It's That Time...

Preparing for the planting of the Spring crop, we mapped out the rotation of our plants from the previous Spring.  Tony got out and tilled the garden one more time and then set up all of our rows for the Spring crop.

We took a trip to Plant and See and bought the seeds and seedlings for our Spring crop.  We purchased a good portion of this year's crop for $35.61.  Here's the breakdown of what we got today:

                Early Jersey Cabbage - 48 seedlings - $9.90
                Packman Broccoli - 40 seedlings - $11.88
                Yukon Gold Potatoes - 5 lbs. - $2.50
                Pontiac Red Potatoes - 9 lbs. - $4.50
                Yellow Onions -  - $1.50
                Imperator Carrots - 1/2 oz. - $1.25
                Dark Green Bloomsdale Spinach - 1 oz. - $1.75
             
We did not have very many freezes this winter, but we did get a light snow Feb. 16th, 2013.  We had, what will more than likely be, one of our last freezes of the winter last week.  We are determined to have a very successful crop this year and keep the bugs from destroying our produce.  We will also be investing in floating row covers and netting for some of our fruits and vegetables within the next few weeks to see if it will maximize our return this year.  Overall, we should definitely be able to get our money's worth!

Breaking Ground

Got out and tilled the garden up on February 2nd, 2013 to get prepared for planting the Spring crop.

Hoping to get off to a good start this year.  I generally put my plants in later than I like.  I hope to kick off this planting season on time and before the bugs get out and hungry. Cabbage worm, I will beat you this year.

Blanchin Behind

The blog is behind, but I'm caught up at work.  I'll take it.   I know you have all been on the edge of your seats, dying to know what is happening at the Frugal Farm.  Over the past two weeks, it has just been growing.  I have pulled a couple of big hauls of spinach, and we have begun the blanch and freeze phase I of this frugal expedition.  

So it felt like a lot of spinach

It looked like a lot of spinach

It was one blanchin bag of spinach!

Summer Crop

I know everyone has just been dying to know what has been going on at the Dunn Plantation over the last couple weeks!  Well, things are looking good.  We saw signs of the cabbage worms back on attack so we have put out more dipel dust to eliminate this pesky creature.  We are still getting TONS of spinach and lettuce.  Yesterday, we harvested about 5-6 pounds of spinach and a pound of lettuce.  We filled two gallon bags (packed extremely tight) of spinach and one gallon bag of lettuce.  That's about $24.00 in spinach and $8.00  in lettuce!  The spinach looks as if it might be slowing down, but there is still more to be harvested!  The strawberry bushes are getting tiny green strawberries and the broccoli plants are starting to form heads.  All and all, things are looking great!

We are off to a later start than usual, but the summer crop has been planted.  Right after buying our seedlings we had two rainy days and then two nights with really cold weather.  I guess we got lucky that our plants did not go in before that last scare of frost!  Here's what we planted on April 25th, 2012:

• Watermelon - 8 plants
• Cantaloupe - 8 plants
• Cucumber - 12 plants
• Zucchini - 6 plants
• Squash - 4 plants
• Bell Pepper - 8 plants

Bell Pepper

Charleston Grey Watermelon

Squash

Pickling Cucumber

Zucchini

Cantaloupe

Our first strawberries!

We didn't get to the bush bean seeds in on this day, but on April 27th, 2012 we planted 216 bush beans (from seed).  And no, that's not a typo....really.....216 bush bean plants!!! 

Bush Beans

Would that be $36 in green leaves? Yes, sir!

Blog, Blog, Blog is all I hear all day at work.  Well the Big C is going to meet the Big T.  Oh yea, blogdown 2012.  I'm going to unleash some pent up, frugal, farmin' produce!  

We pulled out a good deal of spinach over the past week and a half along with some Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce.   Here is just a little Popeye taste of what's to come.....

Harvested 4/17/2012

1.1  - Before I cleaned and condensed that luscious, sweet leaf.

1.2 - Gallon bag with all the air pushed out
(Estimated Worth: $12.00)

Harvested 4/14/2012

2.1 - Large Colander
(Estimated Worth: $7.00)

2.2 - A little cooked leaf.  As Ozzy would say...they call it the Sweet Leaf.

Harvested 4/13/2012

3.1 - Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce - Large colander
(Estimated Worth: $4.00)

3.2 - Friday the thirteenth makes for some of that crazy full moon lettuce. 

3.3 - Spinach - Large Colander
(Estimated Worth: $5.00)

Harvested 4/11/2012

4.1 - Chh chhh ching!

4.2 - Large Colander
(Estimated Worth: $4.00)

4.3 - Lettuce and Spinach Salad Mix




Harvested 4/9/2012

5.1 - Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce - Large colander

(Estimated Worth: $4.00)

That's $36.00 worth of GREEN in just TWELVE days!  Now that's what we call FRUGAL FARMING!

Got to get that GREEN

We have about $80.00 invested in the garden so far this year.  We needed to purchase a new, reliable sprinkler and also decided to splurge for a timer for the sprinkler this year.  This cost about $55.00 out of the $80.00 invested, which is very reasonable since the sprinkler and timer are a long-term investment.  We are planning to record all purchases and the value of all of the produce harvested from the garden this year to see exactly how frugal we are!  

Spinach was the first plant to reach maturity and ready for harvest.  We pulled three colanders of spinach from the garden this week alone.  Frugal Farmer straight farms.....

Harvested 4/6/2012

1.1 - Spinach

Large colander

(Estimated Worth: $5.00)

Harvested 4/4/2012

1.2 - Spinach
Medium colander
(Estimated Worth: $2.50)


Harvested 4/3/2012

1.3 - Spinach
Medium colander
(Estimated Worth: $2.50)


Total Weekly Worth:  $10.00 in Spinach

Grow Garden Grow

We are a month and three days in and getting some good growth.  We have been putting dipel dust down like crazy to try and ward off cabbage worms.  If you have never used dipel dust we strongly recommend it for cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Dipel dust should be a staple in every gardeners storage shed!  

Take a look at how things were doing on April 2nd, 2012....

1.1 - Red Potatoes

Potatoes worried us at first, but they have come up now and been covered once. 

1.2 - Close up of potatoes

Onions and Carrots 

(Onions on left and right; Carrots down the middle) 

                        1.3                                                                                         1.4 

1.5 - Artsy Onions 

Looks like the Dipel Dust did the trick......

1.6 - Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, and Brussel Sprouts

(from left to right)

1.7 - Spinach

1.8 - Spinach is looking bountiful!

1.9 - Onions, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Brussel Sprouts, and Strawberris

(from left to right)

1.10 - Strawberries

1.11 - Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage

1.12 - Much improved after the chemical warfare!