We dug out/dumped out the potatoes. Only the very top of the soil got wet with this morning's rains. Despite the extra attention we paid to them this year and planting more, the yield was only marginally better between the three barrels, we received about 13 pounds of potatoes. The white were better in size and we should be able to have a few days of baked potatoes with them. The Red Pontiacs, unfortunately, were not as big as last year's crop. We had Red Chieftans last year, so perhaps we should return to that version.
Next year we plan to rely more on using a sandy loam blend with compost and peat moss to see if that helps with production. If not, I'm going to give up on the barrels, and revert back to planting in the ground. One more year to try the barrels with a different soil type to see if that improves the production. I was very disappointed with the Red Pontiacs as they didn't even seem to start growing in the first layer of soil, and a least a foot of the bottom on both barrels were devoid of red potatoes! On the California Whites, this year, we had a slightly better crop, and the potatoes were on the vine clear to the bottom of the barrel. Nonetheless, the soil will be added to the other two gardens and/or buckets for other plants to grow in. We are never lacking for uses for the soil we have in the Potato Barrels. Comparing potatoes with last year. They look similar to last year's crop. The reds are a little smaller but the whites are a little larger. I just piled them all on top of dry straw in a small box in the pantry for use over the next few months.
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| 2019 Pontiac and California |
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| 2018 Potatoes |
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Harvested a lot of basil today, a few cherry tomatoes and three radishes. The radishes look much better than the first few. But we had better temps in July for radishes.
The Purple Cherokee was blown over yesterday in the wind. It is so top heavy with tomatoes (close to 50) that we ultimately staked the cage to secure it better, then started tying branches to the cage. I cut off about three long branches and with those went about five small tomatoes. I don't think the guys will miss them since it looks like we are going to have plenty of those tomatoes. We have about five tomato fruits set on the German plant. Not sure why there is such a difference, but I just hope that the Purple Cherokee are as tasty as the German. One of the Chocolate Cherry (CC) tomatoes is just about ripe. There are about 40 - 50 little cherry tomatoes on the CC, while there are about 100 cherry tomatoes on the Sungold plant.
The bell pepper plants are starting to look much better.
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| Bell Peppers on the Mend |
Cucumbers seem to be producing a better yield this year, as well.
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| Blurry Cucumber Blossom |
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| Raindrops on Cucumbers - is that a Song? |
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The Carrots are thinned out and should finish up this next month. I put the baby carrots in a glass storage container filled with cold water to see if they last any better that way. I never seem to be able to get the Nantes to store very well. But I like the Nantes' carrot flavor better than other versions that store well.
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| Carrots and Radishes |
Dill are starting to flower. Thyme is becoming bushy (like oregano). Basil are close to bolting. I keep cutting back the larger basil leaves to try to stave off the bolt.
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| Dill is Flowering |
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| Thyme is Bushing |
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| Beans, Dill and Basil keep growing |
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Corn is anywhere from three feet to eight feet tall. Most of the three foot version are just starting to send out their tassels, so they will probably bolt up over the next week or two. We have a LOT of ears forming. I counted almost 50 ears with silk formed on about 35 stalks. I just hope that they are super sweet ears this year. The corn silk is always fascinating to watch form and grow. I was able to get an almost clear close up of the rain drops on the silk from the yellow and green stripped corn plant.
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| Ears, ears and more |
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| Rain Drops not close up |
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| Raindrops close up |
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Last but not least, Let Us talk about Lettuce. So, ants are bombarding my lettuce plants. I sprayed a little oil around the base of the containers to keep them out, and it was working until I was silly enough to put another (non treated) pot close to the lettuce. The leaves were resting on the other pot, and the ants took advantage of the opportunity. We thinned out the lettuce again today and tried to pull off as many rascal ants as we could find. Oy Vey!
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| Grand Rapid, Red Sails, Buttercrunch |
