Numbers and Gardening

There are four large seed filled watermelon in the refrigerator in the shed.  Good thing chickens love watermelon.  My one little watermelon plant has produced about 11 watermelons.  We threw out 3 that had rotted, ate 4 and have these four left.  I pulled the plant yesterday so we will have no more of these.

I have used forty cups of zucchini (either shredded or sliced) to make many batches of chocolate chip zucchini bread and lots of Bacon and Mozzarella Quiche.  I have no idea how many more zucchini rotted on the vine or I threw away because they were going bad.  

I used up three pounds Japanese eggplants making eggplant hummus.  Plus early in the summer the chickens probably fed on at least another pound as I had not realized it was time to pick some and they were overripe.  I also made a vegetable ratatouille that was alright.  I am looking around now for another recipe as I still have some in the refrigerator.  

I am guessing on the total number of pounds of grape tomatoes I have cooked with or eaten.  I used about 5 pounds making roasted tomatoes to eat on bread with avocado.  Most of that is in the freezer.  I have made at least three caprese salads this summer which uses a lot of grape tomatoes.  And of course, we have eaten them in fresh spinach salads a time or too.  

I have used ten pounds of Roma and other large tomatoes to make two batches of tomato jam.  I also made one batch of salsa which used six pounds of large tomatoes.  Mike has eaten a few salads with the Roma tomatoes but a lot of them were not edible when I got to them.  I am thinking next year I only raise regular Roma tomatoes and the Roma grape tomatoes.  They were the ones I liked best this year.  Since I have yet to discover a tomato that grows well for me I will just plant what I like to eat and hope for the best yet again.  

Forty four is the number of jalapeños I sliced and froze so Mike can make homemade jalapeño burgers in the winter.  Now we need a recipe.  I do not know how many in total have been produced and are still being produced from this one giant jalapeño plant

This is the number of green peppers that I can remember slicing for the freezer.  I like to use these in soups during the winter.  However, I may have to start making soup now as the freezer is full.  We have resorted to using the little freezer in the shed for the latest of my summer produce.  

I peeled, cored and sliced sixty apples to make four batches of applesauce.  We had more apples on the tree but this year they were small and a lot were bruised.  Fortunately there is always next year.  

The number of raised beds I want to add to my garden area.  Based on the numbers above, it would not seem like I need to grow any more fruits and vegetables but I want to grow pumpkins again.  I love decorating with them in the fall and besides, I did not realize this, but chickens love to eat them.