Another week, another dollar…saved. Our zucchini has blown us away. Really, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m more than familiar with their exponentially producing effect. But see, last year we didn’t get a single zucchini. We had a salt issue and we were lucky to keep any of our squash alive. The zucchini wasn’t so lucky. To be honest we’re not even growing zucchini technically. We’re growing Cocozella di Napoli, an Italian heirloom summer squash. But for the sake of saving space, we’ll just call it zucchini.
And the biggest excitement?! We beat the squirrels to the apricots! The tree is still small so the harvest was very modest. Nonetheless, we got all the apricots! Unfortunately we weren’t so lucky with the cherries. Not only did the squirrels eat all of our cherries, but they broke a bunch of the branches on the young trees.
I hate squirrels.
Onions = 1 lb @ $1.99/lb = $1.99 Savings
Potatoes = 3.81 lb @ $2.50/lb = $9.53 Savings
Zucchini = 13.08 lb @ $3.18/lb = $41.59 Savings
Apricots = 1.13 .b @ $3.82/lb = $4.32 Savings
Eggs = 3.5dz @ $7.50/dz = $26.25 Savings
So for the season so far we’ve harvested:
Swiss Chard: 4.6 lbs
Artichokes: 34.7 lbs
Lettuce: 11 lbs
Eggs: 997 or 83.08 dozen
Strawberries: 2.2 lbs
Peas: 34.3 lbs
Parsnips: 1.55 lbs
Potatoes = 5.61 lbs
Onions = 3.18 lbs
Zucchini = 18.14 lb
Garlic = 2 heads
Blueberries = .06 lb
Apricots = 1.13 lb
I cover my fruit trees with netting if the birds & squirrels get too bad. It seems to discourage them enough. Interestingly, I had a bumper crop of plums (still harvesting) even without netting, but they're really getting at the peaches so I put up the net today. The trick is to completely wrap the tree. No netting touching the ground or you'll catch lizards, no holes in the wrap or you'll catch birds or squirrels, and they have trouble getting back out.
Impressive harvest!
Congratulations on your apricots! Your summer squash too. We occasionally had trouble with zucchini in the central valley, as our soil was more akin to cement, and ridiculously alkaline. Glad you've managed to resolve your salt issue though. Now it's time to come up with a zillion squash recipes for summer!
TM, we used to use netting on our strawberries but we were finding too many small birds caught in it even though there weren't any holes. They were getting caught in the actual netting cells and then when they'd struggle they'd just knot themselves up in it.
Wish I could get grow an apricot tree in our neighborhood. Apricot jam is my favorite.
Oh, for an apricot tree! And the cold snapped our cherries…I feel your pain!
I share your hatred of squirrels. Chipmunks too. They love to eat my tomatoes when they are just starting to ripen. I've learned to net them so I get to eat them and not the rodents.
Daphne, just wait until Saturday's blog. I discuss my hatred of squirrels more thoroughly.