Potato Plants are Taking Off in the Garden

I was amazed when my DH showed me the difference between the potato plants he still had in a pack and the potatoes in the garden. Just look at this!




Compare the size of the potato plants in the garden and those in the pack!

Both of these plants were started from seed on April 24. The seedlings were planted in the garden  on May 22. Just look at what that great soil and space did to grow these potato plants to this size. This is an excellent lesson on the importance of your plants having room to grow, isn't it?

This also demonstrates how garden soil really makes a top performing plant. This is one of my pet peeves..gardeners who plant beautiful plants taking care to water and weed, but do not worry about what kind of soil is available for the roots. Adding amendments to your soil with manure and compost can make such a difference in your gardening success.

Our potato patch this year has four varieties....good ole Red Pontiac, Austrian fingerlings (a new one for us), Yukon Gold, and German Butter. I love the golden potatoes because when you prepare it for dinner,  it looks like you have a LOT of butter on the potato when you really don't. Mmm..so good.

Can't wait to dig those taters!

 

Freezing Corn from Our Vegetable Garden

My DH and I spent a little over an hour freezing sweet corn from our garden this afternoon. We process it very quickly by boiling it, after shucking it of course, for about 3 minutes in a big tub of water. We immediately throw it into a sinkful of ice water to cool it down and keep it from cooking anymore. Then drain it in the other side of the sink on a rack. We cut it off the cob and then place it in the quart size freezer bags. DH came up with a great idea of cutting the corn off the cob on a plastic, flat cutting sheet. Then when we had the corn cut off, we just picked up the sheet and used it as a funnel to place the corn in the bag. We quickly bagged 9 quarts in that short time. The cutting sheets save a lot of time and clean up. He is so clever.

My DH and two grandsons dug potatoes yesterday. Surprisingly we had great success with them. The ground seemed pretty hard where he planted the eyes, but he mulched the plants, so it helped to keep them cool and moist. The little boys are so amazed when the potatoes are dug and love to see who can pick up the biggest ones. That really helps Grandpa's back!

We have been camping and I have neglected writing the blog. I apologize, Dear Readers, for not keeping up. While we were gone the blight got our tomatoes. I have heard several gardeners in our area suffering the same misfortune with their tomatoes. But gardeners will be gardeners and all are still planning on raising tomatoes next year. My hubby pulled all of our plants up, so that is the end of the 'maters for us.