New potatoes... I spent the winter sticking sprouting potatoes into a warm, sunny spot in my garden, and heaping compost, straw, hay and grass clippings on the plants as they grew. They managed to make it through the winter more or less unscathed, getting burned to the ground with each frost (and we had, what, five or six? more?) but coming back with every bout of warmth. Anywho, I mostly expected them to be infested with worms and/or nematodes, so I've been meaning to harvest them and make more room for tomatoes and peppers. I started digging around in the bed, and realized that the potatoes are very happy and healthy in there. I sneaked out a handful. I'll leave the rest be another month.
We're having another very powerful cold front move through today; it entered the area yesterday and is now south of here and the wind is gusty and cold. So, tonight, to celebrate the last cold night of the season (probably), we're making raclette with potatoes, broccoli and onions from the garden. The weather's forecast to be hot and sunny this weekend, so we'll head to the Lagoon and beach to spend the day paddling and camping.
What a treat is April in Florida!
2 comments:
I should have left my spuds in longer...Much longer apparently. We planted some a few eyes of a Yukon Gold in October (I think), and they put out some good growth and then seemed to wane in Janurary. I decided that they probably were spent, so I dug in and extracted a single, little, beautiful Yukon Gold potato. I think it just ended up getting old in the fridge and thrown out. :(
Next time I'll know that apparently potatoes take a long time. Plant in late fall, harvest in early spring. Does that sound right?
yeah, randy, that's about right. i planted mine starting in november, all winter long. they're getting hit pretty hard by bugs right now (the leaves are), but some neem and pyrethrins should put an end to that... i think i should have planted the potatoes in october or even earlier, but that would have used up some pretty precious garden space.
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