LIFE HAS BEEN BUSY here on Possum Lane. I don’t do well when it is too hot (read humid) to breathe, on those days I would like to curl up next to Hadji and his catnip pillow and take a nap. Move over meeses, make room.
But, I have never been able to sleep during the day anyway, so all I would accomplish is several relocated catnip mice and a disgruntled cat. Speaking of cats, as I came home from the store the other day, I noticed my lump of gold (read Punkin) curled up asleep on my potato bags.
Remember my great “farming” experiment with potato growing bags? The growing bags were about $11 each and took 2 BIG bags of potting or garden soil mix. I got the seed potatoes from a friend. I doubted it would work, but I followed the directions.
After a while, I saw leaves! I was excited. It has been a long hot dry summer so far – we are under an extreme drought designation – so it meant watering faithfully. They looked OK when I went to PA to see my Aunt, but they were dead as anything when I came home. So, I stopped watering them. Did I mention I know NOTHING about growing potatoes? I figured they were dead. $40 out the window, or something like that. Shoot, I could buy a lot of potatoes for $40! So, while Punk found a new bed in the yard, I waited for a cooler day, dragged out my potting soil storage unit ( read trash can)
and got the shovel. After a few good scoops of dirt, the shovel hit something! Well, what do you know? I put the shovel aside, having just split what I figured was the only potato in the bag, and scooped with my trusty potting soil scooper (read cool whip container) and what do you know! Or as one of my former students used to say – Viola! Yes, that is what he said – I know what I spelled. As I dug thru the dirt, I found some decent sized redskin potatoes. I also found a bunch of little potatoes starting to sprout… they were too tiny to bother with, so I replanted them, watered them, and have one bag out there to see if I get a second crop. This batch weighed in at 5 lbs, and that is after the dirt was washed off and tiny ones replanted.
Punkin is not happy having a soggy bag out in the yard, but that is too bad. He will find another spot. And so I made some potato salad today. Lunch was awesome. My own potato salad, my own tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Does it get better than this? OH, and by the end of next week, my second crop of string beans, yellow wax, and Italian flats will be ready to be picked. Who said I'd never make a good farmer? Oh, right, I did. Who'd a known?
4 comments:
yes, those potato plants die back in June here... then you pull all those plants up and dig for the taters.. I would expect growing them in bags... it is easier to dig the potatoes. I'm so glad your experiment worked well for you!!
Funny post. I suppose some people don't know that one is that potato vines die or the plant does and you dig the prize out of the ground. We always planted potatoes when I was growing up and harvested them and kept them until they were all used up.
Your post was an interesting post to read.
Here I am. It is my real name. Abraham (my grandfather's middle name, "Wesley") Lincoln. I am Abraham Lincoln ('cause I leave the Wesley part out).
And, yes, I am related to President Lincoln, a third cousin – we shared one of our great grandfathers. Now, you can tell your kids or your friends and relatives that you got a comment from a real Abraham Lincoln.
I am on a kind of vacation but get out and about when I have too much on my mind. They brought the new roof yesterday. That was a HUGE surprise to us. We had been going at the insurance company, back and forth, and then they showed up. Not much of a vacation...I drug my oxygen tank around a couple of times marveling at this monumental truck with a crane on it that transported whole skids of stuff up on the roof.
Great find with the surprise potato crop! Hope we have good luck too with the ones that Grenville planted. Yes, growing your own veggies can be rewarding as we've been eating them all week! Zukes and cukes are all gone, but eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes are thriving despite drought conditions (thanks for garden watering while we were away).
New potatoes and just picked green beans with a slab of ham makes a wonderful supper. Add a home grown tomato and your eating high on the hog!
Post a Comment