $359.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 40, 41 - Opportunity to Learn!

Just received a note from a follower about an opportunity to learn about Biointensive Gardening (double dig technique) and vermiculture. Below is a copy of the flyer or go to the Compost Club Website.

Day 40
1) Six pears ($5.00)
2) 1/2 lb of pickling cukes ($1.00)
3) Three cucumbers ($3.00)
4) 1 lb green grapes ($2.00)

Day 41
1) 14 peaches (last of the Frost tree) ($6.00)
2) 1/2 lb green grapes ($1.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $287.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 36, 37, 38, 39 - Health and the Garden

Sorry about being somewhat slack about this post. Been a busy weekend, packing and being gone for part of the time and then udoing the packing after returning.

Something that I have been thinking about is how our family stays pretty healthy. Cannot say that it is directly related to the garden, but since we eat lots of fruit and veggies daily (as you can see in the daily harvests) it may have a real correlation. Visiting others, I notice that there is a lot of people who eat a lot of pre-packaged, processed foods. Easy for sure, especially when you can buy so much of it at places like Costco at such a low cost, but not necessarily the best for us. On our latest road trip it was so easy to pack sliced cucumbers, a couple of clusters of grapes, and we made a couple of sandwiches with peanut butter and our honey and peach preserves (just made my first batch the other night). All pretty much whole foods and low in processed sweeteners. My wife has really changed her outloook on the food we eat after watching the film, Food Inc.

While others catch colds, our family often skirts around the illnesses without a symptom. Not many people are sick this time of the year, but come winter, our citrus crop is a real boon for staying healthy. Nothing scientific but just seeing what I see.

Harvests
Day 36
1) Ten peaches ($5.00)
2) Two bunches of chard ($6.00)
3) Two small zukes ($0.50)

Day 37
1) 1 1/2 lbs pickling cucumbers ($2.00)
2) Two zukes ($2.00)
3) Six cukes ($8.00)
4) 1 lb green grapes (interlaken) ($2.00)

Day 38 (Gone)

Day 39
1) Five peaches ($2.50)
2) Basket of cherry tomatoes ($2.00)
3) Two bunches of chard ($6.00)
4) One Cherokee Purple Tomato ($1.50)
5) Five pears ($4.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $269.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 33, 34, 35 - Irrigation

The frequent question for me is, "What do you do for irrigation?".

Well, first of all, I have much of the yard on an automatic system. The veggie garden is on for 15 minutes, three times per week. My controller allows me to do a seasonal adjustment (% of current setting) and I generally set that percent to the current high temperatures for the week. If it is forecast to be in the 90's, I will set it to 90%, if it is going to be a scorcher,I will set it above 100%. As the sun lowers in the fall, I lower it to 50 - 60%. As a general rule of thumb, I activate the irrigation when I turn the heat off for the year (April) and deactivate it when the heat goes back on (October). We do live in a unique climate where it is either raining and cool or not raining and warm...with very little transition time.

So, what does the irrigation system look like?

Fruit Trees
- The fruit trees are not on the automatic system. I want my fruit trees to set a very deep root system so that they are more resiliant to my watering schedule. I have had good luck with my system: an hour of low running hose for each tree every three weeks. A little labor intensive, but is is only for about half of the year, so I really only water these trees about 8 - 10 times.

Veggie Garden
- This has been frustrating over time. I have tried to set up a dripper system with emmiters in series, snaking through the garden. This enevitably turns into a blown out emmiter with overwatering in some areas and no watering in others. With much of my irrigation done at night, it could be weeks before I detect it (especially this time of the year where the plants are large). It is especially frustrating when you leave for vacation and you come back to a huge water bill. So, what has been a reliable solution? Two strategies. For plants where you have many plants (Chard, Beans, Cucumbers) I have gone to a series of sprayers placed directly into the main black irrigation line (the BIG black hose). For more space intensive plants where you only have a few (tomatoes, zuchinni) I use individual emmiters, but the emmiter is plugged into the BIG black hose and a small line directs the water to the plant. This way the only pressurized water is in the BIG black hose, which has shown to be reliable with regard to leaks.

This post I will add the expense of irrigation. After receiving my water bill, I will charge $20. Seems like a lot, but if you look at what we have harvested, it is really just a drop in the bucket.

Three days of harvests
Day 33
1) Seven pears ($5.00)
2) Six peaches ($3.00)
3) Two cukes ($2.50)
4) Two zukes ($1.50)
5) 3/4 lb of green grapes ($1.50)
6) 2 lbs of frozen peaches ($4.00)

Day 34
1) Ten peaches ($4.00)
2) Bunch of chard ($3.00)
3) Two zukes ($1.00)
4) 1 1/2 lbs of green grapes ($3.00)

Day 35
1) Eleven peaches ($5.50)
2) Four cukes ($4.00)
3) 1 1/2 lbs of pickling cukes ($3.00)
4) Basket of Cherry Tomatoes ($2.00)
5) Four large tomatoes ($3.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $227.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $26.00

Days 31, 32 - Excess Crops

What can you do with excess crops? It seems like only a week ago we had very little, but as you can see now (harvest below) we are in excess. Of course you can give stuff away. Perhaps even better, in using the concept of "distributed agrigulture", you can barter with friends and neighbors. Perhaps you have extra pears now and they may have extra tangerines in the winter.

That may be too much for you to do though. I am really quite lazy at heart and in a previous post talked about how a garden saves time because we do so little food shopping when the garden is in full swing (what was a long weekly shopping trip now is a quick stop for bread and milk).

Here are some ideas for excess crops that take little time:
1) Cukes - See pickle recipe in last post
2) Peaches - Cut in half, take out pit, and freeze on cookie sheet. Put in ziploc bag and you have peaches all year for baking, smoothies, etc.
3) Zukes - Our kids (and us) love BBQ zukes. We ate almost 3 lbs for dinner yesterday. Simply slice lengthwise, coat with a little olive oil, then Balsalmic Vinegar, salt and pepper. BBQ skin side down first then flip to the sides.

Any other quick ideas out there?

Harvested
Day 31
1) Eight pears ($6.50)
2) Ten peaches ($5.00)

Day 32
1) Four zuchinni ($5.00)
2) Three cucumbers ($3.00)
3) Five pickling cukes ($1.50)
4) Ten peaches ($5.00)
5) Basket of Strawberries ($2.00)
6) 1/2 pound green grapes ($1.00)
7) Three pounds frozen peaches ($6.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $181.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Days 29, 30 - Plentiful Harvests

It is times like these that make you want to have that garden. A couple of peaches to start the day right off of the tree, a fresh cucumber with lunch, and perhaps some barbequed zuchinni for dinner. All within easy reach!!

What do I have in the garden right now?

Eight beds:
Full Sun
1) Cucumbers
2) Tomatoes

Almost Full Sun
3) Zuchinni
4) Tomatoes

Partial Shade (wish I had more sun)
5) Green Beans
6) Green Beans

Quite Shady
7) Chard
8) Potatoes (this is an experiment...I had some potatoes that were sprouting, so I planted them)

I will update the blog as the content of the beds changes.

Harvested
Day 29
1) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)
2) Two zuchinni ($1.50)
3) Four peaches ($2.00)

Day 30
1) Four cucumbers ($2.50)
2) Eight peaches ($4.00)
3) Basket of Cherry Tomatoes ($2.00)
4) One Lemon Boy Tomato ($0.50)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $146.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 27, 28 - Here come the cukes!!

The cucumbers are coming. Now some people think that you can get too many cucumbers out of a garden...not our family. Our kids devour them as fast as I can harvest them and they have the cooling properties that a hot summer needs (not that this summer has been hot).

I plant standard sized cucumbers and pickling cucumbers. We will eat the standard sized fresh and I have an easy recipe for the pickling cukes. I am not one for a lot of work and you will love this pickle recipe for its ease.

It came from my grandma and I remember the crock-pot pickles that she and my grandpa used to make. Well, these are just as good or better.

Here it is:
7 cups water
1 cup vinegar
1/3 cup salt
dill and garlic as desired

1) Boil the water, vinegar, and salt so that the salt becomes part of the solution. Do not boil the cucumbers.

2) Pack the pickling cucumbers into a large jar with the dill and garlic on the bottom.

3) Pour the liquid from step 1 into the jar.

4) Cover and put in the fridge for 3 days.

5) Eat and enjoy. These are not for long-term shelf life...but they will be so good it will not matter!! They will not last that long.

Day 27
1) Six pickling cucumbers ($1.00)
2) Basket of cherry tomatoes ($2.00)

Day 28
1) 15 peaches ($7.50)
2) 7 pears ($5.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $128.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Days 24, 25, 26 - Garden as a Time-Saver

Sorry about not posting for awhile. Wife was out on a business trip and was busy with the kiddos.

We were talking the other day and something that I have noticed about having a garden so readily available is how it really can be a time-saver. We are pretty much living off our garden now as far as produce goes, a friend my wife delivers fresh eggs each week from her own chickens, and we are part of a local meat-buying club for our meat. What does this leave to shop for? Milk, bread, and coffee!! At least for the weekly shopping trip. That means that shopping is made simple!!

It also means that everything is fresh. What do we want for dinner? Go out to the garden. Lunch? Garden. Fruit to snack on? It is out there. Not hard store-bought peaches but ripe one right off the tree. Not ragged zuchinni...freshly cut so that the juices are still seeping out as you cut them up. And all it takes is a walk out to the garden.

Harvests
Day 24
1) Three peaches ($1.50)
2) Three pears ($2.00)
3) Three zuchinni ($4.00)
4) One Lemon-Boy Tomato ($0.50)

Day 25
1) Ten peaches ($5.00)
2) Five pears ($3.50)

Day 26
1) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)
2) One zuchinni ($0.50)
3) Six peaches ($3.00)
4) Basket of Strawberries ($2.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $112.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Days 22, 23 - Summer feels like it is here!!

Summer in the garden means Peaches and Tomatoes. Well, the time has come, albiet a bit late, and sure later than I am used to when I lived in Santa Barbara. I remember ripe tomatoes in late June or early July. Did not have the pleasure of fruit trees back then...so I cannot comment on Peaches.

People ask what fruit trees I might plant if I had only a limited space...like space for only two trees. If I had to pick two trees, they would have to be Peach for the summer and a Navel Orange for the winter. Both are prolific and if you follow Dave Wilson Nursery's tips on Peach trees, you can plant four successively ripening trees in one "hole" and have peaches for two months. A good Orange tree will also give you fruit for two months. That gives you four months of backyard fruit, including winter fruit which is essential in my opinion!!

Harvested the past couple of days:
Day 22:
1) One bunch of chard ($3.00)
2) One Lemon Boy Tomato ($1.00)

Day 23:
1) Six Peaches ($3.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $84.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 21 - The Pear

Harvested the first of the Bartlett Pears today. Speaking with my Old Italian Guy (OIG) neighbor who benefits from my Pear tree by having the tree hang over his fence, he commented how Pears do not get the respect that they used to get. I have to agree!! When we moved into this house, the Pear tree was looking like it was on its last legs. With some careful pruning and learning about what can kill these trees, I have managed to bring this old mama back to a full fruiting glory!! My wife and I believe that it is one of the best fruits we get every year (and so do my neighbors who benefit from large harvests). This tree also gives our property some history. Its trunk is old and gnarled. Do not know how old it is exactly, but it must be at least 30 years old.

The question I get is, "How do you know when the pears are ready to be harvested?" You cannot let the fruit "ripen" on the tree because if you do that they will be rotten in the core. So, I know that this is about the time of the year that I begin to "test" the fruit. I pick a few to let them ripen on the countertop. If they ripen nicely, I harvest a few every day so I have successive ripening...and the kids devour these luscious beauties, usually before I get any. If they do not ripen well, I will wait another week or so before trying again.

Good day in the garden...things ramping up!!
1) Four peaches ($2.00)
2) Two zuchinni ($2.50)
3) Four Pears ($2.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $77.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 20 - Waiting, waiting, waiting....

What a year! Rain until early June has caused everything to ripen a bit late. Just now harvested my first full-sized tomato and my peach tree that is usually ripe a week ago has still a boatful of hard (albiet beautiful) fruit. The rain also brought havoc to one of my apple trees with less pollination than normal. Add to that, the typical heat that comes this time of the year has yet to arrive. I do enjoy the foggy mornings and 90 degree afternoons...don't get me wrong, but it sure does not ripen tomatoes very quickly!!

For this reason, it has been difficult to harvest much since the beginning of the month. Lucky for us, the Chard and Zukes are doing well. Once the fruit starts, we are free and clear for months!! The Citrus are looking fabulous this year. Sure am looking forward to fresh mandarins each morning in November/December/January. The trees are loaded.

Good harvest yesterday though showing the diversity of what we can grow in Northern California.

1) Basket of cherry tomatoes ($2.00)
2) One Lemon Boy tomato ($0.50)
3) Basket of Strawberries ($2.00)
4) Small container of blueberries ($0.50)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $71.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 19 - Inspiring NPR Story

I am a daily listener to NPR but one of the most inspiring shows I ever heard was about Five Family Farms aired about a year ago. I was completely caught up with this story...so much that I would leave my Ultimate game early so I could listen to it each week.

I later found it online and listened to the entire show. Here is a link to the show. I hope that you are also inspired and touched by this story.

Small world story that goes along with this. I went to play Ultimate the next weekend and as I was telling the players about the radio show one of the players said, "my family is one of the families interviewed on the show!"

Check it out!!

Harvested today:
1) Two Zuchini ($2.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $66.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Days 17, 18 - Backyard beekeeping making the news

My summer morning ritual of listening to NPR (KRCB) had a nice story to include in Garden366 today. Backyard beekeeping is on the rise and the story is all about the increase of interest in this hobby. And what a great hobby it is!! You have to have a little nerve, but the payoff of great pollination and the treat of the annual harvest of honey just cannot be beat. To top it off, when you go on vacation, you do not have to have anybody come by to take care of your "pets".

The beauty of having a hive is that you do not need much space. We have two hives in your relatively small city lot and they are both thriving. I lifted the top "honey super" the other day to insert some more space and I could barely handle the weight. This means to me that we will have at least 5 gallons of honey from our two hives...still leaving plenty of honey for the bees to make it through the winter. There is good support in our area for supplies but if you live somewhere that there is not, you can always order supplies online.

So, how do you go about getting bees to get started? I was given my first hive by a fellow beekeeper/friend so I have started others in the same way. Every new beekeeper I get into the hobby I feel like I am doing my part in spreading the genetics of very successfull bee colonies. If you are interested, let me know...for I pick up swarms on an informal basis. People call me when they see them and I come by to pick them up and deliver them to your house. I picked up three swarms this spring.

Link to the NPR story

Harvested the past couple of days:
Day 17
1) Two Zuchinnis ($2.00)
2) Handfull of Strawberries and Cherry Tomatoes

Day 18
1) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)
2) Handfull of Cherry Tomatoes

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $64.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 16 - Setbacks and Pitfalls - Chapter 2

The veggie garden is thriving. I will post some photos soon as to where the whole garden is right now...just have not had the time the past few mornings (the best time for photos).

Today's pitfall is "the bitter cucumber". I have fallen prey to this dreaded malody. A friend asked how I avoid this and I have figured it out...water!! Very simple fix to a problem of getting beautiful looking, awful tasting cukes. These are heat-loving plants...but they also do not like to be deprived of their live-giving water. If you try to be a water scrooge in the cucumber plot, you might as well not even plant them. Other plants can handle a drought and some might even thrive on it...but don't save your water with the cukes.

Harvested today:
1) one lone beet ($0.50)
2) our first peach ($1.00)

Total Harvested (Year-to-Date): $56.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Day 15 - Expenses

It does cost money to do a garden. I have been including the benefits of what we harvest each day and some of you, the critical ones, are saying "you have to pay for all that you do". Yes, the garden does have some expense that goes along with it. I will be including recurring expenses and not one-time expenses. For example, I will not include the cost of each fruit tree in the yard, but if I buy some starts or seeds I will include them. I will also include the cost of water...about $10 per month.

So, up to now we have had one expense. I bought a bag of potting soil to start my seedlings for $6.00. I want to talk about how I start my seedings in a future post.

Day 15:
1) Three zuchinni ($3.00)
2) Basket of Strawberries ($2.00)

Total (Year-to-Date): $54.50
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $6.00

Days 12, 13, 14 - How much do you want?

Some of you might be saying, "You sure do not harvest very much each day." How much do you want each day? I have found that there is a real limit to how much a family can use daily. At times we do harvest an excess, but if we did this too much, the garden would become a chore as opposed to a joy.

As I had indicated in a previous post, I tried to plant fruit trees so that we have fruit much of the year. The veggie garden is a little easier, for ground plants grow much quicker and are easier to stagger each year. You surely do not want everything to get ripe all at once. Here is a good story to show what can hapen if not well planned out!!

I was a little behind in my postings:

Day 12: 1 basket of Strawberries ($2.00)

Day 13: Two Zuchinnis ($2.50)
Handfull of Cherry Tomatoes

Day 14: Bunch of Chard ($3.00)

Total (Year-to-Date): $49.50

Day 11 - The Soil

We feel very fortunate that the soil in our neighborhood is deep and rich. Although there have been many people living in our property over the years, the story about the old Italian lady that grew HUGE onions sticks in my mind...that coming from my "Old Italian Guy" who lives directly behind me and grows an Italian garden each year.

Soils will deplete over time and I have tried to do some things to reverse that. I believe that the soil here in my garden plots have actually gotten better over the years. I do the following:

1) The first thing I did was a double dig from the John Jeavons book, "How to Grow More Vegetables: Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine". He is a Northern Californian and has a website.

2) I plant a cover crop in the winter. I have been using this Soil Builder Mix and have found to have improved the next years crops.

3) I have two worm bins that I started with the help of Rick of The Compost Club. I add compost from these into my garden on a regular basis as the bins fill up.

4) I do a little spot fertilizing with an organic mix that I buy at a local nursery.

This is what I do with my veggie boxes. I will discuss the fruit trees in a future post.

Harvested today:
1) Three Zuchinni ($1.50)

Totals (Year-to-Date): $42.00

Day 10 - Kids and the Garden

So, I had said that it was the end of the Chard a few posts ago, but I decided to let the Chard march on, trimming back the old leaves to try to bring life back to the plants. All it took was a few days and we had another harvest for dinner. Chard is a kind of green that is easy to grow and does not bolt due to heat...at least not easily.

Why is the title, "Kids and the Garden"? Well, our kids would have never eaten Chard if it was not for the garden. I find that they go outside and pick Chard leaves and eat them raw!! When we prepare it with garlic and olive oil I have heard them call it their favorite veggie!! Chard no less... This goes for much of what we grow. The kids eat what is out there from the plants the first time and continue at the table. Our boy has at times gotten so "spoiled" with homegrown produce that he refuses to eat it if it was from the store. Hey, his dad will never eat another Orange from the store after growing with a tree in the back yard and now having an orange, Grapefruit, and two mandarin trees...so how can I blame him.

Harvested today:
1) Two bunches of Chard ($6.00)
2) Handfull of Strawberries

Total (Year-to-Date): $40.50

Day 9 - Setbacks and Pitfalls, Chapter 1

One of my readers suggested that I should talk about setbacks and pitfalls and how I deal with them. Humans remember that perfect peach but do not like to remember the wormy apple. I am guilty of that!! Well, everything does not always work out as planned and I have learned quite a bit over the years.

For this posting, I would like to talk about the "wormy apple". I have had problems with this issue, especially with my Sierra Beauty apple tree...and unfortunately it looks like I will have the same problem this year. Why do I get wormy apples some years and not others? Well, I do not use any sprays on my trees. I asked a local apple grower and his solution to worms was sprays. I do not want to spray anything on fruit that I am going to consume...much less my kids. So, the worms come from the Codling Moth. These buggers are a real problem in my yard and the only real solution that I have is to thin fruit when they are about dime sized. I did this last year and had the most incredible apples around. This year I was a bit of a slacker...and I will not have great apples. What I mean by thinning is cut away any apples that might touch each other. Apple blossoms will produce 3 - 5 flowers and with the bees providing great polination, they all turn into apples. If I do not thin to one apple, they will all have the moth larvae. I was just a bit late this year....

Harvested today:
1) Three zuchini ($2.50)

Year-to-Date ($34.50)

Days 6, 7, 8 - Vacation and the Garden

I was meaning to talk about the garden when you go on vacation for a longer period of time, but we were really only gone for one day of harvest because I had an accident that required me to come home early (I slipped on a creek crossing and fell on a rock, breaking my Scapula (shoulder blade) on the second day). Bummer for the camping vacation...bummer for the rest of the summer...

Anyhow, what do you do with the garden when you are on vacation?

First of all you have to water your ground crops so you really want an automated irrigation system in place. This is a bit of work to set up, but saves time throughout the year. Fruit trees are a bit more flexible and can go weeks without watering.

The second problem you will have is coming back to 10 pound zuchinni which then shut the plants down for the season.

The biggest problem I see is that you tend your garden and trees all year and if you are gone for two weeks you may just find that you missed the entire peach season!! This has happened for one of our trees a couple of years ago...left the house with rock hard peaches, came back to them all rotting on the ground. We learned from that and now tell our neighbors that we will be gone and to harvest peaches. Who in their right mind would not spend the few minutes to come over to harvest perectly ripe peaches! After a few years of harvests you can pretty much predict what will be ripe to the week and inform your very lucky neighbors.

So, you will not be able to harvest when you are gone...nor could I on the day that we were gone.

Harvests:
Day 6: 4 Apriums ($2.00)

Day 7: gone

Day 8: Handfull of cherry tomatos (priceless!!)
Handfull of Strawberries

Total (Year-to-Date): $32.00

Day 5 - Beekeeping

I was introduced to beekeeping about 7 years ago and we have only bought honey once since then...and with our honey-eating family, we go through a bunch. Beekeeping is catching on like raising chickens. I have four other friends locally that are now with a hive in their yard and unlike chickens (or other pets) bees can pretty much take care of themselves even when you are taking a vacation!!

My bees have been really busy lately and I figured that I needed to add some space. Boy was I right!! In one hive I could barely lift the top super...that means that there is a whole heck of a lot of honey in there. Typically one can expect about 2 gallons a year (8 quarts @ $20 per quart for local honey = $160) from a hive. Last year I may have taken too much, but we extracted 7 gallons. Some is given away to neighbors and as gifts that are always well received, but we do eat a lot ourselves.

So, I added a super to each of my two hives and expect to harvest sometime in July, leaving whatever they can make the remaining part of the season for surviving the winter. I will have to say though that there seems like a flower for all seasons in our town for the bees to forage.

The harvest for today:
1) One aprium ($0.50)
2) Kale ($3.00)
3) Pint of blueberries ($4.00)

Total (Year-to-Date): $30.00

Day 4 - Berries

June and early July is a time of the year when there is very little fruit ripe in the garden. The exception is the berry.

Generally, we start harvesting Raspberries on June 1st and have a bowl of Raspberries each morning for about the entire month. Last Fall we had to cut the Rasperries to ground for some workers to put in a fence and because of this we have not had any yet. How do we get Rasberries in June you might ask? Well, first of all we planted the Heritage variety which has very strong self-supportive canes. At the end of the fruiting in the Fall, I cut the canes to be about 6 ft high and only keep the strongest of the canes. These mature canes will then sprout and have fruit by June 1st. Meanwhile the new canes will sprout and give us a second crop in August and September. Even though the second crop is larger, the first crop is what we all remember since we have not eaten a Raspberry for 10 months!!

This year we have been blessed with our first real nice crop of Blueberries though and I tell you, without the Raspberry stealing the show, these berries are becoming the star!! The kids eat them evey time they go in the yard and the grown-ups hardly get a chance to partake. Well, I took it upon myself today to do my own picking and was rewarded with a cup of some of the best berries you could imagine.

The other reward this year was our Strawberry patch. Really not officially in our yard, but a shared planting in a little strip of land between us and our neighbor. Kind of an island, it stays pretty snail and slug free...and if you are growing Strawberries you know what a slug can do to a nice juicy berry.

...and for the 4th of July, we harvested:
1) Two zuchini ($1.00)
2) Two apriums ($1.00)
3) One white nectarine ($1.00)
4) One cup of bluberries ($2.00)

Total (Year-to-Date): $22.50

Day 3 - End of the Chard

Spring veggies have come to an end. It is now the time to replant some summer/fall produce to take that space.

Simple post today. I am tired and going to bed.

Harvested today:
1) Two Bunches of Chard ($6.00)

Total (Year-to-Date): $17.50

Day 2 - End of the Beets

You ever have a fresh beet from your own garden? I have to believe that it is the least appreciated veggie out there. Tomatoes are king of summer, snap peas in the spring and the winter squash in the fall. I remember growing beets for the first time in Santa Barbara and serving them to a friend for dinner. She said that she did not like beets but I somehow convinced her to partake. After that day it was one of her favorites!! Try it in your own garden.

This is perhaps the most difficult time to harvest from the garden. The summer veggies and fruit are not quite ready yet (cherry tomatoes are trying!!) and the spring greens are bolting due to the heat. Lucky for us we have some transitional plants and some early veggies.

Being gone most of the day, it was a light harvest:
1) Two zuchinni ($1.00)
2) The last of the beets ($3.00)
3) One aprium ($0.50)

Total (Year-to-Date): $11.50

Day 1 - Here we go!!

Day one of the year-long adventure. I have been meaning to post once more before today, talking about the veggie plots...since I have already described the fruit trees.

We have eight small veggie plots. Four of them are "full-sun", two of them are partial sun, and the remaining two get some sun...but are shaded by our large Live Oak tree much of the day. In the four sunny plots I have the "hot crops". Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers. The next two are mixed use (bush beans do all right), the shady two are devoted to "cooler crops" like greens and peas. I do something in the plots thoughout the year...with winter growing a years worth of garlic in one plot.

All right. What did we get our first day?
1) a bunch of Chard ($3.00) (sauteed in our own garlic)
2) basket of stawberries ($2.00)
3) small basket of blueberries ($1.00)
4) one Aprium ($0.50)
5) one white nectarine ($0.50)

I need to get my scale...I misplaced it and will try to weigh things soon. Right now it is an approximation.. Aproximately $7.00 worth of produce in one day is a pretty good deal though...and oh you shoud have tasted the strawberries!! As my friend Scott said the other day, "Can't transport these!". Real garden strawberries ripened on the plant are just too soft and juicy.

Totals (year-to-date): $7.00

Fruit Trees

I do believe that fruit trees are the essential to provide produce for yourself. I learned from my parents that one should plant fruit trees as soon as possible...for the attitude of "it will be too long before I get fruit" only delays the productive years.

Fruit trees provide a bountiful source of produce. If planned well, you can be harvesting fruit almost every month of the year (in Northern CA). If planned poorly, you will be inundated with tons of fruit all at once. I have found a great resource on the Dave Wilson Nursery website and the Fruit Harvest Chart. With a little planning, you can enjoy backyard fruit almost all year long.

Here is what we have planted in order of harvest:
Cherry - Craig's Crimson (late May)
Blueberries - Various (June)
Rasberries - Heritage (June and September)
Aprium - Cot-n-Candy (mid June)
Apricot - Harglow (late June)
Nectarine (White) - Arctic Glo (late June - early July)
Peach - Frost (mid July)
Peach - Elberta (early August)
Grape - Interlaken (ealy August)
Pear - Hosui (early August)
Pear - Bartlett (mid August)
Grape - Venus (mid August)
Grape - Fantasy (mid August - early September)
Apple - Red Delicious (late August)
Fig - Conadria (September)
Grape - Black Monnuka (September)
Grape - Ruby (late September)
Kiwi - Brown Fuzzy (October)
Apple - Sierra Beauty (October)
Avocado - Stuart (Fall)
Mandarin(2) - Tsatsuma (November - December)
Lime - Bearss (January - March)
Lemon - Meyer (January - June)
Orange - Washington Navel (January - March)
Grapefruit - Oro Blanco (January - February)
Orange - Valencia (May - June)

As you can see, there is something to harvest for much of the year. Not all of our trees are producing yet and in some years certain trees do not fruit but others fruit heavily. Often this depends on the amount of spring rain that we get.

More to come...

The Idea of this Blog

My goal from this blog is to show how a typical person can grow an organic garden that provides some kind of produce for themselves 365 days a year (366 on leap years). The official start of the "year" will be July 1st and I will give a list of what has been harvested and try to show what something like this would cost in a grocery store.

My family lives on a typical lot (1/8 of an acre) in a small town in Northern California. I have planted fruit trees since moving here and I will list them in a future post. We also have 8 small veggie garden plots and currently have two bee hives (for honey and pollination).