Results of the Potato Project

Last spring, I decided to try to grow potatoes in a different way than usual. I called it the potato project. That's a picture of the total harvest. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well I only need one word: Dismal.

I ended up putting on three tires, covering up the plants just so the tips, about 4 - 5 inches showed. Everything looked great. Then a week or so ago, I noticed one of the plants just wilted and died. Ominous. So I took it out and while I was all mucky anyway, decided to dig around in the dirt and see if I could feel any potatoes. I dug two tires deep, nary a tater; nada, zilch, zero, none. I started thinking this wasn't going to work out as well as hoped. A couple of days later, another plant just withered and died. OK, there's something going on. I figured I might as well pull up the plants and gather whatever potatoes there were.

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The measly amount of potatoes I found were in the bottom tire only and they were all red potatoes. Nothing in the other two. Soooo the theory needs a little work or I did something wrong. I'm guessing I did something wrong. I did plant late and I did over crowd. Maybe that had something to do with it. I think I'd like to try again because the plants were safe from the dreaded potato bug. I'm thinking may-be I'll just use two tires stacked to start and see if they'll do better. On the upside, the potatoes did taste great.

Chicks and Cukes, Mighty Cute

The chickens come in pretty handy when I have an over-abundance of cucumbers. There are only so many cucumber sandwiches, salads and sides you can serve your family before you hear rumblings of a revolt, "Cucumbers AGAIN!?!" "Why did you grow so many?" Point in fact, cucumbers are pretty finicky, some years I might get three out of the whole crop so I have a tendency to over-plant. Then I have seasons like this one where over-planting is a really bad idea because every plant and its brother flourishes and I get lots and lots and lots of cukes. So I serve them when I can and I pickle what I can then I stare at the remaining lot, overflowing in a five gallon pail. I have discovered that cucumbers are a nutritious treat for chickens. Oddly enough, my rabbits won't eat them, but the chickens love 'em. So I am getting rid of the extras and being entertained at the same time. Trust chickens to turn feeding time into dinner-theatre.

Here's three hens sharing nicely, each taking a turn to peck.

And here's Timbits [formerly known as the chicken Tiny Tim) deciding that sharing is NOT for the birds while two hens, in hot pursuit, try to convince her otherwise. Yes, that's a cucumber Timbit is carrying.

Mandellas enjoying the middles of the cukes and leaving the rinds for the chickens.

Pickles

The days are shorter and the nights are longer and both are much cooler. The green of the garden has been splashed with orange, red and yellow as the pumpkins, tomatoes and sunflowers show off their bounty. The beans and cucumbers are just about done and I have way too many. Sure signs of both a great growing season and pickling time. Whoot. Love my pickles.

I never pickled a thing before I moved here. I had to learn in self-defence or get run-over by over-ripe cucumbers moldering on the floor. With the help of a friend who not only makes pickles but jams as well, my first forays was pretty much successful ~ nobody died of botulism and things tasted like they were supposed to.

I doubt if pickling would have been as easy or accomplished if I hadn't a mentor who didn't mind me calling every 10 minutes to ask questions like "Does the brown sugar have to be packed down when I measure? Do I rinse the salt off after draining? How much water should I put in the canner?" In short I was clueless and she was very patient.

Aside from making bread and butter pickles and an awesome mustard relish, both recipes provided by the above mentioned pal, I have discovered you can pickle beans and carrots. There is one recipe I found that uses green beans, garlic and basil. Every time we are invited to a pot-luck I am asked to bring a jar of "those beans". The dilled yellow beans are pretty good and the cinnamon carrots bring an unexpected dash of colour and flavour to otherwise rather plain meals. This year I'm trying something new, dill pickles. As with all my other pickles, I'll try them first and if I don't die of food poisoning or pickle over/under flavourness, I'll serve them to others.