Image by Getty Images via DaylifeGrowing fruit & vegetables is a longer term commitment than 1 week so I wasn't expecting a huge amount of success this week. However, it makes sense to me to bore you with keep you up to date with my progress toward my goal of growing $25 per week (on average is fine) of fruit & vegetables.
Harvested and Used
parsley (x2) 20c
garlic chives 10c
strawberries 50c
shallots 20c
celery stalks and leaves 10c
chook food 50c (we get the benefit of eggs higher in iron so I figure this counts)
Total Value : $1.60
Planted
In total disregard for moon planting this week, I went on a bit of a "planting binge" and shoved a heap of seeds in the ground with the hope that they'll germinate.
silverbeet
carrots
parsnip
peas
Planned
I sat down with DH this week and we made some rough plans for what fruit trees we'd like to plant this year.
They are:
Apple (x2)
Pear
Apricot
Dwarf Lemon (in pot)
Dwarf Mandarine (in pot)
I'm hoping having made this decision will bring us one step closer to actually purchasing and planting them.
Spent
Approximately $75 on Fruit & Vegetables this week. Some of this will last longer than a week though (eg bought twice as many apples rather than buy the same apples next week for twice the price).
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9 comments:
Fruit trees take a few years to begin producing so don't be too disappointed at the first couple of years harvest or lack thereof. I planted mine (in pots) about 4 years ago knowing it would be some time before I could enjoy the extravaganza. In that time I've had one summer with plentiful plums, last summer with a full kilo of delicious crunchy juicy cherries, smaller amounts of peaches, one lonely nectarine, and NO apples. I planted with thoughts of my later years, when I might be living on the pension and unable to afford to buy fruit,I can just go outside and pick it fresh off the tree. I've since found out that plums have a good season followed by a not so good season, so next summer should be great. I have an apricot tree, but it's self-sown from a pit I chucked under a bush, so it may not set fruit for quite some time if at all. I'll give it another year or two before I consider buying another one. Good luck with your trees. (I know you'll buy some when you consider how much fruit might cost per kilo on years to come)
What is moon gardening? I've seen the charts in a gardening mag, but don't really understand how it works and why.
River - I've heard that to get strong trees you actually have to strip the first few years fruit from the tree so that the tree puts more energy into growing itself rather than the fruit. :( Sounds heartbreaking. Any idea if that's true?
Journeyer - the idea behind moon gardening is that it's best to plant certain seeds in certain phases of the moon. I don't know much about it and usually follow Cosmic Gardeners moon plan. I think there's a link to her blog in my sidebar.
I've heard that too, but never tried it. Probably it's more of a thing that commercial market gerdeners might do to get relly strong trees capable of enormous production. Since my trees only feed me I don't worry too much about the amount of fruit.
Moon gardening is supposed to work best when crops that grow above ground are planted with a waxing moon and plants that grow below ground get planted with the waning moon. There are also times when it's best not to plant, in the dark of the moon for instance.
I don't pay too much attention to the moon, I do my planting in the daytime, hahaha.
Thanks River - I was hoping it was something like that. We're the same. We'd like trees with just a regular amount of production. Although there are 5 of us, I still don't really want to be spending hours dealing with fruit.
Thanks for that overview of moon gardening as well. And LOL at the daytime planting. You're not a garden in the nude by moonlight type then???? LOL
Nude gardening. There's a way to frighten the neighbours......
your garden looks lovely! We planted fruit trees in our garden 20 years ago and every year we get an abundance of fruit and lots of beautiful birdlife, it really is lovely to grow your own fruit and just pluck it off the tree to eat. it does take a few years to get them established but it's worth the effort.
There's a company called The Fruit Salad Tree company, based in NSW.
You can buy trees with 2, 4, 6 or more grafts on them so you end up with umpteen different varieties on the one tree.
They start producing fruit 12 months after you buy it, they have dwarf varieties that can be grown in the pot and you're always going to have fruit!
Elanor - thanks for your comment and your encouragement. I can't wait until we can pick our own fruit. :)
Jayne - Yeah I've heard of them but don't know anyone that has actually tried their trees.
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