Delicious! Plus check not my onion - yay!
As I was digging the potatoes with my potatoes-only-pitchfork I was thinking how effective planting potatoes is... what a great project! You improve the soil, get potatoes, have the fun of a 'treasure hunt', and then just when you need it - you get to use the straw just when you need it! I'll use the just-dug area to plant some beans - the soil is all ready. And I used the used straw to mulch down some other things. It's just a great way to manage the garden.
I had an adventure yesterday (more on that later) and I found myself at a nursery that was clearing out the last of everything....including their seed potatoes. I saw a sign that shocked me.
"FREE potatoes?" I asked incredulously.
"Sure! Just take some." Replied the sales gal.
I still couldn't believe it - but I grabbed a couple of sacks of Cobbler and Red Pontiac seed potatoes and thanked her profusely. Then I drove away fast just in case she changed her mind. No one followed me so I figured I was OK.
These new seed potatoes will be planted today and then will be ready in September. I have plenty of time to get them in the ground.
I'm always so surprised at this end of the country. They act like the only planting time is until June then everyone just gives up. I'm not sure why - it seems so weird to me. Succession planting is a terrific strategy and is easy and fun.
We should have a couple of dry, rain-free days so I'm thrilled to get outside and do some work in the garden. The weeds are horrific and have taken over everything. But I'll fight the good fight and get these spuds in the ground.
Happy Thursday everyone - are you planting? Did you rain stop? Did you wish you had some rain?
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5 comments:
No potatoes planted here this year....but I do miss having a potato harvest, and I shall have to buy in potatoes if I am to get a stock of jars of potatoes into the larder. I never knew that potatoes could be used a successional crop, but now I do. Bless you for sharing that bit of very helpful info.
As for rain....none here today, none forecasted for the immediate future! Meanwhile, our fields are looking more sun burnt every day!
We are gasping for rain here in SW France. We've had a quick thunderstorm about two weeks ago, and a minor one which lasted for two minutes yesterday, but it has been a heatwave here and my veggies are really suffering, and not much grass left for the sheep.
Here in Batavia OH we have had a stupid amount of rain. Which continues. I had mulched our taters with straw only to discover last weekend that they were molding and rotting the tater stems. With unwelcome mushrooms. Argh. I guess we will harvest them this weekend, way sooner than we thought.
Well, for heaven's sake! I never considered succession planting potatoes. My harvest looks to be a bust this year. Here it is, the first of July, and we can't find potato 1 under the vines. Usually we're scrabbling out plenty by this time. We had a terribly dry May. Did that do it? I've always said that whatever else happens (or doesn't happen) in the garden, I can count on potatoes. Not this year. But maybe if I hurry some into the ground...
I checked today and sure enough, potatoes! It's rained just about every day in NW PA and I feel kind bad saying this but this is my best garden ever. I'm due at the end of the month so this year I got everything in by mid-May and also raked up all my rows into raised beds 'cause, you know, I wasn't getting any smaller. Thank goodness, because all of this rain has just pooled in the walkways and left the plans nicely watered. The garden is 35x60 so it was a lot of work but I'm totally going this route from now on. Also, I would love to put in more potatoes and keep sowing lettuce but I didn't plan well and all of the nurseries are prety much done for the season after this weekend :(
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