The down side to recording your results is that you can't hide behind ignorance when things aren't going so well. Recording your results regardless of the goal and task reveals the cold hard facts. And in this case how poorly our vegetable self-sufficiency has gone for the month of July. But that cold hard slap in the face from the below figures is just what I needed - a wakeup call to take notice and take action.
What has become very clear is that things grow slowly over winter and as a result I have come up with a couple of solutions that I hope will help to overcome this: First is to start planting earlier. This will involve changing the schedule of the chook tractor rotation, something I will talk about in more detail in an up and coming post. Second is to plant more densely, and harvest young plants. With plants like spinach and kale I really have no excuse - we should have never needed to buy some. They both grow great over winter, it was purely an error in planting too few.
Grown (g) Purchased (g) Grown %
Avocado 750 0%
Beetroot 1,075 0%
Broccoli 775 2,005 28%
Bok Choy 530 100%
Brussel Sprout 745 0%
Capsicum 2,125 0%
Carrot 2,030 0%
Celery 500 0%
Cucumber 1,125 0%
Coriander 85 100%
Cauliflower 1,800 0%
Cabbage 750 0%
Garlic 135 0%
Ginger 65 0%
Kale 745 600 55%
Lettuce 1,430 100%
Leek 1,000 0%
Onion 3,820 0%
Parsley 300 0%
Pea 150 0%
Potato 75 1,480 5%
Pumpkin 1,985 0%
Rocket 295 100%
Radish 300 0%
Spring Onion 300 0%
Sweet Potato 1,245 0%
Spinach 175 410 30%
Sprouts 150 100%
Tomato 410 0%
Zucchini 460 0%
Total 4,260 25,565 14%
Average 21%
Time 12 person hours
Money $ 145.00 (excludes water)
What strategies do you have for dealing with the winter low?
If you are after more variety, I have just bought some Lamb's Lettuce (Mache / Corn Salad) which I am excited about growing in our colder climate (ACT region). Might be a good one for other cold region folks - it's frost tolerant and a really great salad green.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I enjoy your posts!
Just googled it... looks like a cross between a miniature bok choy and baby spinach. With it's dark green leaves I can see how it would be well suited to cold climate. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteWe rely a lot on root crops like sweet potatoes and jerusalem artichokes. It's hard to grow leafy greens in the dead of winter in zone 7a North Carolina. They will grow, but just barely...time to start on our greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteWhen ever I hear from people such as your self it does make our South Australian winter feel very mild. We rarely even get frost in the garden.
DeleteNever grown sweet potato must give them a go.