You Say Potato...

This is my potato harvest spread on the cookiesheet. Last February, in the pantry, I discovered a bin filled with sprouting potatoes. Instead of dumping them straight into the compost, I scratched the earth below a blanket of leaf mulch in an unused part of my vegetable garden and laid them to rest. Potatoes at rest apparently offended Sissy, the calico, because she promptly dug them up. They grew anyway. They were determined in the pantry and not to be deterred in the good earth. When I saw green leafy matter poking up through the leaf mulch, I piled the mulch on even higher. My number one gardening adviser, Mama, said they'd be ready when they bloomed. Last weekend I noticed the first two plants in the row were brown. In certain defeat I pulled them up. Voila! Even the still green plants were fully potatoed. When next I spoke with Mama she was surprised by my news and checked her own plants. Same story in Wilmington as in Raleigh. Who knew?




After the daddy rabbit and his brood feasted on my okra plants the week of June 1, I covered them with this floating row cover on June 8. It lets in moisture and sun and keeps out those who have the munchies. Jubal says he knew about the rabbits, but did not know the okra were important to me. Between Jubal's alert vigilance and the row cover, the okra crop has recovered its growth.






This is Sissy putting the cat in catnip. That's oregano in the immediate foreground.










We had about an inch of rain yesterday evening that fell slowly and soaked nicely into the ground. So that's mud I was digging in with my all time favorite gardening tool--Wolf Garten hand held rake. The pile of rocks came out of the hole and the scrawny Jubilee tomato went in. This is a part of the garden not previously tilled. Believe me, the rest of the space was just like this when I tilled it the first through seventh times. I love the Jubilee because it's reliably large with balanced acidity and it's yellow. I note that Jubal, whom I love, shares similar traits.





Brandywine--heirloom with large potato-leaved foliage; bears large pink beefsteak-shaped fruit. The fruit weighs over a pound. Last year I had one 2 pounder.
To the right is my full row of tomatoes--Beefsteak, Brandywine and Jubilee. Started the seeds under the grow light in late February.






This is my overflow row of tomatoes consisting of the cherries, and the extra seedlings of the Jubilee, Brandywine and Beefsteak. At the end near the Adirondack chairs is the cheater tomato that I bought for $2.59 in Dobson (county seat of Surry County) when I was there in May. The cheater, aka Park's Whopper Improved CR, was in full bloom with several small fruit when I bought it. Some people I know brag about eating their tomatoes by the 4th of July. That doesn't happen for me and the plants I start from seed--more likely the end of July. Yes, I gave in to peer pressure.