The pasta salad was made from free pasta, garden banana pepper, bell pepper and squash. So basically only cost the red wine vinegar, olive oil. I did this the squash and peppers in the wok to cook them to tone down the proper bite and cook the squish.
Steak was $3.25. and had the gristle to prove it.
Cost per person: $3.65
Your garden must be beautiful, I admire how often your food contains fresh produce from it.
It’s ugly and overgrown with Acalypha rhomboidea (Three-seeded Mercury). And the tomato plastic are falling because I was lazy.
Ok now tell us what’s good about it!
I have an overabundance of basil this year. I’m going to let some of it reseed but I kind of need more thyme and parsley for next years’s planting. The tomatoes don’t have blight yet which is really rare so I might be able to replant here next year. I’m pulling off bell peppers better than ever before. This is the first year I’ve grown Ginger and it’s doing amazing. I already got a volunteer pumpkin and I’ve got four more Vines popping up that might be able to produce something ripe by Halloween.
I have a number of fruit trees I planted literally before I unpacked a single box when I moved in. Because the best time to plant a fruit tree is 10 years ago. I did manage to eat two plums off of one tree this year which is a first. I’m hoping next year for better results. My apple trees and raspberry did not do so well. We have some kind of rust that is affecting all kinds of stuff and needs to be treated. But I do have apples that are still viable on the tree. I might end up picking them just to make pectin.
The squash was destroyed by some fungus last week. It had been brewing for a while but they’re totally dead now. But I did get a lot of production out of them before the fungus killed everything. If I do squash next year. I’m going to have to find out how to treat for this fungus or make sure that I grow a squash that can be picked at any stage of development like a zucchini so that the moment I see a problem I can still eat it.
Oh speak the truth! Mine aren’t so bad with blight this year either, it’s been my best year for them yet, usually they’re a mess by now though.
Volunteer pumpkins are the best! I love any plant that volunteers. My best plant in the yard are always volunteers.
Sounds like you know what you’re doing, I just try new things each year, I enjoy the learning process. It seems you’ve gotten a lot from you garden though! Must be doing something right
For tomato blight prevention, mulching with straw around the base keeps soil from splashing onto lower leaves during rain (this is how the spores usually spread) and has made a huge diffeence in my garden.
Thats good advice. The bed I have with straw, I had a volunteer tomato plant come up, its the strongest of them all. No signs of blight or illnesses.
The dirt bed, it showing signs of blight in the tomatoes and i just noticed yesterday, powdery mildew on the zucchini. Pretty sad about that. It’s the first time I’ve dealt with that one.
I’ll definitely being laying the bed with straw for next grow seasons. Thank you for the tip!
I keep trying to find the volunteers. The things that want to grow no matter how abused they are. Those are my food forest goods. The things that take no effort and grow themselves.
Truly, that’s my goal too! I am quite haphazard in my approach, it’s wonderful when things work. Oregano loves my yard, and I’m happy to have it.
I remember an old timer buddy of mine had problems with cilantro just, poping up everywhere in his garden, no matter what he did.
I want these kinds of problems! lol pumkin in the grass? I let it grow, why not?
Oregano is there years off before I have to worry. But that’s nice that I know I have so much further in the future before it’s a concern.
We saw the first volunteer pumpkin pop up. We fenced it in to protect it from chickens. 8.2 pounds. We have four more vines. Not sure if they will make it before October.