Nina's Soap

I spent $152 including $ 50 in community garden plots rent,$99 in seeds and roots, and $3 on compost bag to start tomato seeds.

I planted snap peas which didn’t do well. I decided not to do it again in 2019 unless I have seeds left from 2018.

I planted about 1 lb of green beans (Kentucky wonder) from my own seeds harvested in 2017.

They did very well.

I harvested many gallons of green beans.

I harvested green beans throughout the summer and let the rest dry for seeds. The beans that didn’t dry enough but passed the stage to be green beans were shelled and frozen. I froze a lot of green beans which we ate throughout the winter.

I started tomato from my own seeds. When I transplanted in the garden, they didn’t do well. Only one tomato plant that showed up in my front yard herb garden below my kitchen widow grew well despite deer damage to it. It produced a lot of tomatoes. Among all the tomato plants that I planted in the garden only one produced tomatoes but not as many as the wild tomato plant in my front yard.

Zucchini: They produced ok. I let one zucchini on one plant for an extended period of time so that I can collect the seed.

That zucchini last through the winter and is still in my basement as now end of March. However, it started to turn red around early March.

I harvested few acorn, spaghetti squashes. They last through winter and are still in my basement as in March 2019

Baked on 3-23-2019

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Greens: I planted some greens including kale, but they didn’t grow well in general. I decided to eat wild edible greens in the garden and my perennials. Wild arugula grew well and was used in salad and pesto. Sorrel grew welle and I froze some bags for winter use. I harvested green beans leaves, squash leaves which I used in cooking. I froze bags of green beans leaves. I froze mild mustard as well for cooking. I found out creeping charlie is edible and used few leaves in my salad. Summer 2018, I only used wild greens in my salad as well as my perennials. I didn’t use lettuce in order to to allow my kids to get used it. From that experience, I know I could make a salad bowl without lettuce in it. I didn’t purchase lettuce at all in 2018. I don’t plan to grow lettuce in 2019. I will make salad from geens in my garden.

Annuals didn’t do well in my garden in 2018 and I don’t want to focus on them in 2019.

Fruit trees: some of my fruit trees started to produce.

Blackberries didn’t perform well. On the other hand, raspberry produced a lot of berries.

Honey berry and goumi trees produced a lot.

I did purchase onion in 2018. I only used onion greens from my garden including japanese  bunching onion, Egyptian onion, and chives.

In 2019, I spent about $70 for the garden including $50 for the community garden plots and less than $20 for garden seeds. I purchased Greek oregano, wild arugula, arugula (it is annual that usually self sows), feverfew (medicinal herb), lovage (perennial alternative of celery).

I don’t intend to start seeds indoor for tomato or pepper. I could purchase pepper when on sale in summer and stock up on it. My peppers didn’t produce in 2018.

I don’t intend to grow shell peas either. Although it grew well in 2017, after shelling them, I didn’t have as much as I would have wanted. I prefer to purchase peas at the grocery store in 2019 instead of growing my own. The 2 lbs bag cost less than $2 at Walmart. I would grow green beans and if I have leftover peas seeds, I might plant it and let them dry to increase my seeds stock. I could try to sow tomato seeds directly in the garden just to see but it won’t be my priority. I intend to focus on my perennial and propagate them. I would pay more attention on the plants and fruit trees in the garden and observe the dynamics in the garden.

Below is a record on what I spent on the garden since 2014 that I started to garden:

In brief, in 2018, my perennials did well and many annuals didn’t. Green beans was a winner among annuals I planted in 2018 i didn’t water or weed during 2018 I requested wood chip from the city but they stop delivering at home. I could go get it myself and bring it home but I decided to mulch in fall with fall leaves instead. I am glad I mulched the ground with wood chips every year from 2015 to 2017 with many truck loads. How did your garden do?