Days 473 - 507 Citrus Returns to the Table

Breaking 500 days is quite the feat. I was talking with someone the other day and he was saying that he visits his garden every day to do a little of this or that. In a way, this blog is making me visit the garden too. I have too!! Now that the daylight hours are waning, I have to make a real effort to get out before work, otherwise I may find myself in the dark after work.

As the title states, we are finally getting some citrus. Where last year I remember harvesting mandarins on November 1st, it was not until November 17th this year before we decided that it was time. Even now though, the fruit is a little green on the skin...but inside they are bright orange and do they ever brighten the day!!

As I was filling in the days below, I pretty much harvested some quantity of apples each day. Looking at the totals, we have picked over 450 apples this year and I can still see reaching 500. Nice though is that we picked over a 2 month time period. We started harvesting September 17th and we are pretty much winding down now. My daughter asked the other day why we did not have a lot of apples like the farmer who brought apples to their school. I told her that we actually have picked almost 500 apples and now that she understands what the number 500 is, she was pretty excited. She just never sees more than 10 at a time!!

As for the rest of the garden. We still have Kale, I planted garlic a couple of weeks ago and it is sprouting up right now, planted Arugula at the same time and we have a nice bed out there that is about 1/2 inch tall. I planted a cover crop on the other beds to add nutrients and to keep the weeds down as much as possible. I do need to get out to the strawberries though...tons of weeds invading!!

A five-week summary if you do not want to read the details:
Kale: 4 bunches ($8.00)
Lemons: 2 ($1.00)
Limes: 5 ($1.25)
Mandarins: 22 ($5.50)
Figs: 29 ($7.25)
Apples: 232 ($147.50)

Year 2, Day 108
1) 6 apples
2) 2 bunches kale

Year 2, Day 109
1) 7 apples

Year 2, Day 110
1) 5 apples
2) 4 figs

Year 2, Day 111
1) 7 apples
2) 4 figs

Year 2, Day 112
1) 8 apples

Year 2, Day 113
1) 9 apples

Year 2, Day 114
1) 1 apple
2) 1 lemon

Year 2, Day 115
1) 9 apples

Year 2, Day 116
1) 5 figs

Year 2, Day 117
1) 13 apples

Year 2, Day 118
1) 8 apples

Year 2, Day 119
1) 4 apples
2) 6 figs

Year 2, Day 120
1) 14 apples

Year 2, Day 121
1) 1 apple
2) 1 lime

Year 2, Day 122
1) 19 apples
2) 1 lime

Year 2, Day 123
1) 7 apples

Year 2, Day 124
1) 10 figs

Year 2, Day 125
1) 10 apples

Year 2, Day 126
1) 1 apple

Year 2, Day 127
1) 10 apples
2) 1 lime

Year 2, Day 128
1) 6 apples
2) 1 mandarin (tester)

Year 2, Day 129
1) 11 apples

Year 2, Day 130
1) 2 bunches kale

Year 2, Day 131
1) 12 apples

Year 2, Day 132
1) 4 apples

Year 2, Day 133
1) 15 apples

Year 2, Day 134
Gone

Year 2, Day 135
Gone

Year 2, Day 136
1) 10 apples

Year 2, Day 137
1) 6 apples
2) 1 mandarin

Year 2, Day 138
1) 1 apple
2) 1 mandarin

Year 2, Day 139
1) 11 apples
2) 1 lemon

Year 2, Day 140
1) 2 apples
2) 3 mandarins

Year 2, Day 141
1) 6 apples
2) 10 mandarins

Year 2, Day 142
1) 9 apples
2) 6 mandarins
3) 2 limes

Five-Week harvest: $170.50

Total Produce Harvested : $2589.50
Total Honey Harvested: $360.00
Expenses: $310.00