Holy @#%& That’s Not A Potato!

For the record, this is a potato.

And this isn’t.

But when you see that thing and it’s in the dirt and it’s where a potato ought to be, well your mind fills in a blank.  It goes something like this:

My Mind: Here’s the happy farmer digging for potatoes.  Is he afraid of spiders?  Nope.  Good thing, cause there’s lots of them.  Is he afraid of slugs?  A little, but he’s confident he can outrun one.  Is he.. ooh, there’s a potato.. got you you little sucker… thought you could hide yourself?  No way.. not from this guy.. This guy is totally on the ball and totally zeroing in on potatoes.  He’s the potato master!  Bow to me… oohh there’s another one.. got it.. wriggly one.  Soft.  Hmm.. did it rot?  Odd.  Why does it have teeth?  Jesus!  It bit me!  What the… mother@#%$@&… that potato bit me and now it’s scurrying away!  Get it!  I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the kind of potato grower that lets his potatoes grow and then grow teeth and then bite him and then scurry away!  <dives>  Got you.. holy @#$@… I don’t think that’s a potato.  I’m so going to boil it anyway.

The potatoes did fairly well.  Several pounds of a blue kind and a not blue kind.  (Next year I’ll pay attention to the names!)  There was a family of voles in there and they had been gnawing on some of them, but most made it through.

Dirty hands… dirty work.

A collection of some of the potatoes.

Just remember… if you grow your own potatoes, they aren’t supposed to bite.

Filed under: potato , growing potatoes, voles

Podchef’s Potato Video

Informative video here from the Podchef on planting potatoes.   (If you aren’t listening to his gastrocast podcast, you should give it a try…)

My potatoes are getting big.  Most are at or past the 4-inch mark and I’m going to do one dirt hilling to give the potatoes more room to become potatoes and then I plan on mulching with straw. 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: potato, vegetable garden , podchef, potato planting

State Of The Stuff: What’s Growing

It’s May 18 and just about everything is in my garden.  I’m holding off on tomatoes and peppers for another week because it’s supposed to be pretty cold and wet for about 5 or 6 days.  I’ve got some tomoatoes just sitting out in the garden getting used to the place and I’ve still got several transplants under the growlights.  Can’t wait.

Beans checking out their pole

Beet sprouts

Broccoli (Gastrocast)

Started from seed 3/25

Green rows

Bean teepee

Potatoes looking pretty

Wasp is thirsty

Pole Beans: They’ve been in the dirt for 3 weeks and are just poking their little muppet heads out now.  I’ve got a few varieties.  Should be spectacular.

Bush Beans: Same story as above.  Just a few poking up now.  I’m a little worried, but we’ll see what the week brings.  If they don’t pop, I’ll just replant.  Plenty of time for beans.

Beets: 3 good rows have been in since May 4 and they are popping very nicely.  These are the ones I’m using for the Growing Challenge.  So far, so good.

Greens: Mesclun transplants have been made into many a meal already.  Delicious.  The staggered plantings I’ve done have all sprouted at various stages.  I’ve got about 3 successions.  Tom Thumb lettuce, chard, oak leaf, mesclun, tyee spinach, space saver spinach, arugula, miners lettuce are all doing well.

Peas: Carouby de Mausanne and Cascadia.  The peas in the earthbox are about 8 inches now.  They’ve been going since the end of March.  The peas in the garden are about 4 inches and were planted mid April. 

Carrots: Not a whole lot happening here.  They’ve been in since 5/4.   Just a couple of little peekers.

Radishes: Black radishes are doing great.  They’ve been in since 5/4.  Radish mix that I have going in a container on the deck (planted chaotically.. we’ll see) are doing well too.

Broccoli: Just a few plants.  Two are transplants and they are absolutely thriving so far.  Foot tall already.  The third is a transplant from the seeds I got as part of the Gastrocast’s seed special.  It was a bit sickly early on, but recovered very well.  I popped it into the garden yesterday.

Cucumbers: Just put in a Bush Crop.  Six plants.  I had so many cukes last year that I cut down a bit.

Potatoes: Bigger patch than last year and they have all sprouted.  The potatoes are approaching the 4 inch mark and I’ll need to get some straw going soon.

 

Filed under: Peas, beets, growing challenge, potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , beans, chard, lettuce, mesclun, Peas, pole beans, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, vegetable garden

Potatoes, chard, lettuce etc.

Lots of stuff in the garden now either as seed or as transplants. We’ve had a crazy nice stretch of weather here in Connecticut which has probably lulled me into a sense of frost forgetfulness. We shall see…

1. More peas. Planted a bunch of peas on the 14th. I made a quick trellis using twine and bamboo poles. Two basic varieties – carouby de maussanne and cascadia. I love peas and I’ve got more going in an earthbox on my deck.

2. Lettuce mix. A handful of transplants and also seeds in on the 14th of a mesclun mix from the Gastrocast special seed offer from Seeds From Italy.

3. Kale from seed also from the Seeds From Italy thing. Just a couple of feet of kale plantings.

4. Spinach. Space Saver and tyee also planted on the 14th. I’d say about two long rows of that. Love spinach.

5. Onions. Transplants. Just a small bunch since I tend not to like the one-and-done kind of veggies; I prefer stuff that keeps producing. (Carrots and radishes are the big exception to this rule for me. Love those.) Planted on the 14th.

6. Leeks. Same as above.

7. Chard. From seed on the 14th in a nice long row and from transplants today (4/20).

8. Onion sets. I’ve never done this before and wanted to give it a try. I’ll keep them in to have a handful of onions to store.

9. Potatoes. I put in some nice blue potatoes and some regular old potatoes too. Did that today.

10. Broccoli. Just two transplants on the 14th. I’ve got some others started and we’ll see if they will make it.

I still need to work on improving the soil – especially before tomatoes go in. I’ll do some beans, beets, carrots and more greens through this week.

Here’s the latest view from above:

Filed under: Peas, potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , new plantings, vegetable garden

Potential Potato Problems

I’ve done what I can to contribute to my own personal great potato famine. 

Last year, since I really, really didn’t know what I was doing, I planted potatoes and knew I had to hill them.  Instead of using soil to hill, I had heard that straw was a great way to go.  As the plants emerged I waited for them to get a little height and then piled some straw (not hay… you don’t want the seeds) up to the first leaves.

Should have stopped there and maybe done a little more, but I sort of just kept piling the straw on into the summer.  Pretty soon it was a huge ol’ pile of straw with potato stems valiantly trying to grow through it to reach the sun. 

This year, I’ve ordered my potatoes, but I let them sit too long and they’ve rotted a bit.  I’ll need to start over, but I probably won’t lose much time.  In the next week or two I can get them out in the garden.  And this time, I’ll hill properly.

Here’s a video from gardenforktv on how to hill potatoes.

 

Filed under: potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , potato, vegetable gardening

New Garden This Weekend

It’s time I think.  Nights are still frequently below freezing here, but spring is definitely here.  The lawn is getting green and we’re getting a lot of rain.  It’s time to get the garden going.

This year I am expanding.  My garden last year was only at 17 x 13.  This year it’s going to be 24 x 24 with more traditional rows.  This means that I need to pull out the chicken wire fence and start over.   I’m not going to create a permanent, nicer fence yet – I want to make sure this year goes well and I’m not exactly sure what the new size is going to mean for sun exposure.

But at any rate, I’ve got tilling to do, compost to add, topsoil to add and trellises to build.  No big deal!  It can all happen.  Next weekend, it’s time to plant.

I’ll be chitting my potatoes tomorrow too.  I’ll take pictures and post that.

Filed under: garden design, potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , garden, garden design, vegetable garden, vegetables