Potatoes

Today I planted a single row of potatoes in one of the beds. I planted one russet, just to try it, and the rest were yellow, I hope Yukon gold. 

The peppers and aubergines that I started ten days ago are up and out in the greenhouse. The lettuce and spinach are up, but no chard yet.

Same Potato, Same Problem

After the problem I had with the German Butterball potatoes a few years ago you'd think I'd learn. But no. This time I put lots of crushed eggshells in the bed, because the expert said they lacked sufficient calcium. So I dug them up and what do you know? Same problem. I did some research and found that the condition is called Internal Brown Spot and some potato varieties are more susceptible to it, including German Butterball. So now I know. The big baking size potatoes seem to have it worse, so I've tossed all of them. I'm also tossing the tiny ones. I'll keep the medium size ones because I can cut them in half to check them before cooking them. I've also kept all the potatoes from the last two plants on the end, because they were way behind the others for some reason. They're still very green. Maybe they haven't been affected. We'll see. 

Next year I'll go back to Yukon Gold, and only one row.

Late June Garden Status

After a rather cool spring, things are finally warming up. There are small green tomatoes on all the plants. No peppers or aubergines yet. After the snap peas fell over in a strong wind, I removed them yesterday. There were lots that were huge and fat, so I shelled them and froze them. Next year I think I'll try short ones. And now the cucumbers will be happy because they've been living in the shadow of the peas.

The potatoes are blooming. We've had some strawberries, but now they're taking a break. We've been picking blueberries for about two weeks, but most of them are still coming. I guess they liked the fertilizer I gave them, because they're huge. Even the new one that I just planted this spring to replace the Chandler has a nice crop. After we found a couple of stink bugs on the raspberries, I've pulled them all out. We haven't seen any since. In their place I planted some melons. They should like the heat against the house.

Both pear trees have a modest crop. The peaches are a washout again. Maybe it's time to give up on it.

The broccoli and cauliflower were a disappointment, but the cabbage is nice. I've cut one head and will cut another soon for sauerkraut. I will try them all again in the fall.

I've been doing a lot of interplanting. I've planted lots of dry beans among the roses and tomatoes, and lettuce as well. I've also just sowed some bok choi in shady spots to see if they'll work in the summer.

I pulled most of the chard, since I was spending a lot of time patrolling them for leaf miners. I have one of each color, much more manageable.

Lots of Veggies In

We've had a few days in the mid-80s, so I was anxious to get things into the ground. I've planted eight tomato plants, eight pepper plants, and two aubergines, all in the rose bed. I've planted zucchini and delicata squash and cucumbers in a raised bed, all ones I had started. Two melon plants went into the bed along the back of the house, in front of the raspberries.

I sowed some pole beans along the trellis on the deck where I killed the clematis montana by pruning it too late. I hope the ground is warm enough for them to sprout. And I sowed another row of carrots. Something is eating the first row, but I put Sluggo Plus down, so I hope that stops whatever it is.

The blueberries have lots of fruit coming, as do the new strawberries and the raspberries. And both the asparagus and potato beds are looking good. The pear trees has lots of fruit, and even the peach tree, which looks totally butchered, has quite a bit of fruit. And the mandarin is loaded with flower buds.

Status Report - July 23, 2018

Things have really been happening in the garden.  I've harvested the garlic and two of the potato plants.  We're now getting Stupice and Lizzano cherry tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, aubergines, carrots, chard, and kale.  The lettuce was very good (starts from Minto Island Growers) but have now bolted.  I've just planted the third sowing of green beans

and the last two rows of carrots.

 I also planted some cranberry beans.

 The leeks are ready but I haven't pulled any yet.

I started two Kale-ette plants from seed.  I moved them to the potato bed and put them under a shade cover because it's been in the 90s.

The herb bed has been a great success.  I'll do it again next year.

The rhubarb and squash bed is doing well.

The trough planter is really filling in.

 The new bed is filling in gradually.

 And the rose bed has been spectacular.

And last but not least we just picked all the pears on the Ubileen.  It was a bumper crop!

Potatoes

We've been digging potatoes for a while, but now it seems that the ones left in the ground are starting to sprout.  So I dug all of them.  I bought them at Life Source market, and the produce guy said they were Yukon Golds.  But I don't think they are.  They're yellow, but much larger than any Yukon Golds I've ever bought or grown.  I weighed one of the larger ones.  It was 1 lb. 3.5 oz.

Off and Running

We've had two nice days in a row, so I was able to get most of the vegetable garden started. 

I planted Yukon Gold potatoes, and one bed with spinach, a few beets, and chard.  I immediately covered that bed with netting to keep the leaf miners out (I hope!).

I also sowed one bed with kale, lettuce, and arugula.  I also sowed some basil in that bed.  And I started carrots in the bed that still has some leeks and chard from last year. 

I transplanted the seedling leeks into the herb bed, although they seem really tiny.

Just about everything has started to bloom or leaf out.  The early blueberries are in full bloom, as are the peach and nectarine.  The apples and pears are a little behind, but coming. 

We're seeing several stink bugs a day, including in the house.  I even saw a young light green one. Sigh.

Last Potatoes

Today we finished the Yukon Gold potatoes.  I put six little ones in the soup for lunch and I roasted the last big one for dinner. 

They lasted pretty well.  They were starting to sprout and get wrinkly, but still good.

Potato Harvest

Today I dug up the Yukon Gold potatoes.  There were lots of really big ones, and very few small ones.  The total was 32 pounds.  On top of that, I figure I probably dug another ten pounds in the last few weeks.  It isn't close to last year's harvest of German Butterballs, which was 150 pounds, but it's plenty for us.  They don't keep very long.

 And the best part is there is no sign of the problem I had last year.

I also picked a second Artemis melon.

Peas and Potatoes

Today I pulled out the snap peas.  We've had so much hot weather, with more to come in the next few days, that they looked as if they were finished. 

After a visit to Randy's this past weekend, and having some of his early potatoes for supper, I thought I'd fish around in my potato bed and see if I could find anything. David and I easily found five very large Yukon Golds.  I can't wait for the real harvest in a few months. 

There are some summer squash coming soon, and the tomatoes have yet to ripen.  The bush beans have flowers, as do the cucumbers.  I've picked a couple of peppers, one bell and one Gypsy.

State of the Garden

The vegetable garden is really starting to take shape. 

The potatoes are looking amazing.  They seem to grow right before our eyes.

We've put up the fence to hold up the asparagus and added another layer of twine to the raspberry bed.

 I planted the tomatoes, aubergines and peppers, the latter two under netting to foil the stink bugs.

I started the summer squash in the pea bed.  We've been getting really nice lettuce, which is also under netting to keep the leaf miners out of the chard and beets.

Gloriosas

Today when I was at Terra Gardens I found they had gloriosa bulbs.  So I bought one, to make a total of four for my two planter boxes.  I planted them 2 inches deep, with the sprouting tip facing up.

The potatoes have all sprouted.  And the strawberries have settled nicely in their new bed.

Tonight we had our first salad of baby kale and lettuce, with a little chervil thrown in.

I repotted the two citrus trees into new glazed pots.  The look much nicer.

Potatoes

Today I planted a bed of Yukon Gold potatoes.  I amended the bed with 1 1/2 c. of bone meal and 1/2 c. of ground eggshells.  I dug a trench, then used the bulb planter.

I got the seed potatoes from Territorial, 2 lbs. for $15.95.  Earlier this week, when I was at the hardware store in Mt. Angel, I noticed I could have gotten them (not organic) for $.89 per lb.

I also started more pepper plants.  None of the seeds from the first planting germinated.  I think they may have been too wet. 

Potato Harvest

A couple of months ago I transplanted three or four potato volunteers from last year's bed into a big pot on the deck.  I wasn't going to grow any more potatoes after last year's problem.  But I learned it was a calcium deficiency, so I added some bone meal and decided to give it a try.  There was a small sprinkler in the pot, which was hooked into the deck watering system, so it got plenty of regular water.

I was pleased with how many potatoes we got.  None were huge, but that's o.k.  And it sure was easy to harvest them.  We just dumped the pot on a tarp and sifted through the soil with our hands.  And no damaged potatoes from the spading fork.  This is definitely the way I'll grow potatoes next year.

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.

Some Tidying Up

Yesterday morning we decided to try to clean up at least one of the walkways in the garden.  It had gotten to the point that walking along the two main north-south paths was nearly impossible.  To add to the peril, the shut-off valves for the drip irrigation are along that path.  So we put up a piece of metal fencing along the potatoes and a couple of small fence pieces along the edge of the beans.  I then put in stakes to hold the melons back.  It's great.  Now we can walk safely back to get to the east-west beds.

The other path, the concrete one, is still tricky, but we really don't need to use it.  It's possible to access those beds from the other side.

In the afternoon I declared Beckyberry season officially over, so I tackled the job of cutting back the old canes and tying up the new ones.  It took several hours, but it's nice to have it done.  The boysenberries are not finished yet, so I left them to do later.

The Vegetable Garden in June

Here's what the garden looks like right now.

The potatoes look like they're on steroids.  I think there may be too much nitrogen in the new soil.  The strawberry plants are also huge, with few flowers.

I ran out of my IRT plastic, and I haven't been able to find any to replace it. so I cut up a couple of black plastic trash bags for the sweet potatoes and melons.

The tomatoes and peppers are looking good, with lots of blossoms.

The salad greens are doing well.  I pulled the arugula and spinach and have replanted them, as well as more lettuce, kale, and chard.

I've also sowed another two rows of carrots. The first carrots are just about harvesting size, and the beets are golf ball size.

The eggplants and squash in big pots are also doing well.

A Week Away

We've been away for a week, on a trip to California, and things have really changed.  The tomatoes look really good.

The pea trellis blew over, so we've reinforced it with some rebar.   We have tons of snap peas.

The potatoes have gotten really big, but no flowers yet.

The beds with greens are doing well, under cover to protect the beets and chard from the pine siskins.

The pole beans are still not very tall, but the nasturtiums with them are starting to bloom.

The blueberries are looking good.  The Bluecrop has tons of fruit, but the Chandler has none.

The biggest disappointment is the sweet potatoes.  I had planted them before we left on our trip, hoping they'd take hold.  But they all died. 

More Things Planted

Today I planted the peppers in the tomato bed.  I also planted the small basil plants at the edge of the same bed.  The bigger plants, the ones I got at the MG plant sale, are now in pots, three plants in each pot.

I planted a couple of butternut squash starts in the front yard.  I'll need to keep them under control by pruning them back.

After several days of light rain, things are really looking good.  The beans are up and the potatoes have been hilled.

 We've eaten some of the spinach, and the chard and kale are coming along.

The new salad crops are up, and the pea pods are forming.

 The artichokes have settled in and appear to be thriving.

 The first planting of carrots and beets are doing well, and the second planting is up.