One days worth of harvested crops!

Well, I'm still off work, the Doc told me I may be off for another week, so I'm still resting up (and feeling mighty bored with being housebound), but Lee has been working hard, not only doing his paid work, but looking after me and going to the plot to weed, feed, water and harvest! I just wish my back was better so I could go and help him, hopefully another week and it'll be better, but til then I gotta rely on my fab hubby!

The piccy above shows just what he harvested on Wednesday, just 1 days harvest!! Another 4lb of rasps, another 6lb of broad beans, 1lb tomatoes, another 1 lb of french beans, another bunch of spring onions, another large iceberg lettuce, another 1/2lb of peas, 2 large caulies, several spears of PSB and 1 large head of broccolli plus 25 more courgettes, of between 1 and 3lb each! Just about ready to harvest now on the plot are the overwintring garlic, the first batch of overwintering onions (about 100 onions), the second early spuds, more broccolli, more caulies, more cabbages, more toms, the first of the peppers, more broad beans and french beans, more radish and spring onions, lots more raspberries, more strawberries and of course, lots more courgettes!!

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 £11

Broad Beans £35
French Beans £25
Cabbages £1

Cucumber £5

Courgettes £38

Broccolli £13
Strawberries £40
Raspberries £70

Potatoes £35

Tomatoes £5

Total Harvests 2009 £349

So, we've now reached the point that we've broken even for the year! On fact, we're now already £32 up for the year in terms of what we've spent on the plot!

Beekeeping News!

Well, Lee, Pat and Colin did the Hive inspections on Wednesday, Hive 1 is still fairly quiet, the queen is laying, but not in any great qunatities, but they have stopped taking the feed and have now drawn out 8 frames, hopefully we'll be able to put a super on there soon! Hive 2 is going great guns, there's lots of brood, lots of bees and half of the super has now been drawn out, so no worries with this hive! Hive 3 is busy, the feed is going down at a tremendous rate, they've drawn out 8 frames and the queen is present, although not yet laying! Hopefully she'll be mated soon and start laying in the very near future!

As to the costings, well, we did add it up the other day, and if we include the honey extractor and the materials for building the apiary, then the total costs between the 4 of us is approaching £800, we're definitely out of pocket on the honey front, and will probably remain so for a year or three, but thats not the point, its something we're enjoying and is playing our small part in ensuring the survival of the honeybee in the uk, plus we'll (hopefully) soon be self sufficient for honey and overall we will still end up in a 'profit' situation from the plots despite the outlay for the beekeeping! Next year we've another apiary to build (on Plot 1 at the back corner where the walk in plastic greenhouse is) and probably another 3 or 4 hives to pay out for, so we wont be recouping much next year, but longer term it should become (at least financially) a self sustaining hobby, and one that is giving us a lot of enjoyment!

Hope your growing year is going as well and that your harvests are going well!