Lunche$

Organic chicken (baked with the rosemary I grew myself), organic bread, and the lettuce I grew myself.

It's amazing to me how much better this "beyond organic" lettuce tastes versus the four-dollar organic stuff I routinely buy.  But that stuff gets shipped from California, taking who knows how long to get here, and lettuce does not age well. 

I think I could keep myself supplied in lettuce for at least several (cooler) months of the year.  It's proving to be easy to grow and the eight additional square feet I've planted in the stock tanks seem to be coming along nicely. 

For the most part, because we've gone 'high-end suburban' with these stock tanks and integrating the vegetables into the landscaping, gardening will cost us more than we'll ever recoup via harvest.  But the harvest is not insignificant: I estimate that I spend at least $150 per year on fresh lettuce and fresh basil alone, not to mention all the other fresh herbs I buy at exorbitant cost.  And probably another $75 per year on organic onions, and God only knows what I spend on hothouse tomatoes.  A few years of routine harvests and it will put a noticeable dent in the $1,300 garden installation cost.

BEFORE (November 10)

AFTER (December 2):  The Swiss chard hasn't done squat, but the broccolis are taking over the place.