Deep sigh of contentment

[Ldychef2k]

Things are starting to happen in the garden. I am just on cloud nine. If bugs ate the whole thing tomorrow, I would at least know that I can do this.

First, in their third year since being transplanted, these are growing.

(Apologies for the size. I am rushed.)

Then, a couple of my potato buckets seemed to have lost their foliage to yellow leaves and brown spots, so out of curiosity I dumped them out and got 34 tiny taters. That bodes very well for the rest of the buckets, I think. Two more (same variety) are showing the same signs, so I will dump them in another week or two and see what is under there.

And finally, tonight's supper!

I am just feeling very good today about providing for myself. Don't care what kind of grief I get from people who think my lifestyle is taking me away from my "real job", and I ought to work harder at my "real job" to make more money.

Money can't buy this feeling. They will never "get" that.

 

[Woodland Woman]

You are right about that! I would like to know more about your potato buckets.

 

[Dace]

Great job! There is a real sense of satisfaction that comes with growing your own food, glad you are feeling it!

 

[pioneergirl]

Completely agree...so many people just don't "get it"! I'd like to hear more about potato buckets, too!!

 

[bibliophile birds]

this is my first year doing a major garden on my own. it's not started off so well- i only got my seed orders sent in 2 weeks ago and all of them haven't come in yet. i've started a few things in the house, but i can't even begin direct planting until Monday (if it stops raining by then). i'm WAY behind the regular schedule.

i started to get down about it, ready to concede defeat before i even gave it a shot. then i realized that it isn't about getting it perfect, especially not this year. if ANYTHING manages to come up this year i will be happy. just to know that i tried gives me a great sense of pride. it will be whatever it will be and that will be enough for me!

glad to see you are having some success! here's to a good year for all of us.

 

[Ldychef2k]

bb, this is my first real one, too. I guess in a couple of years it may become a burden, but for now I am with you...Just knowing that I tried...

 

[Ldychef2k]

Quick note with heavy pics on my container taters.

About a year ago, I got about 15 five gallon and 3 seven gallons from a guy with a swimming pool business. I knew it was a risk, because they had held chemicals. But I figured if the plastic soaked IN the chemicals, I could get it to soak OUT. I leeched them for two weeks with fresh water every day. Then I added a half cup of baking soda to the water every three days in the bright sun. I then put water in them only for about a month, changing every four or five days. Then I let them sit out in the sun empty for another month. If that didn't get it all out, I deserved what I got.

So, last year I planted a seed potato in each of three of them, and they all died.

I kept the empty buckets out in the sun until January, then washed them out and planted seed potatoes in six inches of my own clay loam soil. They took off like a shot, and I hilled them in the buckets every time there were a few inches of stem showing. I did kind of a lasagna layering, with clay loam, compost, purchased topsoil, more compost, and ending with a mix of clay loam and topsoil.

I planted purple/blue potatoes in the seven gallon buckets on February 1. Here they are today, perfectly healthy and thriving. There are four more in another location, planted in Rubbermaids, that are having no issues at all.

All the buckets, including the ones I used for tomatillos, which are having mixed progress. You can see the A-Frame PVC trellises I got on Freecycle last year. I am just starting to put them in the garden. I need to get some lengths of rebar to stick in the ground and place these on the rebar for support. I am hoping to find a way to build some other structure for the winter. The A-Frames are attached to one another at the top span and have a chain between the two halves, like the sides of a ladder might have.

A month or two ago, some of the foliage in six of the buckets started to show brown spots. I looked it up and it could have been a number of things, including a mineral deficiency. I fed them some magnesium and nitrogen, and while two of them had all the foliage die off, the other four seemed to be holding on. But now two more are fading.

So far, three buckets have been dumped because I didn't think they could possibly have supported potatoes. I was wrong. You saw yesterday's results. Today I dumped a red potato that was losing it's branches and ended up with 20 potatoes from the size of a marble to the size of a lemon. I am waiting on the rest of them, if I possibly can, because I want to see just how big they will get.

It seems that a number of conditions affected the potatoes in buckets. It's opssible that there was still too much chlorine in the buckets. However, only 6 of 15 buckets had a problem. Disease or deficiency? Maybe. But I also found that the soil was ridiculously wet in the bottom of the bucket. I had only recently elevated them off the plastic, as I was seeing a lot of sitting puddles. Also, the heat on the plastic in a few weeks would be murder.

Even with some premature harvesting, the product was extraordinary. I am thrilled with it.

Also, I am encouraged, excited, and anticipating what will happen with the REAL potatoes that are in the ground. I am loving this !!!

 

[TanksHill]

Ldy, your garden is looking great!!! Congrats on the potatoes. When I went to Bakersville in Mo. I picked up some seed potatoes and onion sets. I usually us whatever grows in the kitchen drawer so I am excited to see what I get.

So what else do you have coming up, were those beets? Last year I cooked my beet greens. Like a Wilted Spinach Salad, they turned out delicious.

Keep up the great work.

gina

 

[Ldychef2k]

Thank you!

Which picture did you think was beets? I didn't plant any this year.

 

[rebecca100]

How did your purple taters come out? I ordered some seed ones, but they arrived in Squished Condition. I have sent off for a replacement, but I am afraid that it will be too late to plant when I get them. AND I am so jealous of your turnips!! Ours are still tiny seedlings! Well, actually right now just about everything is still a tiny seedling except the tom. that I started indoors in Feb.