Potato harvest!

[Rosalind]

This year, the clear winner is All Red, seed potatoes bought from SSE.

12 lbs. All Red from 2 lbs. seed potatoes. 6 lbs. Purple Peruvian, 2 lbs. Banana fingerling. And a couple of big Vikings that overwintered.

The plant in the Banana fingerling basket is pineapple sage, which is going on a panna cotta tart for dinner later. The bowl contains 2 lbs. purple podded pole beans, two bunches of Early Wonder beets, five losery pathetic little onions, two losery pathetic little garlics, a handful of the last sugar snap peas, and a little bunch of black tipped wheat. I got a big bunch of mint, a giant bunch of lemon verbena, and a giant bunch of marjoram, too.

What is my problem with onions? I can't seem to do onions or garlic in this climate. I never had a problem getting them to grow in Ohio or PA, but here I can't manage it. The soil is so good I could open a bait shop with all the worms and nightcrawlers, and other root veggies seem to grow fine. Other alliums, chives and the local wild onions seem to do OK. Here, I stick onion sets in the ground, they put up two leaves, and then...nada.

 

[Greensage45]

I love how natural your photograph looks. Earthy and full of heart. I almost smell the aromas coming from a very weathered and worn kitchen.

Right now my kitchen has a few baskets and bowls filled with goodies from my garden. I love this time of year as the melons come indoors with piles of different kinds of tomatoes. My onions did not grow either, the roots turned yellow and did not form the bulb; a bacterium in the soil.

I have been meaning to get a picture done of my harvesting from time to time. Here is this mornings.

I didn't drag the ton of cucumbers I have in the fridge, I also need to eventually document all my canning.

Thank you for sharing, I am so taken by the lighting in your picture.

Ron

 

[Greenthumb18]

Nice potatoes rosalind!!

Greensage,
nice basket of tomatoes!!

 

[vfem]

Oh yummy guys!!! I love watching peoples' harvests come in. They end up covering people's tables!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

 

[detali]

I harvested 75 pounds of potatoes from my 100 ft. bed. Then I planted another crop of beans in their stead. I garden in zone 8.

 

[digitS']

You are showing your creative skills, Rosalind. The lighting makes for a real homey still life but one has to wonder where the black-tipped wheat might fit in at dinnertime . Comes in the creativity basket, no doubt about it.

A lightbulb moment for me a few years ago was realizing that if I tried to grow lots of onion leaves, the bulbs would take care of themselves. Nitrogen fertility was essential but that doesn't sound like your problem. Your suspicion regarding climate (or, at least, this year's weather) is probably correct. I'm just wondering what it might be like to garden where the soil is always moist to saturated without irrigation. Perhaps, that isn't to the liking of garden onions.

Big pink tomatoes, Ron? What might those be?

I harvested 75 pounds of potatoes from my 100 ft. bed. Then I planted another crop of beans in their stead. I garden in zone 8.

I'm hoping for 50 pounds of potatoes out of my little 100 square foot bed, Detali. I've harvested over half of them and have weighed out just over 28 pounds.

Planting beans after pulling the potatoes could be possible here and lots of places! I can get away with planting green beans until July 15th. It would be an excellent idea with early-maturing potatoes .

Steve

 

[Rosalind]

I am soooo jealous of Ron's tomatoes. Mine are just green yet. It is indeed a very weathered and worn kitchen, although it smells mainly like wet dogs (you can just see their butts in this pic). I made a lot of shorter potato beds this year, that added up to, hmmm, maybe 20 feet total. So I feel like I did OK, although I would have liked more than one salad's worth of the banana fingerlings.

Potato salad

2 lbs. fingerling potatoes, cut into salad-size chunks
2 lbs. greenbeans or pole beans of choice, de-stringed & cut into bite size pieces
1/3 c. wine vinegar
2/3 c. oil (olive or sunflower)
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 tbsp. fresh finely chopped rosemary
optional: 2 tsp. Dijon mustard

Cook potatoes and beans in boiling water till done but still a little crispy, then drain. In bowl, whisk all other ingredients together. Dump potatoes & beans in bowl and toss to mix. Marinate in fridge for at least one hour, overnight is also good.