The Cost of Gardening (May)

In the month of May, I spent $15.96 for a flat of vegetables!

In this flat, I received the following:

• 18 beefsteak tomatoes
• 3 early girls
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 3 red peppers
• 4 zucchini

That being said, I spent $0.47/plant!

I am not sure why I buy my zukes and tomatoes every year in flats, especially considering I have had a lot of luck in the past with growing tomatoes by seed.  Maybe next year, I will plant them by seed.

Yard Long Green Beans

Cukes

I planted cukes and yard-long green beans when we got back from vacation in mid-May and they are taking off!  I am so excited to see how the yard-long green beans do.  I also planted over 200 bush {green} beans this year, hoping to have enough to freeze and eat throughout the year. 

Spaghetti Squash & Pie Pumpkin Patch

This is the first year that I’ve tried to grow spaghetti squash and pie pumpkin, and so far, they are doing great!  As you can see, we are battling weeds.  I try to pick some every evening, but they grow faster than I can pick them!

Wilted Pea Plants

The pea pods I planted back in April are growing, but don’t look so great.  They are all yellow and some are starting to shrivel.  I’m not sure if they don’t like all the sun they are getting, or if their roots are damaged by the straw bale.  I am completely frustrated that they made it this far, and we may lose them all, even though most of them are flowering!  I water them every other day at a minimum, so I’m not sure what is going on with them. (Any insight on how I can make them healthy again?!?)

Onions

I have never tried to grow onions before, and within a few weeks, we got these little things coming out of the ground!  Seeing these make me curious as to what’s going on under ground.

While taking pictures at the end of May, I noticed that the grape tomatoes are starting to flower!

So there you have it.  Our garden is coming along!

I have pretty much decided that next year, we will not be doing straw bale gardening.  It is still pretty early, so I may change my mind, but the vegetables don’t seem to be producing as well as they would if they were in the ground.  I am also considering buying black plastic next year and putting it on the ground where I am planting to avoid weeds!

The Nitty Gritty:

January: $35.29

February: $60

March: $69.74

April: $0

May: $15.96

Total Spent on the Garden in 2012: $180.99

How is your garden coming along?