Harvest Monday - December 31, 2012. What I harvested in 2012 and...

Well, there it is, the only harvest from the garden for the past week. The final harvest for the year.

Parade "scallion", Tronchuda Beira, Dorato di Asti celery

And here's the temperature graph for the past week, winter has settled in and made itself at home. My husband and I took a hike yesterday that took us to the top of Post Summit in Big Sur where there was some snow lingering in the shaded parts of the trail from about 3000 feet to the summit at 3445. It was a cool but mostly sunny day, perfect for hiking. Um, perhaps for gardening too, but the trail was calling...

Here's the harvest totals for the past week, including the weigh-in for the Fagiolo del Purgatorio dried beans:

Fagiolo del Purgatorio beans - 1 lb., 2.9 oz.
Dorato di Asti celery - 6 oz.
Tronchuda Beira cabbage - 1 lb., .5 oz.
Parade "scallion" - 6.9 oz.

The total harvests for the past week came to 3 lb., .3 oz. (including the beans).
Which brings the total for the year to 771 lb., 11.2 oz.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.

This brings to an end the third year for which I've been tallying my harvests and joining Harvest Monday. I have to thank Daphne for hosting this and inspiring me to keep track of what my garden produces. It is very interesting to see how my garden has fared from year to year and I've found the tally to be a useful planning tool as well. I can see not only how much my garden produces but the spreadsheet that I keep also shows me when the harvest for each variety starts and how long it lasts. This week I've included a tally to show my total harvests for each of the past three years by crop type and the difference between 2012 and each of the past two years.

				Difference	Difference
	2012	2011	2010	2011	2010
Amaranth	0.0	1.9	2.1	(1.9)	(2.1)
Arugula, wild	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	(0.1)
Basil, Profumo di Genova	0.6	0.0	0	0.6	0.6
Beans, Green	39.2	33.9	19.1	5.4	20.1
Beans, Dried	8.5	3.5	9.3	5.0	(0.8)
Beets	4.2	17.4	26.1	(13.2)	(21.9)
Beet Greens	2.2	9.9	0	(7.8)	2.2
Broccoli	17.4	28.2	16	(10.9)	1.4
Cabbage	18.3	39.5	16.7	(21.2)	1.6
Capers	3.1	2.1	3.7	1.0	(0.6)
Carrots	0.0	0.0	5.2	0.0	(5.2)
Celery	2.8	8.8	1.9	(6.1)	0.9
Celery Root	0.0	7.3	35.5	(7.3)	(35.5)
Chamomile	0.0	0.3	1.2	(0.3)	(1.2)
Chard	4.7	6.9	19.6	(2.2)	(14.9)
Chervil	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	(0.1)
Cilantro	0.0	1.9	0	(1.9)	0.0
Coriander Seeds	0.3	0.0	0	0.3	0.3
Couve Tronchuda	3.0	3.3	0	(0.3)	3.0
Cucumbers	37.5	15.8	12	21.7	25.5
Eggplant	51.3	16.2	34.7	35.2	16.6
Fava beans	0.0	112.7	105.2	(112.7)	(105.2)
Fava beans, dried	0.0	0.0	4.9	0.0	(4.9)
Fava leaves	0.0	0.3	0.7	(0.3)	(0.7)
Fennel	0.0	0.0	1.8	0.0	(1.8)
Frisee	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.0	(0.8)
Garlic	0.0	7.6	19.8	(7.6)	(19.8)
Corn Salad and Mache	0.0	0.8	0.7	(0.8)	(0.7)
Kale	11.5	4.4	12.4	7.1	(0.9)
Lettuce	12.1	19.7	20.8	(7.6)	(8.7)
Mizuna	0.0	0.0	1.2	0.0	(1.2)
Onions	11.5	0.0	4.5	11.5	7.0
Peas	10.9	34.6	7.8	(23.7)	3.1
Peppers	122.2	15.5	44.8	106.7	77.4
Poppy Seeds	0.0	0.6	2.8	(0.6)	(2.8)
Potatoes	0.0	2.3	9.2	(2.3)	(9.2)
Radicchio	0.0	2.7	0	(2.7)	0.0
Rapini	0.0	2.1	10.9	(2.1)	(10.9)
Romanesco	0.0	7.4	10.3	(7.4)	(10.3)
Snow Pea Shoots	0.0	2.1	0	(2.1)	0.0
Sorrel	0.0	0.1	0.1	(0.1)	(0.1)
Spinach	2.4	5.7	0	(3.3)	2.4
Strawberries	0.0	0.5	19.8	(0.5)	(19.8)
Tomatoes	358.9	110.0	148.9	248.8	210.0
Winter Squash	0.0	38.6	39.7	(38.6)	(39.7)
Yu Choy Sin	0.0	1.3	0	(1.3)	0.0
Zucchini	49.1	18.0	27.6	31.1	21.5
Zucchini Blossoms	0.1	0.8	2.5	(0.7)	(2.4)
	771.7	584.8	700.5	186.9	71.2

I am now really motivated to get my fourth and final raised garden bed up and running for 2013. This  past year I managed to produce 187 pounds more than in 2011 even though I had more than two months of down time when the garden produced nothing while the new beds were under construction and only got three of the four beds back into production. It's not really fair to compare 2012 to 2011 though, the weather was awful and the rats were truly devastating in 2011 and I also left for a two week vacation when the tomato harvest (normally a big percentage of my annual production) was at the peak. A better comparison is to 2010, a year with fewer critters than 2011 and more favorable weather as well, although I was absent once again (three weeks!) at the height of the tomato harvest.  

Here are some of the big differences that really stand out:

a) Fava (broad) beans. I didn't grow or harvest any in 2012 so that accounts for over 100 pounds of produce right there, and that's not even in 2012's favor.

b) Peppers! I always grow a lot of different peppers, no more this year than in previous years, but this year the new garden beds made all the difference. The 2011 pepper harvest was bested by almost 107 pounds and in 2010 I harvested 77 fewer pounds. Last year my pepper plants were stunted by some disease or combination of diseases and perhaps too much root competition from sharing a bed with the tomatoes. The year before they were definitely deprived of water and nutrients by the invading roots from a nearby voracious oak tree. So the new raised beds with 100% more soil and no oak roots made all the difference, in spite of the plants being infected with some sort of virus that stunted their vegetative growth.

c) Tomatoes!!! Wow, what a difference. 110 pounds more than last year and 149 pounds more than in 2010. New beds with lots more good soil and NO RATS and no oak roots. And that's in spite of choosing a few varieties of tomatoes for 2012 that were not big producers. The tomato harvest last year had the potential to outdo this year but for the rats and my untimely vacation. The year before the tomatoes suffered in the same oak root infested bed as the peppers and a lot rotted on the vine while I was playing in Italy for 3 weeks - 'nuf said. Hmmm, perhaps it was my presence at the peak of the tomato harvest this year that really made the difference.

d) Eggplant. The numbers aren't huge, but the differences are significant. Last year the eggplant first sulked through an extra long cool spring and then was hit hard by bud worms - fewer flowers meant less fruit - 35 pounds more this year than last year. Although I also planted fewer plants last year, but not few enough to account for all the difference. The difference from 2010 isn't as big though, only 16 pounds less that year - warmer weather and no bud worms, but at least as many plants.

e) Winter squash. Another reason to get the new bed built. I didn't grow any for 2012 because there was no room for it. A missed opportunity for 39 pounds of produce.

f) Cucumbers. Well, the cucumber harvest would probably have been comparable last year, but the rats LOVED them. And in 2010, if I remember correctly that was the year that I decided that I need to grow cucumbers that are resistant to powdery mildew, the harvest was cut short because the plants died an early furry death.

g) Zucchini. Two plants this year, two plants in 2011, two plants in 2010 and all the same variety. So why 31 pounds more this year than in 2011 and 21 pounds more than in 2010? It's not because I let them grow into huge monsters this year, I generally harvested them within a day or two of when they bloomed - my normal practice with all zucchini. The rats didn't seem to be particularly enamored of them last year and the powdery mildew was no worse than usual. Perhaps last year they didn't appreciate the extra cool weather. Or perhaps this year they really loved digging their toes into some nice deep soil. Or maybe it's that vacation thing again...

h) Other missed opportunities. Garlic. Nada, zip, zero, zilch for 2012. Even if I had had the space to grow them for a 2012 harvest they were on furlough because of the horrible garlic rust in 2011 that cut the harvest down to 7 1/2 pounds from nearly 20 pounds in 2010. I've got some planted for 2013, not a lot, but enough to see if the rust won't be so bad this coming year. Romanesco broccoli. I didn't start any for harvest in spring of 2012 because of the construction plans. Beets, cabbage, carrots, fennel and spinach, and other miscellaneous greens - need that fourth bed!

So, how did your garden grow in 2012?