July is when the garden starts to get into full stride. It was a good thing too. Our 3 months of not buying any food started out with our first harvest of green beans, zucchini and cucumbers. The timing couldn’t have been better. Then as July rolled on tomatoes rolled in. Tomatillos, carrots and celery followed suit. Strawberries and parsnips were still coming in. We got a second crop of lettuce going. We’ve slowed down on the harvesting of kale.
The pickling cucumber (Delikatesse) was apparently the star of July. The funny part was that it seemed to me like they weren’t really performing as well as the slicing (Armenian) cucumber, but they did better. It won’t be until the year’s end, though, whether we’ll know if they did better than the Double Yield variety that we grew last year.
The fruit situation was rather sad. Strawberries, which are slowing down outperformed all of our fruit trees combined. We are very lucky to have generous friends give us fruit.
Fruit Trees
Apricot – 1.76 lb
Nectarine – 4.06 lb
Shrubs, Vines & Groundcovers
Blueberries – .06 lbs
Rose hips – .6 lbs
Strawberries – 8 lbs
Vegetables
Green Beans – 10.38 lbs
Beets – 3 lbs
Carrots – 2 lbs
Celery – 3.25 lbs
Cucumbers, pickling – 19.6 lbs
Cucumbers, slicing – 15.2 lbs
Eggplant – .38 lbs
Kale – 1.6 lbs
Lettuce – .31 lbs
Onions – 2.5 lbs
Parsnips – 5.69 lbs
Peppers, sweet – .81 lbs
Potatoes – 4.6 lb
Squash, summer – 13.75 lb
Tomatillos – .6 lb
Tomatoes – 7.31 lb
Animal Products
Chicken – 9.13 lb
Duck – 20.88 lb
Milk – 5.07 gallons
Eggs – 177
Total Produce – 105.46 lbs
Expenditures
Surprisingly we’re catching up to our expenditures. We spent $256.59 on animals and feed. We spent $54.01 on nursery items. Our water bill is bimonthly so we didn’t have one this month. We didn’t buy any new tools either. We did have a broken metal rake handle but Tom, being the crafty guy he is, attached electrical conduit to it that he got for free as a handle.
So far this year we’ve spent $3,700.34 and saved $3,417.68. We’re only in the hole by $282.66. Next month we should catch up.
Good grief, Rachel. I have no idea how you can keep such good track of all that! I take a few photos and that is my record.
When do you plant your parsnips? I am just starting to experiment with them. A few I transplanted this spring grew huge and I just started more seed in the garden, hoping for a late fall crop to tide us through the Season-of-Leaves. (No, Im not a big lettuce eater!)
Birgitt
A little secret is that I've got a touch of OCD when it comes to spreadsheets! I have spreadsheets for everything!
So far I've had the best luck planting parsnips in early Spring, but I haven't tried Fall. I just planted out carrots, radishes and beets. I'll be adding turnips to the mix soon as well. Might as well throw in some more parsnips.
NOW IF ONLY THE COMMISAR IN CHIEF OBAMA COULD BALANCE THE NATIONAL BUDGET! All we have to do is defund NPR and Planned Parenthood!
seriously though that's a lot of duck.
Wow, I'm so excited for you that you're close to breaking even. It is a big debate between many of my friends on whether the urban farming thing is feasible (aside from the ethical/personal preferences issue). How much time each month do you think you spend? I think you should share your spreadsheet secrets with the rest of us organizationally-challenged folk. 😉
I did the EXACT same thing with my rake!