The Garden is Dead! Long live the Garden!

Well, the garden is finally dead. You might be think, “Oh, that sounds awful”, but all Sara and I can say is THANK GOD! Despite our garden being a mere 8 x 20 ft. (160 square feet or smaller than many peoples bathroom) it ate up most of our summer weekends. The growing season this year was well over 180 days and between planting and watering and weeding and harvesting we may have spent 4 to 8 hours each weekend in the garden. It is cathartic, but it is still work. Then, of course, you have to do something with what you grow. Over the summer we washed and chopped and froze and canned pile after pile of produce. This added hours upon hours to the gardening process, though we do have lots to show for it:



Stuff we picked from our garden:

Beet Greens ............. 4 lb, 9 oz
Beets .................... 14 lb, 14 oz
Cucumbers .............. 72 lb, 13 oz
Green Tomatoes ....... 53 lb
Kale ....................... 3 lb
Lima Beans .............. 1 lb, 3 oz
Onions .................... 7 lb, 1 oz
Parsnips .................. 5 lb, 8 oz
Peppers .................. 20 lb, 4 oz
Radishes .................. 2 lb
Round Carrots............. 2 lb, 12 oz
Scallions ................... 3 lb
Shelling Peas............... 2 lb, 9 oz
Snap Peas ................. 6 lb, 8 oz
Tomatoes .............. 204 lb, 3 oz
Zucchini ................. 33 lb, 5 oz

Garden Total: ........ 435 lb, 1 oz

Stuff we canned over the summer:

Bread & Butter Pickles ........... 22 Quarts
Canned Tomatoes ................ 14 Quarts
Canned Tomatoes w/ Peppers .. 16 Quarts
Chili Base ........................... 3 Quarts
Dill Pickles .......................... 8 Quarts
Jardinière ......................... 11 Quarts
Mustard Pickles .................... 3 Quarts
Pasta Sauce ....................... 18 Quarts
Pesto ................................ 2 Quarts
Pickled Carrots ..................... 3 Quarts
Salsa ............................... 27 Quarts
Sweet Pickles ....................... 9 Quarts
Zucchini Relish ..................... 3 Quarts

Canning Total .................. 139 Quarts


Any sane person would, at this point, wonder what one does with all of this stuff. Well, how much stuff do you buy at the grocery store and at restaurants? Really, just save your receipts for a month and look at the amount of money you spend and pounds of food you bring home. It adds up very quickly. Also, these things (at least the canned ones) make great Christmas presents. We also gave away some stuff over the summer (no better way to keep your landlord happy). One can only eat so many cucumbers, zucchinis, and tomatoes. There’s also the compost pile to consider. It got its fair share of stuff over the summer (not to mention the cursed fruit flies), but that goes right back into the earth.

Any sane person would also wonder how much money we spent/saved by having the garden? No clue. I could go back and add up what we spent on dirt, compost, tools, seeds, plants, water, etc…, but then how much do I charge for our hours in the garden? Also, how do I price out our produce and canned goods? Should I compare it to the cheapest thing I could buy to replace it or try to find the price for local organic heirloom produce and canned goods? You can make an argument for both. In the end, I don’t really care about the monetary costs and benefits. Every afternoon this summer I got to come home from work, often after a very long day in the field, and just pick something to eat that we grew. A warm ripe fresh tomato, a carrot still smelling of the earth it grew in, snap peas so fresh they’re still growing as you eat them, and all with no concern of chemicals or corporate-controlled farmers or what country my food grew in.

The garden, excepting a few kale and parsnips that like the cold, is now in bed for the winter. Next year we’ll probably make it a little larger and diversify and spread out the crops (we literally couldn’t walk in it this summer). Fewer tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are on the menu, with more carrots, beets and hopefully some potatoes and green beans to even it out.