Firsts and Lasts
September 21, 2011
We built the first fire last weekend and it felt good. Although I hate to get into the wood stash so soon.
Now we’re back to sunny days for a little bit and it feels like the days are so short, with so much to do before the fall rains hit in earnest.
The tomatoes are waning fast, and I picked the last of the pole beans and pickling cukes today.
Perfect weather for potato digging.
Just trying to hold onto summer a little while longer.
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Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Hey, Nita. What sort of yield, per pound per plant, are you getting from your potatoes?
Kristin, we just started digging yesterday, trying to fit a few rows in between roasting tomatoes and harvesting everything else…plus I have to put them away before dark
That second photo is a hill, and is pretty representative of all of them. I’m guessing about 5 – 6 pounds? I’ll weigh some hills today, usually the total is right around 10 pounds per pound of seed. I’ll report back.
Yes, summer is almost over. Our wood is ready, chimney cleaned. Have had our monitor on in the a.m. I am trying to squeeze one more batch of bread and butter pickles today. Our plants are on the way out. Thank you for telling us about the Purple Viking potatoes. They are beautiful. Good size and taste so good. They look like they will be good keepers, too. Have been bringing in bouquets of Zinnias. Their color is so bright and we know they will be gone soon. Hello Autumn.
Bev, I know rain is coming this weekend, so we are soaking up the sun as much as possible. Even the dogs are lying in the sun and cooking themselves. I think you’ll find the Purple Viking will keep until late spring, with high humidity and cool storage conditions.
I’ve got some new zinnias this year and they are gorgeous and I haven’t had time to look for the seed packet and see what they are. Beautiful! I will plant them again.
Beautiful pictures. The flowers are lovely. What kind is that last one? I have never seen one like that before. Yummy potatoes! Hugs, Bobbi Jo
Bobbi Jo, That beauty is Moulin Rouge, a striking sunflower for sure! Hash browns for breakfast, after a summer long spud hiatus, yummm!
Beautiful photos! I’m bummed this year, all of my potatoes got eaten up by wireworms. Have you ever had this problem and any solutions for next year?
Rochelle, our pest was voles, of course, just sampling many potatoes…instead of eating the entire potato. I never have seen wireworms in the potatoes, but I have seen them occasionally in the soil when we dig post holes. That’s a bummer. I have no idea what to do about them. Sometimes pests are in new garden sites, and as your soil gets built up, and there is less weed pressure many of the early problems and insects go away.
Very nice! I lost all my starts this year to a freak hailstorm and then the early heat here in Georgia. *sigh* Maybe next year!
Oregon Sunshine, thank you! What a terrible garden year you have had – I really dislike it when the garden season is so frustrating
I was going to ask the same of the potatoes…. we grew All Blue, Apple Rose Finn and La Rattes this year, we love the la ratte for their productive little plants and the texture, flavor is awesome. The All Blues we were not impressed- 4 potatoes per plant is what they averaged.
I also want to know what kind of sunflower that is- absolutely stunning!
Michelle, it’s sure disappointing to grow those varieties, Yukon Gold performs like that here. I’ll get my weighing done today and write a post about the yield.
The sunflower is Moulin Rouge – and it is gorgeous in the garden with Bright Lights Cosmos.
I’ve got to dig my potaoes
I got my potatoes out this week too – just before the rains hit fortunately. My Yukon Golds in the barrels did very well, but my red potatoes up on the hill were really puny. I think they didn’t get enough water over the summer. – Margy
I was wondering if you keep a log of your daily precipitation? I joined CoCoRaHs a couple of years ago which is a collaborative study of US precipitation. You can get an official rain gauge for somewhere around thirty bucks, which was what I was looking for when I found this outfit.
If you’re interested here is the contact info, it is totally voluntary.
http://www.cocorahs.org/
This is where I’m at in Oregon, Curry Co.
OR-CY-6 Agness 6.4 NE 0.03 NA NA OR Curry
Total rainfall for this system at my location so far has been .06, which looks like what your end of the state got. Just west of me, 30 miles or so they exceeded an inch.
Probably more than you ever wanted to know, but sometimes that’s just how it goes.
Interesting! I have a regulation Tillamook Cheese rain gauge
We got .6 with this storm. Thanks for the site, I’ll look into it.