Wrapping up the season

Part of the commitment to having a p-patch is that you have to give 8 hours of volunteer time towards the garden for communal benefit. The final work party of the season was this weekend, everyone showing up to clean up the garden and put it to bed for winter. We planted jeruselum artichokes, irises, and shasta daiseys that had been donated or rescued to the garden. I had the enormous sage plant transplanted from my plot to the community garden for all to share. I also had onion sets to share, so I planted those in the food bank garden.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible year. Definitely not the best (that would have been 2009, hands down) but I rough estimated the following for harvest:

4-5 lbs tomatoes

7-8 lbs of fingerling potatoes

3-4 lbs of purple onions

unknown lbs of zucchini, green beans and gold of bacua yellow beans

heads of lettuce

couple bunches of beets

For the winter pantry, the putting up tally was:

7 1/2 pints of cherry jam

2 pints pickled cherries

7 1/2 pints of raspberry-blackberry jam

3 pints of dill pickles

3 pints of pickled carrots

9 qts of frozen roasted tomatoes

2 gallons (mixed) of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries

1 qt of basil balls

1 qt of blackberry syrup (for cocktails or Italian sodas)

2 c of rosemary-sage salt

1 qt of roasted hatch chilis

For the winter sleep, I've got onion sets and garlic in. With a year under my belt in this new space, I think I have a better idea of what to expect- and have fellow gardeners to thank for pruning the tree that lines my plot. I'm hoping this brings more sun. And I'm definitely hoping we have a summer for the books in 2012..