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The gardens here at our home are purposeful, they feed us.  We freeze, pressure-can, hot water bath can & dehydrate our home grown foods so that they last as long as possible.  Over the last few years I’ve been getting better and better at this task, and this year I think I may have most of it calculated fairly well for our small family.  It’s a bit of a challenge, and it does involve a little math, a lot of note taking, and years worth of data... in a way, I feel like a scientist!  And each year I test my hypothesis to see if I am correct.  Last year, I believe I was FINALLY onto something, and again this year I will test my theories.

This photo is of all our front garden spaces, taken early June 2010.

Garden Plants for 2011 - Status

Sprouting

Japanese Cucumbers
Spinach

Growing

Tomatoes:
   Yellow, Large Red Cherry, Big Boy
Cucumbers: Japanese
Potatoes: Sweet
Sweet Peppers: Giant Green Bell, Banana, Italian Red, California Wonder Red & Green Bell

Harvesting

Tomatoes & Peppers

Culinary Herbs - We’re harvesting all herbs with the exception of the Parsley so far this year.

Par-Cel - Grows like Parsley, tastes like Celery!
Peppermint
Greek Oregano
Common Sage
Rosemary
Lemon Balm
Flat Italian Parsley
Basil: Sweet & Mammoth - Not yet harvesting, this annual is still growing up.

Our Garden Plots & Spaces - Overview

The Front Garden - 8X20 - Raised Rows - Full Sun
Square Garden - 5 X 12 Raised Bed- Full Sun
A-Frame - Pots & Bags - Full/Part Sun
Back Garden - 10X20 Raised Rows - Full/Part Sun
Herb Garden 2X14 - Raised Bed - Full/Part Sun
Grape Arbors & Grapes planted in 55 gallon drums

Historical Data for Reference

These numbers do reflect the amounts saved or earned after expenditures.  Please also note that canning jars are VERY expensive when your getting started and severely cut into your startup costs those first few years.  Be on the lookout for donations & discount jars wherever possible! 

Grocery store & farmer’s market prices are applied to both raw & finished products when assigning their values for this purpose.  If I pressure can a dozen jars of pickles, I use the price of 12 jars of store bought pickles, not cucumbers in my calculations and call that savings/earnings!

2010 Garden Earnings: Approximately $650.00
2009 Garden Earnings: Approximately $75.00

More updates to come....