Requiem for a Potato Bed

Today I went out and dug out all my potatoes.  I'm so depressed.  It was without a doubt the best crop I've ever had.  It was heartbreaking digging out so many beautiful potatoes and dumping them in the green waste bin.  A couple of times I cut one, thinking maybe I'd find a good one, but no.  This is what they all looked like, some even worse.

I got four and a half buckets full, totaling 150 pounds.  I know, because I weighed one.

Well, now I know the secret of getting a big potato crop.  Actually two secrets, from Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch.  Dig a trench as usual, but plant the potatoes even deeper using a bulb planter.  And give them lots of water.  Someday I may try them again, but not in this garden. 

Update:  After turning the problem over to Neil to research, I've learned that the problem is lack of calcium.  Maybe this one variety (German Butterball) needs more.  So I will try again.

Good News and Bad News

First the bad news.  Today I decided it was time to dig a few potatoes for dinner.  They looked great, and there were a lot of them in the two plants we chose to dig up.  However, when I cut them to cook them, they had nasty brown spots all over inside.  There wasn't a single one that was usable.  I went back out to check on some other plants, hoping it was just at one end of the bed.  Unfortunately, all the potatoes are like that.  I did a little research and learned that it is most likely a virus carried by nematodes.  There is nothing I can do about it.  So, I guess my potato-growing days are over.

Now the good news.  I have a whole bed to plant more winter vegetables!  And next year, I have another bed to plant.  I'm already thinking about what I can put in there.  It looks like other crops won't be bothered by the virus.

Fall Grasses

I love grasses in the fall and winter.  I'm always stunned to see people cutting them to the ground in winter, when that is when they are the most beautiful.

This is Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition.'  It always reminds me of a school of tiny fish, all swimming in different directions.

And the Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' is so gorgeous and tall.

This is the variegated Calamagrostis 'Avalanche.'  

More Greens

Yesterday I tucked a couple of short rows of tatsoi and spinach seeds in the old carrot bed.  Little by little I'm getting the big carrots out.  They are huge, but still taste good.  Carrot soup?

Picture Perfect and Tasteless

I picked two of the Red October tomatoes.  They are supposed to keep on the vine as well as after they are picked. Just like the one I picked a while back, they are very firm and pretty tasteless.  They did work nicely in my squash and white bean saute.

Canna 'Phasion'

I thought this was 'Tropicana' but I was mistaken.  It's finally blooming, and it's a beautiful orange.  It's in a pot on the deck, but I plan to plant it in the front yard.

Golden Sentinel Apples

I've picked the last of the Golden Sentinel apples.  They are pretty good.