Postseason Wrap-Up

20,000 words.  Almost halfway there.  I fixed a big problematic section yesterday, which felt great.  I hated to quit for the night, but I was baking this morning at 3am.

Last Wednesday, I ripped out the broccoli and Brussels sprouts.  They were both heavily infested, and the sprouts never sprouted anything bigger than a gumball.  On the other hand, I can now get to the backside of the tomato plant much easier.  It doesn't seem to realize that it's November.  I'm still getting strong shoots, blossoms, and tomatoes.  They're less frequent and smaller, but they are happening still.
The onions are healthy, and I really do need to use some before they aren't so healthy.  I also pulled the dead asparagus crown.  I'll leave in the one that's hanging on and see what happens next year.

So, here's the rundown on the 2013 gardening season.

• Coffee grounds as mulch seemed to have worked.  I used plant food a few times, but mostly kept dumping coffee leftovers on the plants.
• Pesticides are a necessary evil.  While I'm not fond of chemicals, they kept the plants alive.
• Read the instructions on your plants before buying.  Artichoke and asparagus are not easy to wait for when you're expecting fast results.  Plant herbs and lettuce if you want to start harvesting in a few weeks, not years.
• I finally turned a profit.  It was primarily in cherry tomatoes, which run $2 a pound.  I'm going to guess I've picked close to five pounds over the past five months.  A pound a month doesn't sound like a lot, but it paid for the underperforming Brussels and Gus twins.  I'm going to call the onions a break-even and the broccoli a slight profit.  This doesn't take into account the many pounds of dirt I had to buy to fill in the pond.  I'm going to "pay" for that one in artichokes and lemons, since they were paid for in previous years.

We'll see how long the tomato plant lasts before I start planning for next year.  Imagine, I don't even have to buy temporary filler plants yet!