Balance sheet and growing list 2009

[Mrs Dobby]

We've eaten the broccolli n half the caulie, the broadies and the rasps have been frozen, the toms eaten, some of the courgettes have been eaten and the rest are going into a soup this afternoon, its quite fun trying to cook in 10 minute batches of time! (I'm off work with a bad back, can stand or sit for 5 to 15 mins, but after that I've gotta go n lie down again!)

[JILLY JACKSON]

Fabulous picture!! Well done you.

[craftygirl24]

I'm SOOO impressed. Well done!

[Mrs Dobby]

Time for another update methinks! Thanks for the kind words guys, they are appreciated!

Well, I'm still off work, had accupuncture on Wednesday, which seems to have helped, have another 5 sessions booked, and hoping to go back to work on Monday, even tho the Dr wanted me to take another week off, will just have to see how I get on at work! I'm still not able to get to the plot, tho am going to go down there tomorrow and see how I get on, I'm free of pain when laid down, and can walk for 10 to 20 mins before it gets painful, but can only stand still or sit upright for 5 to 10 mins at a time, tho this is getting better!

Lee has been busy harvesting, the toms are ripening well now, the overwintering garlic and 1st batch of onions are now drying, some really good bulbs of both too! The turnips are approaching harvestable sizes, as ar some of the peppers and chillies! The courgettes are cropping like mad, as are the french and broad beans! The second spuds will be coming out tomorrow, as we've just about finished eating the 1st earlies! The pumpkins and squashes have set fruits, looks like another reasonable year for them again this year!

The bees are doing well, I'm told Hive 2 is extremely busy and doing really well, with 10 frames of capped brood being present, tho they havent yet drawn out many of the frames in the super that was put on last week! Hive 3 is getting busier, but no sign of the queen having started to lay yet, and Hive 1 is doing ok, still not as busy as Hive 2, but we'll see how it gets on!

Ok, onto the balance sheets!

Total Costs 2009

Rent + subs for 2 plots £85
Debris Netting £70
Seed Spuds £20
Compost £20
Seed Compost £5
Seeds £20
Plant feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15
2 Apple trees £30
Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40

Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £9
Lettuces £10
Peas £15
Broad Beans £45
French Beans £30
Cabbages £5
Cucumber £6
Courgettes £53
Broccolli £15
Caulieflower £5
Turnip £1
Strawberries £45
Raspberries £80
Blueberries £4
Potatoes £35
Tomatoes £6
Garlic £50
Onions £20

Total Harvests 2009 £494

We're in a profit situation on the plots of £177 for the year so far, with the vast majority of crops still to be harvested! Hope you're growing year is going just as ell and you are reaping bountiful harvests!

[JILLY JACKSON]

I love reading how well you are doing!I have done really well this year ,learnt a lot for next year too.

[Mrs Dobby]

About time for an update methinks!

Went back to work on Monday, back still not quite right, but too few staff at work for me to stay off any longer, rest assured tho I am taking it easy!

Had another session of accupuncture yesterday, Lee tried making me laugh whilst I had 20 needles stuck in me, I'm gonna have to get my own back on him now! Lol!

Lee harvested the next batch of spuds today, another 55lb of lovely reds, not bad from 10 seed spuds!

Lots of things growing on well, methinks we'll be harvesting lots in the near future!

Total Costs 2009

Rent + subs for 2 plots £85
Debris Netting £70
Seed Spuds £20
Compost £20
Seed Compost £5
Seeds £20
Plant feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15
2 Apple trees £30
Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40

Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £10
Lettuces £10
Peas £15
Broad Beans £55
French Beans £35
Runner Beans £3
Cabbages £6
Cucumber £8
Courgettes £62
Broccolli £15
Caulieflower £5
Turnip £1
Strawberries £45
Raspberries £80
Blueberries £4
Potatoes £85
Tomatoes £10
Peppers £2
Garlic £50
Onions £20

Total Harvests 2009 £584

Hope your harvesting as much as we are!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hope your harvesting as much as we are!

I wish!!!

So far this year we have had a bunch or two of psb (probably about a fiver worth) two golf ball sized kohl rabi, about 5kilos of spuds and two cherry tomatoes

Well done to you both though

[Mrs Dobby]

Lol Shirl!

Ah, but thats good with the space you have, plus of course you have the chucks and are a master brewer par excellence! (That wine Max brought round was fabulous, we finished it off last night!!)

I know if you had more growing room that you'd deffo give us some competition!

[shirlthegirl43]

There's 3 gallons left if you fancy a break in Pembrokeshire Glad to hear you liked it

[Mrs Dobby]

Ok, no updates for a while again I'm sorry! Although the swine flu has now gone, my bad back is still not right, tho the accupuncture is helping greatly!

We've been harvesting quite a bit recently, lots more of most of the crops are now harvestable, and lots more still to come yet, although we've also had blight hit the spuds and tomatoes (tho currently the toms seem to be doing ok, even if they arent going to be as good as last year) and have lost a lot of cabbages to slug damage (that'll teach Lee not to plant them in batches of 12 of 3 varieties each at a time! Lol), but the broadies and most of the other crops have done really well, hence the harvesting figures are shooting up rapidly!

In addition to eating lots of ultra fresh organic fruit and veg we've also now begun preserving some of the crops, lots of dried peppers, the first batches of tomato n courgette pasta sauce are in the freezers, there's lots of broadies, runners, mange tout and fruit also in the freezers, lots of jars of jam, the first few jars of pickled onions and chutney's are maturing in the cupboards, and lots of onions and garlic are drying in the garage! Hopefully there will be more processed in the next few weeks, as the harvesting reaches a peak and I've got a week off from work to process it all in early September!

Anyhows, onto the balance sheet!

Total Costs 2009
Rent + subs for 2 plots £85
Debris Netting £70
Seed Spuds £20
Compost £20
Seed Compost £5
Seeds £20
Plant feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15
2 Apple trees £30
Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40
Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009
Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £14
Lettuces £15
Peas £20
Broad Beans £90
French Beans £55
Runner Beans £40
Cabbages £20
Cucumber £15
Courgettes £90
Marrows £10
Broccolli £30
Caulieflower £15
Turnip £10
Strawberries £50
Raspberries £85
Blueberries £10
Potatoes £145
Tomatoes £60
Peppers £20
Chillies £10
Garlic £50
Onions £40
Apples £30
Plums £15
Mange Tout £10
Sweetcorn £8
Squashes £8
Total Harvests 2009 £1028

Thats a profit of £711 for the year so far!

Hope your harvests are bumper ones this year!

[LinnetLegs]

Being a 'newbie' I can see I have my work cut out.

We have only had the lottie for a few weeks, but it is gradually being knocked into shape. I will be harvesting spinach in about a week.

Fascinating reading though and it will give me something to aspire to. I am starting to harvest tomatoes from my back yard now. This was my first year growing tomatoes - definately won't be growing in grow bags again - I don't think they are deep enough for the roots. The beef toms have blossom end rot, but some other varieties I am more than pleased with - I get a good hand full of cherry toms each day from the hanging basket. Tomatoes are my passion but the flavour from shop bought ones is never good enough.

I had 3 small aubergines and 2 small peppers that got stir fried with belly pork, onions, garlic and fish sauce. Yum - those fresh veg made all the difference and spurred me on to greater things.

I have even got some root ginger starting to grow!

Thanks to everyone for all the inspiration I get from this forum. I wish I had done this years ago!!!!

[maytreefrannie]

I was inspired by your garden accounts last year and kept track from September 2008 to now.

In that year I spent euro 578 - just over £500.

So far, my returns in veg have come to just under £100.

True, it looks like a loss of £400, but the outlay includes the two bokashi bins (£100), also a lot of compost as we didn't have much of our own this year. Also there are some things, like the many fresh herbs, that I haven't included in the harvested returns calculation.

There are more veg still to be picked - parsnips, beets etc. which were paid for in the outlay section but not yet recouped.

Also, I guess if I were a golfer for example and had spent just about £10 a week on that or another pastime I'd be doing pretty well.

Anyway, I find your accounts very interesting and will continue to keep track of mine - haphazardly maybe, I admire your attention to detail in your reckoning.

[Mrs Dobby]

The plot is now at its most productive, the toms are turning, lots of passatta is being made to freeze (to see us through the year until next years tomatoes are ready), still more courgettes are growing, loads of runner beans to harvest and freeze, more peppers and cucumbers, the first batch of sweetcorn is ready, broccolli still being harvested, more brassicas, the maincrop spuds are ready to lift (possible 100+lb if indications are right), beetroot are ready, late peas and mange tout are producing well, all in all a bumper harvest!

Still to come and just starting are the autumn raspberries (looks like a bumper crop), the pumpkins (looks like 30+ squashes and pumpkins, some of which are ginormous), the later sweetcorn, more tomatoes to ripen, more brassicas, parsnips, more turnips, chard and spinach, chillies, the celery we've grown for seed (to make celery salt from) is drying nicely and the jerusalem artichokes look to be really strong this year!

Unfortunately it looks like we've either a thief amongst the plotholders or someone is getting onto the plot and helping themselves, we lost the complete pear harvest from the pear tree and another plotholder has lost her parsnips, beetroot, gooseberries and redcurrants! I'd love to catch them at it, they'd soon realise the error of their ways!

Anyhows, onto the balance sheet!

Total Costs 2009
Rent + subs for 2 plots £85
Debris Netting £70
Seed Spuds £20
Compost £20
Seed Compost £5
Seeds £20
Plant feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15
2 Apple trees £30
Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40
Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009
Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £16
Lettuces £15
Radish £10
Peas £20
Broad Beans £90
French Beans £55
Runner Beans £60
Cabbages £24
Cucumber £15
Courgettes £95
Marrows £10
Broccolli £35
Caulieflower £16
Turnip £12
Strawberries £50
Raspberries £85
Blueberries £10
Blackberries £10
Potatoes £145
Tomatoes £70
Peppers £25
Chillies £10
Garlic £50
Onions £50
Apples £30
Plums £15
Mange Tout £10
Sweetcorn £22
Squashes £10
Sweet potatoes £5
Total Harvests 2009 £1133

Thats a profit of £816 for the year so far! Hope your crops are producing and you're having a bumper year!

[bobleponge]

Mr and Mrs D, if I had a forelock to tug, I would tug it in your direction, showing due deference to you 2.
Awesome achievement, great attention to detail, and all that with a bad back too for Mrs D.
Fantastic.

[The Nichols']

Looks good Mrs D and I've decided to do this next year.

Did consider it this year but have taken on a new plot (abandoning the old one as we moved out of the area) and got some chickens for the first time so this year is considered a "building year" because quite frankly, I don't want to know how much we've spent.