Don`t know how everyones garden is doing this year but mine is going crazy. I have never seen so many potatoes on the plants before. And they are huge. Rains hit perfectly and they grew and grew and grew. My plants were waist high and looked like a forest. How are others doing ?
Cool. Last year I planted about 30 lbs of potatoes, and only harvested about a peck. I have no idea why I got so few.
We have had such a wet and cold Spring I just got the garden ready for the potatoes two weeks ago. My seedlings had been chitted for about a month .... or more..maybe ever two or three.... and looked horrible, but we put them in anyway. Now you would never know how bad they looked, but they are only 6-12 inches high at this point.
Our spuds are doing oké I think. The rains fell at the good time here as well. I have dug under the plants to check out the root system. They are coming along, but not really ready for the normal harvesting yet..and the Phythophthora has been identified on our gardening complex, so it is a race against the clock. It is great news hearing that you have the makings of a bumper crop. That is really good news.
I had to laugh this morning on the way to church when DH mentioned how bad the potatoes looked when we were planting them and what a difference two weeks in the ground made. He truly was humoring me when he helped me plant them. Today they are beautiful.
Not counting the ones we ate early and gave away some I have already dug about two and a half bushels and I am just barely halfway through with the reds. Kennebecs are a little later. Corn is ready too. Same thing with it,,lots of corn!
Mart, this year seems to be a very good year for Texas gardens! We have harvested more now than we did for all of last season. We are giving away squash, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and now corn. The green beans are still producing (something they have never done in mid-June) and we have bell peppers and the Roma and Celebrity tomatoes are ripening. The lettuces have just finished, which usually happens in mid-May. I don't know what it is, but I sure hope whatever it is, it sticks around!
That's great Mart! My seed potatoes were planted early April but were infected by early blight and now seem to be recovering from it. Last week I tried to find some baby potatoes but did not feel anything. I had planted a sprouted potato from the pantry in a 5 gallon bucket in March and harvested 5 small ones so far from there. I am waiting for the plant to die back before I empty the bucket completely . All Squash verities are doing great (plenty of fruits)but the rest of the plants have just started to flower. Enjoy the great gardening season for Texas and share the pics with us.
My tomatoes started out poorly but it was because of the weather ! Water & sunshine make sun scald. Just now getting going. That's the truth MG! Rains have hit perfectly, potatoes are as big as those bakers in the stores. Need to weigh one. I lost bushels of green beans because I couldn`t get anyone to come pick them. Free food and no pickers. Watermelons and cantaloupes are doing great. More corn than 5 families could use. I have to start picking that this afternoon. Great Texas gardens this year.
Mart, it's hard to understand how people supposedly are going hungry, yet you cannot give away food. Puzzling. Our potatoes are waist high and beginning to blossom. I hope the underground matches the visible parts.
Growingpains, if you visit a local food pantry, you can understand why "giving away food" isn't as easy as it sounds. Many of the recipients are handicapped or elderly; others have no transportation to get to the give-away site. When I take some of my garden's bounty in to our local pantry, there is a 90 year old lady (about 100 lbs. with a cane, but cute as a bug) who attacks me in the aisle to see if I have any of that "green squash" that she likes so well. A neighbor took in a bushel of sweet corn that was received with cries of glee. Cucumbers can cause a mini-riot! Don't tell anyone, but a friend who drives for Meals on Wheels takes small zipper bags of cherry tomatoes, washed, stemmed, and chilled with her. She checked with the dietician and her people can have the tomatoes. Such a treat for someone who has no fresh vegetables. There is hunger, and there is something we gardeners can do about it!
Marlin, I apologize for my lack of understanding. I was thinking back to a lady who allowed us to pick beans from her garden. She related that as soon as people learned that they would be required to actually pick beans, they quickly refused. Here, we have a place called Loaves n Fishes where the poor can get free food, including fresh produce in season. Those who garden or farm are allowed to bring in excess and know it will go the needy.
That's not the reason here though. Food pantries are usually well stocked here. I found one lady that was going to pick last year and use them through her church food pantry. She and her daughter lasted about an hour picking blue lake bush beans. They left and never came back. There are people here in our community that I take vegetables to and another gardener friend does as well. I can`t run an ad in the paper or I would have a mob picking them to sell. We do not sell anything,,only give it away. So that is not an option. What I have found is that many people are simply too lazy to pick it. But if I pick it and take it to them,,thats a different story. A few I will do that for but not when they have more time than I do and just won`t get off their posterior. People just don`t realize that gardens are work,,and hard work at that.
Mart, that's what my friend said. That most people would take veggies if she picked them, but to do the work ? NOT! I'm totally opposite in that I enjoy the earth and it's substance.
