It’s been a couple weeks of all the tiny things accumulating. In no particular order:
Potato time!
I got potato sets from The Maine Potato Lady this year. Potatoes are still cheap, but I grow them for the novelty of them. They make pretty flowers, and then at the end of the season I get to eat potatoes. If you have never read my classic post, Growing Potatoes for Lazy People, here’s your chance. It remains one of the most popular of all my many posts.
Magic Molly is a beautiful fingerling potato that is a deep, dark blue. It retains this lovely color after cooking, which makes it fun. The sets came small enough that I did not need to cut them, I just put them in pots.
Yukon Gold is a favorite baking potato. These came in bigger whole potatoes, so I had to cut those down into pieces with 2-3 eyes on them. I left them in the greenhouse to scab over before putting them in pots.
I’ve arranged them with Magic Molly in the back row since those vines get taller, and the Yukon Golds in the front. It keeps things tidy and ensures everyone gets their fair share of the sun.
Check out the before and after of my potato row. I bought these fabric grow bags because my current grow bags are about 10 years old and have SEEN some things. Plus, I can. These are 7 gallon bags and that is a great size for many of the things I like to grow. Check out the before and after for my potato row!
Alliums All The Time
I also purchased shallots from The Maine Potato Lady. Onions are cheap. I have more garlic than I will ever be able to dig, thanks to not getting it all dug up over the years, I’m all set on garlic. Shallots, though – those are pricey for some reason, and I have become quite enamored of cooking with them. I put in a large square bed of them in the northeast corner of my yard where my herb bed used to reside, and I am excited about the potential there.
Today I got ramps in the mail! I planted them in the northeast corner of the yard along with the garlic and the shallots, so it will be deliciously stinky back there. Ramps are a yummy foraged allium that you can find only for a short time in the spring. They have broad leaves and a red stem and they taste like a cross between garlic and an onion. They around 7 years or so to establish a patch, and even then you must harvest sparingly. Some foragers do not heed the unwritten rules of foraging – leave more than you take – and grab up all of them when they find them. It’s important to harvest them sustainably so the patch can continue to grow.
Herb Bag Glow Up
You remember that I dug up my long-established herb bed this spring to move them to grow bags. This was to make them portable, as in, movable to the greenhouse for the winter. I’ll be able to have my cooking and tea herbs year round, and that makes me happy. The grow bags I had at the time were black, and very old, but they did the job. This week I was having A Day at work, so I took my lunch hour to go out and give the bed a little glow up with these pretty grow bags! They’re a different brand than the ones for the potatoes but basically the same bag, the same 7 gallon capacity, the same black on bottom, bright colors on top.
The red bag is oregano, the gray bag is lavender and won’t THAT be pretty in full flower, the yellow bag is, wait for it, lemon balm, the brown bag is Chinese chives, and the tan bag in the front is thyme, which is beginning to flower.
Curb Appeal and Deer Deterrent!
I repotted a blueberry to make a more aesthetic look in my front yard. As you can see in the photo on the left one of these shapes is not like the other. I picked up another of the Frontera 22″ planters from Sam’s, and now I have one of each color. They are a bargain at $19.99 each.
You may be wondering why there are tomato cages upside down on my planters. I looked outside the other evening and noticed that my blueberries looked different, so I ran out to check and they were indeed nibbled a little! I’d purchased deer and rabbit repellent bags and they were snugged up next to the bushes, and clearly they did nothing to repel the deer. There I was, in my nightdress at 10 pm in the front yard bending the spikes on tomato cages to ward off deer. They have been effective so far.
My ongoing plan for deer-terrent is a masterclass in reusing what I’ve got laying around. I am going to use up my many election sign frames, finally! The wires are tall enough to clear the top of the plants, and I plan to cross two of them in each pot, and then drape black 3/4″ netting over the top of them. I chose 3/4″ netting for a very important reason: pollinators! I can leave the netting on the frames and various sizes of pollinators can fly in and out with ease, but deer and birds are slap outta luck.
Greenhouse Goodies
The tomatos seedlings REALLY like the warm humidity of the greenhouse. I had to take them out of the seed trays and park them temporarily in an assortment of pots so they don’t get leggy and weak. It’s a couple weeks to early to get them in the ground, so this is good workaround.
I thinned my basil and cilantro and stuck those in some dirt so they don’t choke each other out. I’ve been pulling borage starts out of that pot and planting them in the berm and in the raised beds as they attract pollinators. I had a long talk with my butternut squash and watermelon on Saturday about getting with the program, and lo and behold on Sunday I walked in to see this:
Spoon tomatoes crossed my radar after talking to a staffer at Schuring Greenhouse. She was talking about tiny tomatoes she remembered from her youth, and I found them at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and mailed her a package. I am growing these for the ridiculousness of it. Each of these tomatoes is the size of a pea but they send out 8′-10′ vines. Two are going in hanging baskets on my tallest shepherd’s hooks and one I plan to put on a 5′ tall pedestal I’m building out of concrete blocks. I’m hoping for a tomato fountain effect on the pedestal and a waterfall effect from the hanging baskets. Check out this clip from Old Bear on YouTube!
Renewed Earth Veggie Delight: Maybe Not Worth It
I’ve almost got the four yard pile of Renewed Earth Veggie Delight down to where I can drive around it and park in my garage. I was so excited to get it, but I’m not super impressed with it, though. It’s just not working as touted, and if I’m not out there daily with the hose it dries out and crusts over. My beets and carrots haven’t germinated and that’s never been a problem before. I’m going to try to fertilize with Espoma Garden-Tone, but given what I paid for the Veggie Delight, I shouldn’t have to. Radishes, on the other hand, are going wild!
I’m really building up my yarden this year. I’m seeing what new things I can grow, and I’m also enjoying how I can make it attractive and interesting to people passing by. I’ve gotten some great feedback from my neighbors as they pass by, and I’ve had fantastic conversations with strangers who have seen me working outside and had questions. I’ve shown several people through the Costco greenhouse, and when they look around the side and see the rainbarrel system, they have even more questions! I take them through the gutter process, and talk about how I need to put gutters on the other side next, and it’s just a lot of fun. Some of these folks are new subscribers, and I’m thrilled to share my fun with other gardeners!
