2017 Veggie Garden Totals

About 10 days ago, I planted the first round of vegetable and flower seeds in the house for our 2018 garden. So I figured it was time to look back to last year. Here’s a look at my 2017 growing season as seen through posts on my Instagram account:

3/12/17: planting 108 cells. And Henry's drawing of
tomatoes with a leaf looks a *little* like a ball gag.


3/18/17: week 1: over half of what we've planted has germinated!


3/21/17: 10-day #UrbanGarden update: L to R: zinnias and cucumbers, zucchinis
and tiny snapdragons in the distance, brussels sprouts, and cherry tomatoes.


3/23/17: moved under the grow light in the basement. Also, I planted
the rest of our tomato seeds. What's 26 more cells with 50+ seeds?


4/2/17: week 3: the peppers finally germinated a few days ago! Everything is doing well,
and the zucchini need to be moved because they're about to start blocking out other plants.


4/8/17: pro tip: use a mini "cold frame" greenhouse to start young seedlings
outside, or to keep your toddler safe as you go to work. #DadTips #UrbanGarden


4/8/17: the cold frame full of veggies and "critter-proofed" while open.


4/10/17: week 4: getting a little too crowded under the grow lights (top pics).
We've learned that we planted our cucumbers a bit early, and our zucchinis WAAAAY too early.
So we thinned out 1 flat and transplanted them into the cold frame mini greenhouse in our
backyard (bottom pic). After 36 hours, it looks like everything survived transplanting.


4/22/17: week 6 update: WAAAAAAY too many plants: 12 brussels sprouts, 16 cucumbers,
and 78 tomatoes (between beefmaster and cherry)! Here are 3 pics from our cold frame in
the yard, our front porch, and some small plants still under the grow light in the basement.


4/30/17: Week 7: last photo of ALL my babies (not still under the grow light)
because I gave away 18 plants to my Sis and Mom just after this.


5/3/17: transplanting lots of tomatoes.


5/5/17: my cutie planting!


5/7/17: first time our garden is planted with everything that we started from seed.
Top: zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers (with cilantro, basil, and dill mixed in).
Middle: Brussels sprouts and tomatoes (with more herbs mixed in).


5/23/17: big ass rhubarb.


5/26/17: front yard: 2 bushes FULL of tiny blooms. Back yard: tiny cucumbers and zucchinis!!


6/1/17: In the back: giving the veggies a drink before it gets too hot.
In the front: Grandma Aggie's irises in bloom. #UrbanGarden


6/5/17: Nearly time for the first harvest of 2017! (Also, the rose bush is in bloom.)


6/7/17: Just 7 seconds after our first #UrbanGarden harvest, this veggie was consumed.
Direct quote: "Mmmm, dis good!!" #Cucumber #DadLife #Harvest2017


7/2/17: harvested our first zucchini yesterday, and today we turned it into zucchini bread.


7/9/17: Anyone up for zucchini bread? Or zucchini muffins? Or maybe *a* zucchini muffin?
#WeakAssZucchini #FirstTimeThatHashTagHasBeenUsed #UrbanGarden


7/17/17: #UrbanGarden update: cukes look rough, peppers are iffy, but
everything else is doing well. Picked our 4th zucchini tonight
(and 4th and 5th cukes), and our first cherry tomato is starting to ripen!


7/21/17: Today's #UrbanGarden harvest.


8/11/17: Cleaned up our blvd garden. Henry's zinnias (top) are doing well!
And we have a dahlia bloom as big as my head (hand for scale).


8/14/17: I toiled for many hours in the back 40 for today's harvest.


8/28/17: someone told me last fall when our brussel sprouts weren't producing that I
could've been trimming back the leaves to promote sprout growth. So I just tried that.
Let's hope those little nubbins above the cut leaves get a lot bigger soon!


9/13/17: a side-track fun photo while digging carrots in my Mom's HUGE garden.
Click here to see a larger version on my Photo Blog. (And see Mom's garden here and here.)


9/20/17: Tonight's tiny (topless) harvest: 3 small purple peppers, assorted tomatoes,
and a beautiful orange pepper. (And notice I did more brussel sprouts trimming.)


10/9/17: Our #UrbanGarden is looking a little ugly this late in the season, but we still
brought 15 veggies in the house today. And our zucchini is *still* producing!


10/27/17: I call this my “cut every decent looking flower from the garden
because it’s f*cking winter now and they’re all going
to die outside and I hate this season” bouquet.

Again, follow me on Instagram for more pics like this in 2018.

This may not be a totally accurate count (and it does NOT include any veggies that squirrels, rabbits, or chipmunks got in to and ruined), but here’s our tallies for our 2017 totals:

- Cherry Tomatoes: 150 (plus 6 green ones pre-frost)
- Beefsteak Tomatoes: 69 (plus 10 green ones pre-frost)
- Zucchini: 15
- Cucumbers: 11 (not a good year)
- Yellow Peppers: 16
- Green Peppers: 5
- Purple Peppers: 6
- Orange Peppers: 1
- Brussel Sprouts: not a single damn one

Numbers were down in 2017: tomatoes were a bit worse and cucumbers were REALLY poor. I think I need to add more compost and treat the soil a bit better this year. I started some brussel sprouts from seed again, but I think those are all going to my Mom - I don't think it's worth trying them again when we had LITTLE success in 2016, and NO success last year. (We have about 25 square feet of garden space, and I don't have room for free-loading plants.)

I just posted this photo on Instagram yesterday of our "progress" so far this year:

Round 2 (top) was planted for a CVA friend this past weekend. Round 1 (bottom)
is 10 days old and under the grow lights as of today. Round 3 will be
planted soon (mainly cukes and zucchinis). #UrbanGarden

p.s. Here are related links:
- 2016 garden totals (and photos)
- 2015 garden totals (and photos)
- 2014 garden totals (along with pics of leveling our yard and installing the raised beds)
- A larger version of the carrots photo