A lot is made of planning the garden and keeping track of seeds and plant placement, but what about when the stuff starts to grow? There seems to be a shortage of material dedicated to keeping track of what you’ve actually grown.
We started keeping track of our harvested bounty last year. We started a simple Excel file and just kept a running tally with that program. We had a pretty impressive haul last year, some plants more than others. Check out our stats:
2009 – Garden
Cherry Tomatoes: 6.275 lbs
Cucumbers: 20.7 lbs
Zucchini: 71 lbs
Jalapeno peppers: .7 lbs
banana peppers: 1.4 lbs
Green Bell Peppers: 1 lb
Yellow Squash: 1 lb
Mixed Tomatoes (Big Boy, Roma, Yellow, etc…) 211 lbs
lol yes, we love tomatoes
We do A LOT of canning, enough so that we have enough picante and spaghetti sauce for the winter. We haven’t hit our tomato yield from last year, but so far, we are surpassing last year in other plant growth.
Here are a few gems to help you start counting that harvest:
5DollarDinners.com has some great Gardening Printables, including this handy PDF for you to download that will help keep track of what what you harvest and when. While there isn’t a specific box for weight, you can just write it along with the plant name harvested. If nothing else, keep this print out by your weigh station to record into another file or system later.
Northerngardening.com has a sweet little garden journal that helps you start up your garden from planning to soil preparation, but also contains a great “harvest and yields” sheet that will keep track of those bounty stats.
Folia
We’ve just signed up for Folia, so excuse our sparse info., but the site looks very neat, with lots of features. Some features you do need to go “pro” for (aka pay), but until you decide if that is for you, you’ll have a blast using the free version. There is all matter of tracking what you grow, swapping seeds, you can keep a journal, highlight your great garden photos… there is a lot to do and see here.
I’m tracking my garden:
Keep track of what you grow because it is fun. Keep track because it helps you see what plants do well for you (and are worth your time and investment). Keep track because you can start to see a pattern in what is lacking in either your soil, your skills, or your time. Keeping tracking of your harvest also helps you stay on top of what is coming in and needs your attention. Ripe tomatoes won’t stay fresh and lovely forever.
Please, do share your methods of keeping track of your bounty!
