Like we said before the summer harvest really never peak like normal years.
Normally we harvest nearly 1,000 lbs of tomatoes and this year we’ll be lucky to get half that. Another crop that will be a bummer is the oranges. Just a few on the tree this year when, before the freeze of 07, we’d harvest about 500 lbs from our two semi dwarf trees.
Another crop that’s been somewhat of a dud is cucumbers. We have beautiful plants loaded with flowers and bees with little yellow booties flitting from flower to flower but hardly any fruit before mildew, aphids and spider mites took hold.
Something is definitely amiss – it’s like the calendar is off or something.
All the harvest woes aside, we have Freedom Gardens winners!
First Place: GEOGAL17 guess of “817 pounds give or take a tomato”
Second Place: DANANDMARSH guess of “819 pounds”
Sheesh you guys are good!
Third Place: LUVNSHOOLIN guess of 829 pounds
Our favorite contest entry was from Jan at 2200 lbs (which would have been on par had we had a better year)
The actual weigh in for the month of July is 816 lbs so many of the guesstimates were close!
We’ll be having another contest again in September to guess August harvest.
The point of this contest was to have fun and get others involved in keeping track of their progress.
Back in 2001 when Farmer D said that we start weighing what came from the garden we were blown away by the first year’s figures of 1 ton. Sheesh, what does a ton of food even look like – and we weren’t even trying. Of course, we all were shocked — could such a small plot produce tons of food. To make sure this wasn’t some sort of fluke, the next year’s harvested weighed in at a little over 3,000 lbs. A light certainly went off – the impossible was possible!
When it comes down to it – it’s all about keeping records and the numbers. People like facts and figures – it keeps growing a garden real.
What’s your harvest tally per your garden square foot? Care to weigh in?
Comments(28)
JoyfulHomemaker says:
September 1, 2008 at 1:56 pmwhat do you thonk the reson for not get much fruit is??? cause funny enough here I am a world away and the same thing happen to me this last summer
JoyfulHomemaker says:
September 1, 2008 at 1:56 pmwhat do you thonk the reson for not get much fruit is??? cause funny enough here I am a world away and the same thing happen to me this last summer
Patrice Farmer says:
September 1, 2008 at 2:31 pmThe weather is off. Its August here and the entire month of August here in Michigan has been like late september/early October. I think with the climate change its changing everything we depended on, which was the weather to be what it has always been and now we’re all at a lost.
Patrice Farmer says:
September 1, 2008 at 2:31 pmThe weather is off. Its August here and the entire month of August here in Michigan has been like late september/early October. I think with the climate change its changing everything we depended on, which was the weather to be what it has always been and now we’re all at a lost.
farmerb says:
September 1, 2008 at 5:39 pmhow did you determine the winners
I see others closer in their guess than some of the winners
farmerb says:
September 1, 2008 at 5:39 pmhow did you determine the winners
I see others closer in their guess than some of the winners
KK says:
September 1, 2008 at 9:08 pmYes, the weather here in N. CA. has been off too. It’s been Fall like conditions for the last few weeks, except for a brief hot spell a couple of days ago. But then it immediatley changed to very cool mornings and hot afternoons for “Indian Summer”” like conditions…but that seems to be much earlier this year. We normally get this weather in late Sept-mid Oct. so I guess we just need to adjust, take what comes and use intuition to keep our gardens going. We need to have some “crop insurance” against wacky weather…some plants are thriving while others are struggling, so planting as much diversity as poosible is a good strategy, so at the end of the day, you’re still harvesting an abundance of good organic local food. It’s never easy, and only getting more challenging as the weather, finances and corporate juggernauts tries to strangle Life as we attempt to live it…………….
KK says:
September 1, 2008 at 9:08 pmYes, the weather here in N. CA. has been off too. It’s been Fall like conditions for the last few weeks, except for a brief hot spell a couple of days ago. But then it immediatley changed to very cool mornings and hot afternoons for “Indian Summer”” like conditions…but that seems to be much earlier this year. We normally get this weather in late Sept-mid Oct. so I guess we just need to adjust, take what comes and use intuition to keep our gardens going. We need to have some “crop insurance” against wacky weather…some plants are thriving while others are struggling, so planting as much diversity as poosible is a good strategy, so at the end of the day, you’re still harvesting an abundance of good organic local food. It’s never easy, and only getting more challenging as the weather, finances and corporate juggernauts tries to strangle Life as we attempt to live it…………….
P~ says:
September 1, 2008 at 10:39 pmDitto… the weather’s gone wacky in UT as well. Saturday was one of the hottest days here in some time at near or over 100 deg. Then Sunday cooled off, and rained for two days, now their warning of an early freeze in much of the higher elevations??
As for the weighing in, I took your cue for this year and I’ve been keeping track of my poundage in “The big weigh-in” on my blog. Today we cracked 200 lbs. 208 I think it was. You’re absolutely right about people loving the numbers. I’ve really gotten a lot of peoples attention by being able to site actually harvest totals. If your not keeping track this year, I suggest it for next.
P~
P~ says:
September 1, 2008 at 10:39 pmDitto… the weather’s gone wacky in UT as well. Saturday was one of the hottest days here in some time at near or over 100 deg. Then Sunday cooled off, and rained for two days, now their warning of an early freeze in much of the higher elevations??
As for the weighing in, I took your cue for this year and I’ve been keeping track of my poundage in “The big weigh-in” on my blog. Today we cracked 200 lbs. 208 I think it was. You’re absolutely right about people loving the numbers. I’ve really gotten a lot of peoples attention by being able to site actually harvest totals. If your not keeping track this year, I suggest it for next.
P~
Iris says:
September 2, 2008 at 4:27 amHello,
I’m small time, still learning about gardening. Our small garden in the back yard didn’t do well at all. But, I had my children do some container garening as a summer project and what they planted did pretty good. My son (11) planted bell peppers and banana peppers in one container. We have 2 kinds of spring mix in 2 containers, it’s doing good. My little girls (7&9) planted roma and cherry tomatos. Eveything in the kids containers has grown good. Unfortunately the squirles loved my 9 year olds roma tomatos, so we didn’t get any of those. But the kids are learning with me and they get excited to eat the fruit of their labor. Take care, Iris
Iris says:
September 2, 2008 at 4:27 amHello,
I’m small time, still learning about gardening. Our small garden in the back yard didn’t do well at all. But, I had my children do some container garening as a summer project and what they planted did pretty good. My son (11) planted bell peppers and banana peppers in one container. We have 2 kinds of spring mix in 2 containers, it’s doing good. My little girls (7&9) planted roma and cherry tomatos. Eveything in the kids containers has grown good. Unfortunately the squirles loved my 9 year olds roma tomatos, so we didn’t get any of those. But the kids are learning with me and they get excited to eat the fruit of their labor. Take care, Iris
Kory says:
September 2, 2008 at 6:11 amjust about .5 per square foot now, I blame the low numbers on half of my area still being a brand new clay bed…and my own inexperience.
Kory says:
September 2, 2008 at 6:11 amjust about .5 per square foot now, I blame the low numbers on half of my area still being a brand new clay bed…and my own inexperience.
Lehrman's says:
September 2, 2008 at 7:23 amWe are averaging about 1 lb./sq. ft. of raised beds. We aren’t doing as well as that with the open plantings though. Our average is probably closer to 0.6/sq.ft. overall.
Lehrman's says:
September 2, 2008 at 7:23 amWe are averaging about 1 lb./sq. ft. of raised beds. We aren’t doing as well as that with the open plantings though. Our average is probably closer to 0.6/sq.ft. overall.
Luvnschooln says:
September 2, 2008 at 9:17 amWOO HOO!! I’m so excited.
Thanks.
Luvnschooln says:
September 2, 2008 at 9:17 amWOO HOO!! I’m so excited.
Thanks.
Theresa Juedes says:
September 2, 2008 at 12:58 pmThe wacky weather here in MI has greatly impacted my harvest this year. The weather has been unseasonably cold one day and the next record highs. My tomatoes are at best going to be half the poundage per plant as last year. In 2007, I averaged 1.5 lbs per SFT and this year so far it may be 0.5. It has challenged me to plant things I normally haven’t in the past to be more diversified. Growing things like beens, kholrabi, beets, garlic, and greens. Hopefully by the end of the growing season I can get my production to be closer to 1lb per SFT. Good luck to everyone this fall.
Theresa Juedes says:
September 2, 2008 at 12:58 pmThe wacky weather here in MI has greatly impacted my harvest this year. The weather has been unseasonably cold one day and the next record highs. My tomatoes are at best going to be half the poundage per plant as last year. In 2007, I averaged 1.5 lbs per SFT and this year so far it may be 0.5. It has challenged me to plant things I normally haven’t in the past to be more diversified. Growing things like beens, kholrabi, beets, garlic, and greens. Hopefully by the end of the growing season I can get my production to be closer to 1lb per SFT. Good luck to everyone this fall.
tenacity says:
September 2, 2008 at 3:08 pmHere in Phoenix we’re getting waaay more rain tha usual – which is nice, but still kind of odd. Lots of blown over trees and light poles in a city that doesn’t see that kind of storm very often.
tenacity says:
September 2, 2008 at 3:08 pmHere in Phoenix we’re getting waaay more rain tha usual – which is nice, but still kind of odd. Lots of blown over trees and light poles in a city that doesn’t see that kind of storm very often.
Sinfonian says:
September 2, 2008 at 9:31 pmHehe, and I guessed 635. I’ve never liked guessing weights. Normally you get hit even if you’re right, hehe. So I try not to guess.
Glad I was so far off! Wish it was an order of magnitude off!
Sinfonian says:
September 2, 2008 at 9:31 pmHehe, and I guessed 635. I’ve never liked guessing weights. Normally you get hit even if you’re right, hehe. So I try not to guess.
Glad I was so far off! Wish it was an order of magnitude off!
Jennie says:
September 3, 2008 at 7:04 amI garden 900sq feet in Iowa. July was my best month yet with 29 lbs of produce, August came in under that with only 16 lbs of produce. Sadly, none of the tomatoes are really going gang busters due to all the flooding and unseasonably cool weather.
Y’all continue to be a source of inspiration on my personal journey. (And envy, I can’t do oranges in Iowa) 😀
Jennie says:
September 3, 2008 at 7:04 amI garden 900sq feet in Iowa. July was my best month yet with 29 lbs of produce, August came in under that with only 16 lbs of produce. Sadly, none of the tomatoes are really going gang busters due to all the flooding and unseasonably cool weather.
Y’all continue to be a source of inspiration on my personal journey. (And envy, I can’t do oranges in Iowa) 😀
ryan says:
September 5, 2008 at 3:50 amTHIS is awesome. I thought I was the only one trying to grow my own food in the city. I live in south austin. the weather here has been TOO HOT for my tomatoes but swiss chard loved the as long as it had water. I don’t buy into the global warming cause by MAN bit. I think it is a scam. But i will grow my own fud neway.
ryan says:
September 5, 2008 at 3:50 amTHIS is awesome. I thought I was the only one trying to grow my own food in the city. I live in south austin. the weather here has been TOO HOT for my tomatoes but swiss chard loved the as long as it had water. I don’t buy into the global warming cause by MAN bit. I think it is a scam. But i will grow my own fud neway.