How Much Does a Garden Grow: April 2012

"The waiting is the hardest part...."

April is such a difficult month as a gardener, at least for this one.  On the one hand, it is glorious to be back outside with the dirt between my toes and a hoe in my hands, getting the soil worked, the seedlings started, and the early crops planted.  On the other hand, it feels like all of that hard work should be celebrated with a meal of fresh vegetables, but that is still some weeks away.

This month, I had zero in the way of perishable garden expenditures, like plants and seeds.  I anticipate a little more spending in May as I replace a few plants that I either killed over the winter (darn rosemary!) or that don't seem to be starting well from seed (darn Genovese basil!).  I also will probably be tempted by a variety or two of plant that I hadn't considered growing before; they always seem to find their way into my cart.  However, I do note that keeping a record of my spending this way has already eliminated my temptation to buy a random plant at the grocery just because it would put me in a better mood to do so.  This is all (or mostly, or somewhat...) about the profit!

I also only harvested 3oz. of produce, in the form of my usual Swiss chard and green onions.  Grand total of my retail value of the April harvest was $1.08.

However, I suspect we are very close to getting some real harvest started, as the frisee lettuce is nearly big enough to start snipping, and I have some over-wintered carrots that I suspect will soon be big enough to start pulling.  (Let's call that "thinning" instead of "harvesting out of impatience."  It sounds better.)

I will also note that I was wildly excited to see my total harvest for the year has finally grown over half a pound.  Pretty soon, that will be more like a daily harvest total, and then pretty soon it will be a few pounds a day.  I look forward to those late July/early August days when I can pick the garden both morning and afternoon.

2012 Tally to Date
0.5625 lbs. total harvested
$1.08 value of harvest for April
$160.25 expenditures for 2012
-$156.59 loss to date