So how much did my garden grow?
- 3 ounces of dried herbs preserved ($10.17)
- 1 ounce of carrots ($0.19)
- 201 ounces of miscellaneous squash ($38.19)
- 72 ounces of Brandywine tomatoes ($15.84)
- 100 ounces of Hungarian tomatoes ($22.00)
- 96 ounces of Ox Heart tomatoes ($21.12)
- 232 ounces of Italian tomatoes ($51.04)
- 257 ounces of Big Daddy tomatoes ($56.54)
- 113 ounces of Black Krim tomatoes ($24.86)
- 97 ounces of Amish Paste tomatoes ($21.34)
- 81 ounces of Super Sauce tomatoes ($17.82)
- 191 ounces of butternut squash ($36.29)
- 8 ounces of apples ($1.78)
- 30 ounces of corn ($2.45)
- 55 ounces of beans ($9.35)
- 26 ounces of miscellaneous peppers ($4.94)
- 11 ounces of jalapeno peppers ($2.09)
- 76 ounces of fresh basil ($76.00)
- 1274 ounces of cucumbers ($204.71)
- 594 ounces of zucchini ($124.74)
- 26.5 ounces of blueberries ($11.93)
- 4 ounces of radishes ($0.24)
- 5 ounces of peas ($0.95)
- 6 ounces of strawberries ($1.08)
- 82 ounces of potatoes ($7.38)
- 9 ounces of leeks ($4.50)
- 11.5 ounces of greens ($6.90)
All for a grand total of 229.0625 pounds of produce, a total retail value of $774.44. Subtract $303.88 in expenditures, and I cut $470.56 off our grocery bill for the year. All on a modest suburban lot with very littel sunny growing room.
Overall, suburban gardening can be a rousing success. Not only do you save money and get a lot of exercise, but you can control exactly what varieties you grow (depending on climate) and how they are grown. Could I have purchased more tomatoes than I grew? Yes. But it I wanted organically grown Black Krim tomatoes for eating or Amish Paste tomatoes for canning, I pretty much had to grow them -- even our local farmer's market has limited all-organic offerings and no listings of tomato variety.
So stay tuned. This experiment will repeat, as I track how much my garden grows in 2014. I'm excited to share January results with you, because the year is starting with a bang!
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