Garden A: August 3 2013

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to write about our garden.  And it's really in it's full glory now too.  We're in the middle of our kitchen renovations right and I've been having to work on the DIY part of the reno this week, and I'm also hosting a brunch this weekend for family (look for post to come on easy brunch crowd pleasers soon).  And next week I plan to work hard on making fall fashion accessories to add to my Etsy shop, Ornute.


So not much time for blogging!  So I figured I'd squeak in our August produce tally (before it's time for our Sept tally) and I'll try to do a garden update with a video of our garden soon.  I also have plans to post my recipes for brunch casseroles that are easy and feed a lot of people, a paleo chocolate mug cake recipe I've been working on developing for the past month, a post on tomatoes problems (blossom rot, cracks, etc), and a post on what happens when jalepenos turn red. Until then....... here is our August produce tally.

• Cucumbers  5 lbs 12 oz
  
• Beet Greens        10 0z
  
• Broccoli       1 lb 4 oz
  
• Kale             3 lbs 2 oz
  
• Jalapenos           6 oz
  
• Beets           1 lb 8 oz
  
• Tomatoes     26 lbs 4 oz
  
• Beans          8 lbs 2 oz 
• Basil 

Produce tally August 2012 = 47 lbs and 14oz (approximentaly 48 lbs)
Produce tally for the year so far (22+47)=69 lbs (last year we had 110 lbs for the seasons so we are under last year by 41 lbs). 

Produce tally August 2013=  77 lbs 11 oz or almost 78 lbs

This Month Compared to Last Year
I've analysed our August produce tally last year compared to this year to see what accounts for us producing 40% less than last year. everything else pretty much evens out.  For example, we had harvested turnips and rutabaga last year and we haven't harvested any this year because we didn't plant as much, but we did harvest more beets.  Our beans and cucumbers were only slightly less this year.  Although we did plant twice as much of cucumbers this year, so as I will describe below I think lack of water is the reason for this. 

I think clearly was that our tomatoes produced only half what they did last year which was our big producer.  I think this is due to my lack of watering.  If you saw our post on our garden last month, you'll notice that I commented on the cooler and wetter than average summer we had and how I had hardly needed to water.  Well I think I either got use to not watering or I still needed to water more.  I do remember I watered about every other day last year.  Next year we plan to come up with a better watering set up so that I don't neglect watering when it's super hot because I don't want to go outside.  What do you do to make watering easier?  If you have any tips I'd love to hear it!

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