How Much Does a Garden Grow: March 2014

Never let it be said that I don't practice what I preach. In my quest to take responsibility for some of my food production, I've continued to plant lots and harvest a little during March.  Thank heavens for the farmer's markets and stores that help us supplement, because March is such a difficult month!  You start planting and working the ground and doing the labor of growing your food, but there is precious little immediate pay off.

However, I did harvest six ounces of greens from the sunroom, along with one key lime that was the perfect complement to a fish dinner.  I also spent $16.90 ordering a dwarf bay tree.  Although I had promised myself that I was done building the micro-orchard, I have discovered that organic bay leaves are going to drive me to the poor house if I keep making my clove-ginger ale every week.  The new tree, plus an experiment regrowing ginger rhizomes, will hopefully help keep costs at bay.  (Plant pun!  See what I did there?)

Nonetheless, March brought a couple of milestones.  We have now officially harvested over a pound of food from our garden this year, and the total value of the harvest now stands in double-digit dollars at $11.66. We're not rich yet, and we haven't yet turned an official profit, but we are getting into the "respectable" territory for our totals with the year only one-quarter done.

I would anticipate that April and May could well start bringing some substantial harvests.  I have two containers full of potatoes that are growing nicely (see them sprouting above), and the transplants for the garden are coming along well.

Cumulative Totals
Total Ounces Harvest: 17
Pounds: 1.0625

Total Value of Harvest: $11.66
Expenditures: -212.21
Total: $200.55