Monday, August 23, 2010

Fried, fried, fried...

If you all recall my potato issue. First they were alive then I thought they were dead, then they were of a zombie variety, then then were alive again.


Sadly, I have to report some bad news...

Photobucket

The potatoes didn't make it.

WTF??!!! I follow the information (or so I thought) from a "grow potatoes in a barrel" site.

The whole thing with potatoes is; when they are ready, the plant dies off. Well, mine were dead. (granted, I didn't think that the 100 plus degree weather could have had ANYTHING to do with it).

I'm thinking to myself, "well, their dead, they should be ready!" I had all sorts of potato concoctions running through my head. Creamy mashed potatoes, double smashed garlic potatoes, home fries, french fries, baked, boiled and grilled.

So over I dump the metal trash can that I modified for potato production. Eagerly I dug through the dirt. I dug...and dug.....................and dug. Nothing. Not a spud to be had.

I looked at the stalks of the plant. The roots vanished about 6 inches into the dirt. They rotted away.

Ugh!!!

So I run back inside, jump on the net, google growing potatoes and wouldn't you know it, the original site that I got the info from...NO LONGER EXISTS!!!!

Is it any wonder?????!!!!!!!!!!!

So I googled other people who grew container potatoes, everyone else seemed to jibe with the same info in regards to soil prep. Which I might add, went completely AGANST THE SITE I GOT MY ORIGINAL INFO FROM!!!!!

So in essence, the person on the site I got my original info from was chatting out the back of her front!!!

Note to self: CHECK MULTIPLE SOURCES!!!!

So now I have to wait till February to try again.

The death of the potatoes really didn't help my mental state. I have lost my squash, pumpkins, peas and string beens in the last 2 weeks due to the oppressive heat.

It's been a lousy summer for me gardening-wise.

I still have hope with my new tomato and pepper plants. They seem to be hanging on. I actually have one only pepper so far, but it seems strong! My basil and the rest of my herbs seem to be hanging tough. The blackberry bushes are a little crisp but still going strong. The lemon tree and grape vine have bounced back and are doing well. The fig tree was looking a bit sorry yesterday, but I gave that a deep watering and it perked right up.

Bottom line: we need rain. I start using my reserves tomorrow. Yeah, the monster tanks are already empty. I used the last of the water tonight.

I don't know how farmers do it.

It's a bit of a downer this time around, but I'm hoping that the forecast for rain later this week proves to be true. That would go a long way.

And as always, Green is Good. A bit crunchy and brown at time, but still good!

Cheers!

2 comments:

Kimber said...

Just keep in mind that you had some nice crops earlier in the summer. Unfortunately the water tanks didn't outlast the heat. I was thinking, if you just dug up the whole back yard you could put a huge cistern in the ground underneath your garden and then the two tanks would be backup to that...... gotcha thinking huh???

Sue said...

Sorry about the spuds, Bro. But like Kimber said: you had a nice yield -- plus you have berries and tomatoes and figs and a pepper! I agree about this summer. It was hot everywhere and hardly rained in NY, too, which is weird. I'll be so glad when August finally ends. P.S. I love your Mr. Potato Head with pennies on the eyes. It cracked me up.