Category: 2021 Garden Goals

With the help of three little tomatoes and several not-so-little squash we surpassed our goal of harvesting 375 pounds of veggies from the garden this year! As of October 15 our total is 377.55 pounds – and there’s still more to pick, like sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, chard, bell and poblano peppers, butternut squash, and even a few carrots.

We’ll wait till everything is harvested before we set next year’s goal.

THE TIME ASPECT:

So far we’re 99 days into a 245 day growing season. The unofficial start of my growing season was March 23 (The day I direct seeded the beets, carrots and sugar snap peas outside, in the garden) and will probably end around November 23 (The day I pull most of the carrots for Thanksgiving dinner). I did start a bunch of stuff inside, under the lights, in February, but that doesn’t really count. So lets see if I’m on track.

99 days/245 days * 100 = 40.41%

So 40.41% of the growing season is past, have I grown 40.41% of the vegetables I said I was going to grow? The yield through June 29 is 93.01 pounds.

93.01 lbs./375 lbs. *100 = 24.80%

No, I have not. Not even close.

I’m worried, but hopeful, for three reasons.

1. Onions: They occupied all of Bed #2 for the last three months, but contributed nothing to the above total. That will change in the next few weeks.
2. Summer stuff: I imagine once the summer stuff starts coming in (hello, zucchini!) the numbers should add up quickly.
3. Another round of cabbage: I harvested 40 pounds of it in the spring. I’m counting on a fall crop of another 40 to put me over the top.

THE SPACE ASPECT:

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’ve got about 208 square feet to work with. That means I have to produce 1.8 pounds of vegetables per square foot, or 57.6 pounds per 4′ x 8′ bed. How am I doing?

Bed #1: kohlrabi and cabbage, 11.99 + 42.70 = 54.69 pounds. Almost there! And now the cole crops have been replaced with tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

Bed #2: onions, not harvested yet, 0 pounds.

Bed #3: sugar snap peas, carrots and beets, 3.3 + 4.74 + 15.38 = 23.42 pounds. Oh dear. Not even halfway there.

Bed #4: broccoli, 8.15 pounds. Long way (49.45 pounds) to go! Hopefully the corn and butternut squash that’s planted there now makes up for it.

Bed #5: no spring crop, 0 pounds.

Bed #6: lettuce and radishes, 6.52 + 0.23 = 6.75 pounds. Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing. The salad bed started out good in April but fell apart in June. It’s time to get serious about salad.

So, space wise, the yield looks like this:

93.01 lbs/ 208 square feet = 0.45 lbs/square foot, which is 25% of the 1.8 lbs/square foot goal.

CONCLUSION:

With 40% of the growing season gone, I’ve only produced 25% of my goal. I am officially behind schedule.