Rain or Shine

My potatoes are here!

I have 10 different types of potatoes. Yay! In total I will have about 95 plants. The different types I have and there description:

Desiree/Rose colored with a creamy yellow inside

Purple Majesty/ Purple outside and inside

Russet Burbank/ typical french fry or baked potato type

Nooksack/ Not sure??? Ha!

Yellow Finn/ brown with yellow inside kinda like a Yukon gold

Sangre/very red outside white inside

Irish Cobbler/brown outside white inside

Viking Purple/Deep purple outside with hints of hot pink very white inside

Basic Red Potatoes/We all know what these look like:)

All Blue/Dark blue purple on the outside and blueberry colored on the outside

Some of these are early potatoes which mean I can eat them sooner. Some are late potatoes which take one and a half to twice as long to mature. I will just have to play it by ear. I could very well get as many as 1,000 potatoes out of my plants. I don't think I can eat all of those. I will be selling some at the market. Wish me luck!

Bean Teepees

This is a space saver when growing beans. Above is a small space version of the bean tee pee. Your poles can be wood or bamboo. You want to use 5-6 poles that are at least 6 -7 feet tall. Make a tee pee out of them and tie them at the top. Then you will need to make notches with a knife where you will tie the string. If not the rope will slip down. You can plant a bean plant on each side of the poles (2 between each pole). When they start to grow help guide them and then the bean plant should do the rest.
The picture above is what it should look like when it has grown quite a bit.

These are larger more spaced out tee pees. They are called living tee pees and can be fun for kids. Also they are interesting to look at! :) You will have to pick beans from the outside and the inside.

This gives you a better view of what a large kids bean tee pee looks like without the beans.

transplating garlic

I had these to garlic cloves growing inside in a container. They started looking sad so I decided they needed more room. I am planting them in the ground outside by my grow box. I just wanted to show you what the roots already look like at a month.

growing potato in buckets

If you want to grow potatoes in buckets you will need to know a few things. You can use 5 gallon buckets but as large as plastic garbage can (you know the big round ones) Just make sure they are plastic and not see through. You will want to drill at least 1/2 inch size holes in the bottom. Drill quite a few for drainage. You will need to drill more along the bottom sides. It is best to put them on top of rocks or bricks so they drain well. put about 4 inches of dirt in the bottom to start. Place your tater seed on top of the dirt. 2 seed potato for 5 gallon buckets and a few more if you use a big trash can. Just space them apart well. If you use a large trash can you can fit at least 4 or 5 seed, one in the middle and a few around it. Cover them with about 3 more inches of dirt. After they start to come up you need to cover them again but with a dirt and mulch mix. Some people use cut hay and dirt maybe with a little cow manure. I think a 1/3 of each is a good mix. Keep using this method until your are 4 inches from the top of the 5 gallon bucket. If you have used a trash can figure about 2 feet from where the potato seed is. If your trash can is very tall and wont be about 5 or 6 inches left at the top you need to cut the trash can down to make it a bit shorter. Once the buckets or cans are filled just let them go wild. The potato plant is very nice looking with flowers. Once it has stopped flowering and the plant starts to yellow a bit and get droopy it is time to harvest. You can check for potatoes by digging down a side carefully with your hands to check to see if you have good size taters. Pull the plant out by hand. Pick any off still attached to the root system. Then dump your buckets on the side and start pulling dirt and potatoes out. Save this dirt for another area of your garden. It ends up being pretty rich. Just don't replant potatoes in it. This dirt can also be the start of a compost pile. By adding banana peels, old plants, l.eaves, crushed egg shells and old veggies from the fridge it will become the best dirt ever.

Just to give you an idea of how big my garden is.

This was taken last April of 2009. Just to give you an idea of how big my garden is. Stacey took this picture at the front fence and I am standing all the way at the back fence. Do you think I have enough room?? This year I will fill this area up, the front porch, the small bed in front of the house and I have already started planting near the ditch at the very front of my property by the road. I am going to take up every bit of this garden this year.

What's growing on the ground?

I have a spot in the garden that i have planted a few things right on the ground. above are leeks. I also planted Red onions and bunch onion. I will have to move these when the tractor come in. which is fine. I am going to plant onions all over the place and garlic to help with the bugs. The leeks will find a special Leek garden somewhere off to the side where they won't be bugged! no pun intended. Leeks aren't ready to pull until at least fall and you really want a good hard frost to have at them first. You can leave them in the ground all winter and pull as needed. I have been told that they can even handle getting snowed on. cold improves the taste.
This is a brussel sprout... and a sprout is all that it will be. They don't do so well here. The summer is to hot. I was hoping I could nurse mine and mulch heavily for good water retention. Then maybe give them a screen so they get some sun but don't get burned all summer. I will give it a try even though I will probably fail :( It's just to hot here in the summer. If not i will try to grow them in the fall. They too like a colder day and brisker temp.

More radishes. I mixed up the white and the red so it will be a surprise. I like surprises. It only takes about a month for radishes to grow.

This is one of my shallots finally coming up. Yay! I love shallots... Shallots and potatoes! Most of my garden could be used in a gourmet kitchen. I was thinking about ordering a portabella mushroom growing kit. They are fairly cheap and grow way more mushrooms then I can cook. Something else i might consider selling at market.