Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I just put my other blog to bed for a while, as I would rather just work on one, and would like to do more posting about my garden and other sustainability projects right here anyway.

On that note, we are finally enjoying some of the fruits of our labor!  I had a lot of fun the other night pulling up our potato bed.  Digging deep and sifting through the dirt was so addictive that I stayed out till almost 10 p.m, and got completely filthy.  I could have let them go a little longer, but I was ready to use the bed for something else.


From a very small patch and with very minimal dirt mounding, this was our harvest.



I used the grape-sized potatoes in a nicoise-esque salad, along with our first cucumber, the last of our french green beans and plenty of home- grown salad mixed with fresh herbs.  Very satisfying, in many ways!

I've been a bit disappointed with some of the results from other plantings-- it seems like I should be getting quite a bit more produce!  Oh, well.  We'll learn which plants will grow and produce well for us as we go.

7 comments:

DaveShack said...

Arugula is easy. Turns out it's harvestable after two weeks or so, at which time you pull out the whole plants if you want young greens for salad and replant the whole row. If you like the flavor stronger, you leave it in for a few more weeks (harvesting leaves all the while) and harvest it all when the leaves start to get a tiny bit hairy, otherwise it goes to seed...

So when did you plant those potatoes? How many plants yielded all that? Just what you had in those boxes? I buried four mid0sized potatoes in a raised bed and have some big plants now but am not sure what happens next...

Daniel Shackelford said...

I am looking forward to our potato harvest. On a whim I cut up some organic potatoes that we had in the fridge, let them seal over the cuts for a day or so and then dug a trench and buried them in the bottom of that. Took them forever to come up, but now we have 8 plants. Since they are in trenches I am pulling more dirt on them, which should make them produce more potatoes. Next year we will plant lots, and let them be our primary carbs through winter, keeping the kale and winter squash company.

Dave, I hear that you can start harvesting new potatoes near the top once the plants start flowering. But, you can also leave them in until later in the season and the potatoes will store longer.

Unknown said...

I planted quite a few pieces of cut up potatoes, there were probably about ten plants. I added dirt, but definitely not as much as I could have (you can do them up to four tires high.) The biggest potatoes are obviously at the bottom. It didn't seem to take long, maybe a couple months. You are supposed to keep mounding dirt, leaving about four or so inches exposed. Once they flower, they will start dying back, and that's when they're done. Mine weren't all dead yet, but some were, so I just took them all out.

Robin said...

What a gorgeous plate!

ShackelMom said...

Wow! That is amazing! That looks like a very satisfying dinner, in every way!

Nathan said...

Oh, I am kicking myself! I didn't get around to planting potatoes "via the tire method" this year- the ironic thing, we have been consuming more red potatoes this summer! drat.

we just harvested some broccoli and peas this week and you are right...very gratifying!

BTW- we mailed off a package on Monday to Amelia on Monday. hopefully you will get it soon!

-carol

Unknown said...

Hi Carol,
First of all, we DID get your package in the mail yesterday, that was so much fun! I'll be sending you a note soon.
I was actually thinking of planting a second round of potatoes next week. They grew so quickly, I'm pretty sure there's still time. I noticed in one of your photos that you actually have some tires already-- so you're one big step ahead of me!