It’s been a l-o-n-g time since Kris and I gave an update on our garden project. I’ve been too wrapped up in writing a book to pay attention to anything else. Now that I’ve pulled my head out of the sand, I can finally devote some time to other projects — like the garden.

To be honest, we’ve done nearly nothing in the yard since October. Literally. We haven’t found time to cut back the grapes, prune the fruit trees, or train the berry vines. I’m not sure that Kris even plans to place a seed order, although the seed catalogs have been pouring in.

Correction: Kris tells me that she has been working in the flower gardens; I’ve just been too buried in my book to notice it. And the reason she’s not placing a seed order is that she doesn’t need to. Like a good frugalista, she’s decided that, for the most part, she can the leftover seeds she already has.

Fans of our garden project have been e-mailing us to ask for updates. I’m afraid y’all will be a bit disappointed in 2010. We’ll still be growing a garden, but we’ve made a conscious decision to make it simpler and smaller, and we’re going to take a year off from tracking our “income” and expenses. We have a lot of travel planned, which would make things difficult. (Though I guess we could teach our house-sitter how to track the harvest.)

The berries and fruit trees will do their own things with little effort from us, and instead of starting most of our seeds inside this year, Kris will be buying potted starts at the Master Gardener show. Last year, she noticed growers are now carrying many of the heirloom tomato varieties she prefers. This year’s garden will focus on fresh salsa and salad ingredients (tomatoes, basil, jalapenos, basil, onions, a few cukes, zucchini, peas, green beans and beets).

But while we won’t be tracking the financial side of things in 2010, we do intend to give brief updates throughout the year. We’ll give you photos of our young and maturing garden, crow about our first berry harvest, and share recipes to go along with our late summer bounty of vegetables.

And, as always, we love to hear what you are doing in your own gardens. If any of you are tracking your profits and losses, feel free to share throughout the growing season.

This article is about Food, Frugality, House and Home  Saturday, 30th January 2010 (by J.D. Roth)