This year my goal is to grow 2,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. I think I can do it. With 16 raised garden beds, a greenhouse, a raspberry patch and a few more planting beds sprinkled throughout our property, I believe growing 2,000 pounds of food is an attainable goal. Even if I do live right in the middle of high maintenance suburbia, and my neighbors think I’m nuts. ~Mavis
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Yesterday I got a call from my neighbor Girly Girl. She needed a red onion for some sort of dinner salad she was making and wanted to know if I had any. I said “Sure, they’re kind of small right now, but if you want you can come on over and harvest whatever you need. Just make sure you close the gate behind you when you leave.”
“Wait, you’re not home? Are your vegetables labeled so I’ll know what to look for?”
“What? You mean to tell me you don’t know what an onion looks like?”
I sat there in utter silence waiting for her response.
“Oh I’ll guess I can just try and figure it out. I’ll Google it real quick and see what a wild onion looks like.”
“Are you on crack? It’s not a wild onion… It’s an onion. Like the ones you BUY IN THE STORE.”
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This past week we were able to harvest 15 lbs 10 oz of fruits and veggies from the garden. Peas, strawberries, broccoli, beets, onions, herbs, lettuce and a little more chard was plucked from the garden boxes {and gutters}. Right now I’m at about the 4% mark in my efforts to try and grow 2,000 pounds of vegetables.
I wonder where I’ll be at by this time next month.
Here is what I have harvested so far:
Basil 1 lb 6 oz
Beets 1lb 40z
Broccoli 2lb 12 oz
Broccoli Rabb 1lb 6 oz
Cabbage 3lb 2 oz
Chives 13 oz
Kale 1 lb 4 oz
Lettuce 14 lb 0 oz
Butter Crunch 12 oz
Mixed Greens 4 lb 2 oz
Romaine 10 lb 11 oz
Mint 2 oz
Onions 1 lb 15 oz
Green Onions 13 oz
Scallions 6 oz
Oregano 3 oz
Mushrooms 9.25 oz
Shiitake 9.25 oz
Go HERE to read more about how I grew mushrooms.
Peas 5lb 7 oz
Sugar Snap Peas 5lb 7 oz
Radish 11 lbs
Easter Egg Radish 2 lb 3 oz
Crimson Radish 1 lb 5 oz
French Breakfast 7 lb 8 oz
Spinach 2lb 5 oz
Sprouts 10 oz
Strawberries 4lb 9 oz
Sprouts 10 oz
Mung Bean Sprouts 7 oz
Sandwich Sprouts 3 oz
Swiss Chard 24 lb 11 oz
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So that’s what I’ve grown so far this year… How about YOU?
What’s going on at your place? Do YOUR neighbors know what a growing onion looks like?
Total Food Harvested in 2012: 82 lbs 13.25 oz
I have spent a total of $$473.47 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.
Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden $14.99 ~ Amazon
Lindsey says
New to your blog, but by golly I love it.
Proud to say I can indeed identify a red onion. I grow them too. But my neighbors are much the same. Some of them can’t tell a tomato from a potato, it seems. Sigh. That’s why we do what we do! 🙂
Sarah says
You’re doing so awesome!
I’ve harvested about 22lbs so far this year, but I have a much smaller farming space. I have a plan for next year to add many more spaces to plant though, and I plan on starting the projects this fall. You inspire me so much; thank you so much!
I will have a bunch of radishes soon…like this weekend…and I don’t have any Fraggles (Fraggle Rock was the best show ever) stealing them. What’s your favorite thing to do with 2-4lbs of radishes?
Limerick says
I lol’d at your neighbor. 🙂
Kelly says
And I was excited to pick 3 snow peas, 2 radishes, and a little bowl of spring greens this morning! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your ideas and knowledge! On that note – I planted a row of bush beans, and am wondering how much room i HAVE to leave between them when I thin them. I initially planted them a couple inches apart, and I hate the thought of pulling any out, but I know I have to… 🙁 Please let me know. Thanks!
Jenn says
I thought they had to be pretty far apart until I read one of Mavis’s posts. She plants them about 2 inches apart if I remember right… let me find it.
I planted more bush beans and planted them 2 inches apart 🙂
Jenn says
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/recycled-pallet-garden_opt1.jpg
Look in the upper right corner and you can see how close she planted them 🙂
Robbie says
Mavis, your photos are lovely.
Mavis says
Thank you! 🙂
Mandria says
I love your blog and your sense of humor! It is great to read each day. I once worked at a Farmer’s Market and was flabbergasted by some people comments. One person asked me “what are those orange things”? I kept looking around the tent to figure out what she was referring to and then, I saw them on the table…In udder disbelief I stated..”You mean the carrots?!” She replied, “Oh, I thought those came in bags. I have never seen them like that..” Really?! I strongly believe that people need to have access to fresh -unprocessed produce so that they can learn that carrot, lettuce, etc do not come prepared in a bag.
Lissa says
You are SO inspiring Mavis! We had a vegetable garden for 4-H when I was a kid but it was super simple and we took lousy care of it. I remember lots of carrots and beets and beans. I have never in my adult life tried a garden. Each year I buy some sort of strawberry seed/plant and promptly kill it. But this year I am giving a little bit of a balcony garden a go! It’s a solid-wall balcony that is screened in so I’m doing a few hanging pots and some cheap flowerbox-type containers lashed to the screening. It is very shady all through the day so hopefully things will get enough sun. So far I have 2 strawberry plants, one snap pea plant, a 4-pack of broccoli, and 2 tomato plants. I have harvested about 5 strawberries and my first 3 peas! Yayyyy!
Sara says
Holy bananas Batman! 24 pounds of Swiss Chard! LOL. That is a LOT of Swiss Chard. I’m drowning in peas right now, and the potatoes are growing like weeds! I’m betting next month we’ll be drowning in zucchini if the weather cooperates! Your garden rocks Mavis!
The bantam duck research project has really been a success. I haven’t found ONE slug around my garden yet! And we had 4 baby ducks hatch in the past 2 days!
Jen says
Those wild onions are hard to catch! Should have told her to bring her shot gun and hunting dog 😉