$25 Challenge - The Garden is Now Bare

We've harvested 4 red cabbages this week and now all that is left is a few herbs. We need to top up the beds with compost and get busy with planting. Unfortunately, a dash to our capital city for a specialist appointment with our eldest is going to put off that job. That's life.

I had a bit of an "ah ha" moment this week when I realised I was selling myself short by going on our grocery store prices for my garden produce. Organic produce sells for so much more than supermarket produce. Mind you, I have no real way of getting organic prices and it's only a guide. Still, it's nice to know that what I'm producing is really MORE valuable than the price ticket I've been putting on it.

Of course, I kind of knew that in that I want to grow our own vegetables for freshness and nutritional value more than the monetary value anyway.

Still, 4 cabbages at $3.99 per half is roughly $32 so I'm ahead of my goal this week.

Our new fruit trees have grown leaves and are looking quite healthy so that's been quite exciting. It'll be a couple of years before we're harvesting from them but it will be good when we are. It's all about progress and babysteps isn't it.

I'm also getting some fruit on the strawberry plants so that'll be nice when they're ripe. Still only in small numbers though until I can get some more plants.

Hopefully I'll have some planting news in the next week or so (depending on what happens with Lleyton's appointment).

$25 Challenge - Growing Fast

Image via Wikipedia The warmer weather has the garden booming away. Still waiting on some new infrastructure before I can plant in readiness for summer crops. Unfortunately, the rain has pretty much disappeared so water is again becoming an issue. :(

Picked this week:

300g Broccoli $2.00
Red Cabbage $6.00
Shallots $1.00
Parsley $1.00

Almost made it half way this week. The red cabbages are doing well although I really need to set some slug traps.

The parsley is absolutely booming away now. Not quite as much as River's though. ;)

$25 Challenge - Nearly Missed It!!!!

Yesterday wasn't a great day so I missed my weekly update on my $25 per week challenge.

Picked This Week:

Mignonette Lettuce x 3 @ $1.00 each = $3.00

Broccoli 120g @ $7.99kg = $1.00 (ish)

Silverbeet - small bunch = $1.00 (? was a very small bunch)

Shallots x 3 = $1.00 (see a pattern in my guestimates emerging here? LOL)

Parsley x 2 = $0.50

Total $6.50

The most exciting news of the week though was the meal where we had ONLY vegetables grown ourselves. We had silverbeet, broccoli, pumpkin and red cabbage. It was VERY exciting. I can't wait until that's more the "norm" rather than the "exception".

Hopefully DH will get the things I need to build up one of my garden beds soon. Then it'll be time to start thinking about what I'm going to plant in readiness for summer.

$25 Challenge - First Cabbage!!!

Here it is, a photo of our first cabbage - cut in half. Look at that beautiful deep colour!!!


I thought at first that it was a bit on the small side but upon looking at the cabbages for sale in the supermarket this week, I'd say it's pretty similar. At $2.99 per half, this one single cabbage is worth $6.00!!!! WOOT!!!

Broccoli was $7.99 per kg in our supermarket this week. OUCH!!! No, I didn't buy any. But I did PICK SOME from our garden. Good week for it to be so expensive!!!! ;)

It was only just over 120g (broccoli doesn't seem to be very heavy) so around $1.00 worth. There is still some in the garden to be picked though (not heaps, but some).

I also picked some parsley and a handful of peas (peas have struggled this year - don't know why). Maybe another $1.00 all up?

So total this week $8.00.

I'm pretty happy with that.

Plus of course, the fruit trees are in and while it'll be a couple of years before we'll see something from them, it's all progress toward my end goal of supplying our family with $25 per week of food from the garden.

$25 Challenge - Week No Idea

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI have no idea what week I'm up to with my challenge. Not that it really matters other than it gives me a way of differentiating between my titles.

This week has been a very slow week in terms of garden produce. Only a few herbs picked to go in the pumpkin soup I made. I'm going to look into planting some more herbs as they seem so easy to grow and they're just there then.

My 4 year old continues to choose salad for his lunch so that he can pick his own lettuce. While it's only a leaf or 2 a day, I figure it's priceless when it comes to encouraging healthy eating.

The peas are really struggling this year. I've planted HEAPS and they're just not growing well. :(

I also have an entire garden bed which is struggling. I'm thinking the corn probably sapped a lot of the goodies from the soil. We're planning to build it up another level before the summer planting and fill it with compost. We'll have to buy the compost ($70 a trailer load so pretty cheap really) but I feel it's worth it to get the garden going. We're still not successfully making our own compost yet.

Oh well, looks like there is plenty of room for improvement in the garden. It's just teeny, tiny babysteps right now (as always). And plenty of patience. Wonder if they sell that in the garden shop? ;)

$25 Challenge - Week 6

Slow week in the garden this week. Weather is too cold to be outside much. :)

The big hit this week has been the lettuce.

I went out with my 4-year old to pick some lettuce for our hamburgers on Friday night. He did a 180 on whether or not he would eat the hamburgers for tea when he found out we were having lettuce from the garden.

Then every day that he's been home this week (ie his non-preschool days) he has chosen to have a plate of salad for lunch - complete with picking his own lettuce leaves.

It is SO cute!!!!

I have ZERO idea how much a mignonette lettuce would cost so I'm going to guess at 50c (they're pretty small).

3 x mignonette lettuces = $1.50

Other than that I've only picked a few shallot leaves so 20c or so.

This week's total = $1.70

Note to self: must plant some more mignonette lettuce seeds (we do harvest them in such a way that they continue to grow more leaves but I think we need a few more in).

$25 Challenge - Week 5

Image via WikipediaPicked From the Garden This Week:

• 3.6kg Jap Pumpkin = $5.70
• 3.7kg Jap Pumpkin = $5.85
• 4.0kg Jap Pumpkin = $6.35
• 2 large shallot stems = $0.40
• celery bits from malformed celery plant = $0.40
• handful garlic chives = $0.20
• sprig parsley = $0.20

Total for this week = $19.10

I'm just guessing with the values of the herbs. I know fresh herbs are often expensive so I'm possibly underestimating. However, I also probably wouldn't buy fresh herbs (because they're expensive and also because I'm haphazard in my use of them and would waste them easily).

Planted This Week:

Nothing. Must get on and plant something methinks.

Bought In Preparation For Planting:

• Dwarf Lemon Tree (to go in a pot)
• Apricot Tree
• Pink Lady Apple Tree (need a Granny Smith Apple tree for cross-pollination purposes - our local store didn't have any)

I decided not to wait until Farmboy (DH) was ready and prepared before purchasing the trees. Instead, I was hoping that having them sit there might precipitate his action. He has promised to dig holes this Saturday in preparation for planting the trees. So I guess that worked. :)

Other Garden News:

Broccoli are starting to form heads. I was reading an article on broccoli yesterday in a health magazine and it totally confused me about the best time to grow broccoli. I think I need to do some more research.

Cabbages appear to be growing well.

Lettuces are slow but there is some ready to be picked to have in our hamburgers tonight. :)

$25 Challenge - Week 4

I think we're up to week 4 although I'm scratching my head wondering how on earth things have gone that quickly.

I'm not sure if I said this in my original post about my $25 challenge but I would really like to reach a "$25 per week average" from the garden by this time next year. I'm not sure if that is entirely feasible because it's going to take a couple of years to get fruit from the fruit trees we haven't even bought yet.

Anyway, I will continue on with the challenge regardless and see where I end up.

Picked this week:

1 x Butternut Pumpkin weighing 1kg = $1.50
Shallots 20c
Parsley 10c
Garlic Chives (used in 2 dishes) 70c
3 x Jap Pumpkin

3.5kg x $1.59 = $5.55
3.8kg x $1.59 = $6.05
9.1kg x $1.59 = $14.45

Total for this week comes to $28.55

Yah for my 9.1kg Jap Pumpkin which really boosted the costings this week. :-)

Of course, we can't eat 17.4kg of pumpkin in one week so they're going to last us a while.

$25 Challenge - Week 3

Butternut Pumpkins 2.8kg @ $1.49 per kg = $4.17
Shallots 1 stem = 20c
Parsley 2 Sprigs = 20c

Total for the week = $4.57

My best week in the Challenge to date. :-)

There are more pumpkins almost ready to harvest. I'll give them another week as the stems are still green.

The red cabbages have really grown a LOT in the past week. They're looking rather promising.

Some more peas have popped out of the ground. I can't wait to harvest fresh peas again. :-)

I'm getting so addicted to this "growing our own food stuff". I haven't planted anything for a couple of weeks so need to think about what's next in that regard.

$25 Challenge - Week 2)

I missed my "check in" this week which perhaps has something to do with the fact that I've picked very little. Or it may be something to do with how frantic my life has suddenly become. Oops. Need to work on that.

Anyway, I think my sum total for the week this week was 2 strawberries. :-) Certainly nothing earth shattering there. Not sure it's even enough to put a valuation on (although they were certainly YUMMY to nosh on!).

The recent frosts are causing my pumpkin vines to curl up their toes so I'm expecting a larger harvest in the next week (when I start chopping pumpkins from the vine). Once the pumpkins are completely finished and cleared away, I'll be able to see more clearly what room I have in the vegie bed they've overtaken.

Shouldn't be too much longer before I can start harvesting the mignonette lettuces as well. I love those because you trip the leaves and a new lot grow back. That's my kind of vegie gardening!!!

Even more determined to meet my $25 goal

Image via WikipediaI've just come back from doing the weekly grocery shop and spent almost $75 on Fruit and Veg!!!! OUCH!!! It's GREAT that my kids are eating healthily and heartily (and DH and I are trying to) but it has made me doubly determined to grow more of what we eat!!!!

DH and I have sat down and planned what fruit trees we want to start with. I'm feeling a little bit frustrated that we still don't have any planted. It takes time to build up infrastructure like rainwater tanks so that we have the resources to keep them alive. Plus we need to dig out our heavy clay soil and add gypsum to it. We did try to unsuccessfully grow an orange tree. I figure until we get ourselves sorted out, we're only throwing money in the rubbish to purchase fruit trees.

It's on the agenda for this winter though so fingers crossed we'll get there (then comes the long wait until we can eat any produce from them).

I get so impatient with these babysteps. But never mind, we'll get there.

I Have Set Myself a Goal

I now have a goal for my gardening efforts.

I would like to produce around $100 of food in the garden per month (well per 4 weeks really).

My deadline for this goal?

July 2nd 2009. Which is my 35th birthday!!! :-)

So, basically $25 of food per week (on average).

At the rate fruit & veg prices are going - that might not BE much produce by then. ;)

I'm thinking I'll need to do a couple of things in order to progress toward this goal.

1. Start keeping better records of what I'm yielding from my garden NOW and it's approximate market value at the time.

2. Plant more often than once or twice a month. I've read that if you want to eat daily from the garden, you have to plant daily. However, one plant often yields for a number of weeks. I'm going to aim to plant weekly rather than daily.

No idea how I'll go with this goal but I'm putting it out there nonetheless and we'll see how things progress from there.

My ultimate goal is to feed us as much of our fresh produce as possible from the garden. But I thought it was time to set an interim goal and see if I can achieve that first.

Our current spending on fruit & veg is around $50 per week so it's about half of our produce coming from the garden.